treasure island (Richmond: section 8, cheap apartments, crime)

[psychology2008]

hey people ..how is treasure island ..am working at market street ...is TI nice place to live

[mayorhaggar]

You can get some cheap apartments there but honestly I don't think it's worth it to live there at all. There's no shopping there other than I think a small convenience store, so you'd have to do all your shopping by driving into the city over the bridge. If you don't have a car then you're totally dependent on the Muni line that only goes from TI to the Transbay Terminal, and I think it only runs every 30 minutes. If you do have a car then at least you can park it on the island easily enough but you'd still need to take the bus to work. Also it's very chilly and windy and foggy near the water.

[Snort]

Thar be some nice views of the city, arrrgh! tho much of the isle looks like ee vast waste dump, arrrrgh!!!

[Mr. Fantastic]

TI is great if you don't mind driving a lot.

[415_s2k]

I lived there for six months and liked it a lot. It's quiet, you'll have a yard and there's plenty of open space around; it's definitely a neighborhood, and for the most part, people in those neighborhoods at least know eachothers' names and watch out for one another (unless they're the Chinese students who just keep to themselves).

The downsides:

1) no, there is no shopping there, other than the two little markets, one of which stays open till 10pm, the other closes earlier. You can get chips, sodas, ice cream, and coffee - anything else, you'll need to transport back from the city. If you have a car, then it's not that big a deal; if you don't, then you have to take the 38 line in; walk from the bus stop to the Whole Foods on 4th or the Safeway near the ballpark; walk back with your groceries; stand there; wait for the bus; sit on the bus (which is often pretty crowded during the day) with your groceries; and then get home. It adds another hour or two to the whole experience, which isn't bad, but it really blows when you just want a beer and a DiGiorno at 10pm.

2) a lot of TI is section 8. Consequently, you have a pretty big ghetto contingent. I never felt unsafe by any stretch living there, it's more just that if you are riding the bus, you're likely to have the back 1/3rd of the bus filled with unsupervised ghetto teenagers who are screaming, shouting, throwing things, etc. There is some crime there, but as my old roommate who'd lived there for 10 years explained, it's mostly opportunism: some kids see a window left open; knock to see if anyone's there; if no one is, they go in the window. The sort of stuff you'll get in any urban/suburban area, really.

3) Yes, there are radioactive exclusion zones on the island. The US gov't did a number on it, and there are large swaths of dozens of townhouses that are abandoned and just sitting there fenced off because the ground is too toxic - really makes me wonder what I was exposed to as a kid, on military bases... but in any case, a lot of people are really freaked out by this. I didn't care that much.

4) Since you're out in the middle of the bay, more often than not, it's really cold out there except in the middle of the afternoon in spring, summer, and early fall. You can go into SF when it's in the 70's, or in the 90's in the East Bay, and TI will be in the low 50's.

5) cell phone reception: sucks. I've never lived in a place with worse cell reception. I'd have to walk to the Western shore, which took about 10 minutes, or to one of the little pockets I'd discovered by chance to check my messages and discover I'd been invited to a cool party; gotten a job offer; asked on a date; etc.

The upsides:

1) free utilities!

2) way quieter than pretty much anywhere else in SF other than the Presidio. Once in awhile you'll hear a car stereo or the bus; that's about it, otherwise, you can sit there with your bedroom window open at night and not get woken up. I live off Geary in the Inner Richmond now and I hear sirens, trucks, horns, shouting, etc. all day and night... man, do I miss the quiet!

3) parking. You'll never not have parking.

4) the relative calm, quiet, space, and safety of the place relative to what you pay is really, really tough to beat in SF proper.

5) if you do ride the bus, you'll actually end up meeting a pretty good number of pretty cool people. I have a car but since I work in Union Square, I ususally just chose to use the bus as opposed to pay out the nose for parking, and met some pretty neat people in doing so.

All things considered, if I could either afford my own spot there or at least find a roommate who isn't a complete and total nutcase, I'd totally live there again.