Best San Francisco suburbs to live and raise a nine year old girl.

[Mardelplata]

Originally Posted by twins4lynn

Congrats to your wife on her job offer .

If you are interested in living in a safe middle class/slightly upper middle class area with good schools (which are somewhat culturally asian), Millbrae would be a good choice. It's within your budget and is close to all forms of transportation (bart, trains, bus, etc) to SF.

I was looking at the map, and getting some info on google, about schools, transportation and demographics, and Millbrae sounds like the kind of place that might work for us.

I'll definitely have to go check it out. Is it a safe and attractive place with character? Are there good basic shopping, restaurants and community activities nearby, places to walk around, other than going into the city?

[thecooler]

Originally Posted by Mardelplata

IIs it a safe and attractive place with character? Are there good basic shopping, restaurants and community activities nearby, places to walk around, other than going into the city?

Yes on all counts. I currently live in Millbrae and really like it. I live in the downtown area, and I can walk to 2 grocery stores (trader joes and safeway), a number of restaurants, shops, a couple of bars, post office, library, Sat. morning farmer's market, and the Bart/Caltrain station. Millbrae is an older town, so the downtown still has a mid-century feel about it. Most of the streets are tree lined and walkable - there are a few parks and trails as well, and the architecture is varied, with majority of houses downtown being Spanish stucco (but not so in the hills). There is some noise from Bart and the airport, but since its not in the direct flight path its not too bad (and I'm sensitive to noise). Millbrae is a lot slower pace then the city, when I moved here i had to get used to people really stopping at stop signs instead of "california stops" like they do in SF. I don't know if it matters, but the town has a large Asian population and many of the restaurants are Asian food (but not all), I'm Caucasian, and I don't feel out of place at all.

[Mardelplata]

Originally Posted by thecooler

Yes on all counts. I currently live in Millbrae and really like it. I live in the downtown area, and I can walk to 2 grocery stores (trader joes and safeway), a number of restaurants, shops, a couple of bars, post office, library, Sat. morning farmer's market, and the Bart/Caltrain station. Millbrae is an older town, so the downtown still has a mid-century feel about it. Most of the streets are tree lined and walkable - there are a few parks and trails as well, and the architecture is varied, with majority of houses downtown being Spanish stucco (but not so in the hills). There is some noise from Bart and the airport, but since its not in the direct flight path its not too bad (and I'm sensitive to noise). Millbrae is a lot slower pace then the city, when I moved here i had to get used to people really stopping at stop signs instead of "california stops" like they do in SF. I don't know if it matters, but the town has a large Asian population and many of the restaurants are Asian food (but not all), I'm Caucasian, and I don't feel out of place at all.

Cool! We'll definitely give it a look.

It did occur to me that the airport is too close for comfort, but looking at the geography, if we want to stay on the SF side of the bay, unless we go inside the city, there's not much chance of avoiding that airport. I wonder who had the bright idea of putting it there.

[Mardelplata]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

$750K.. could you sell your place in OC and buy in San Francisco? You could easily get a house on the western side where the schools are better. They do have a lottery system, but in practice most people get into the schools they want that are in their area.

What is the lottery system? I had not heard of it, does that mean busing? And does it apply to everywhere in the city? And what about the suburbs?

[twins4lynn]

Originally Posted by Mardelplata

What is the lottery system? I had not heard of it, does that mean busing? And does it apply to everywhere in the city? And what about the suburbs?

SF had a lottery system of assigning schools (and does not include busing. You are on your own getting your child to their assigned school). The method of school asssignment has since changed somewhat -further info here: Student Assignment . This only applies to San Francisco. Assignment to schools on the peninsula are based only on home address.