From SoCal and heading to east bay...help! (Oakland, Fremont: rentals, home)

[onthemove39]

I know nothing about the East Bay area (the areas I will mention below may not even qualify as east bay?? I don't know??) . My husband is being relocated for work and will only need to get to the airport on occassion. No commute into SF. That being said, he travels - I will be home with my children alone a lot and need a SAFE community with excellent schools for my middle school son and college age daughter. I have narrowed it down based on school performance alone to San Ramon, Pleasanton or Danville. Any objective information would be helpful for this conservative southern california girl moving up north....Sun is a must so I know no where coastal will work for us (looking for rentals in the 3300 month range...) Also any communities with pool / rec amenities? One more question. any pluses or minuses regarding contra costa versus alameda counties? Thanks!

[Ceece]

You will be comfortable in any of those places. Lot of sunshine, with a little more wind in San Ramon because of the geography (they have the annual Art and Wind Festival there for that reason) but nothing real major. Pleasanton has well defined areas such as downtown, the business park, the mall, and is very close to Livermore and all the wineries. There is also a community pool and every sports team you can imagine. San Ramon and Danville feel more spread out to me and actually run together, probably because they run alongside Hwy 680. I know there must be differences between Alameda and Contra Costa counties but I'm hard pressed to tell you what they are. Some of my family lives spread out over Pleasanton and San Ramon so I spend a lot of time in both cities and to me they are nearly equal in terms of safety. The best part about the Tri Valley is that nothing is really that far so if you can't find exactly what you want in one city just drive 5 minutes into another and there you go. And Danville is right in between the Tri Valley and Walnut Creek so you could go either direction and find cool stuff to do, shopping, etc.

[jade408]

I believe that someone drew the Alameda County line to include the Livermore Labs. The counties are a bit different in overall makeup if you look at the entire county. Contra Costa (CoCo) has no larger cities. Alameda has Oakland and Fremont. There is no discernible difference in the Tri Valley. cities. They are all the same. Danville residents tend to be snootier.

[Gentoo]

As Ceece mentioned, you will be comfortable in any of the cities you listed. As Jade said, the only distictions between Alameda and Contra Costa counties are in the western parts of those counties with Alameda being more urban. In the outer east bay, those two counties largely blur together.

[onthemove39]

Thank you all so much for the information. It was really helpful and we are looking forward to an upcoming visit next month to look more closely at the areas prior to moving up there in June...

Dawn

[onthemove39]

I visited the east bay over the weekend. BRRR the weather was cold but no SNOW as predicted. We explored all of the areas around San Ramon, Pleasanton and Walnut Creek and as we were headed out of town went through DUBLIN. I really liked the Dublin Ranch area and was wondering what locals opinion of this area is? I understand Dublin is a newly growing and not as established city in the region but it appeared clean, beautiful and well layed out. We are now deciding between San Ramon and Dublin for our relocation in June. Any thoughts?? The housing seems to be more affordable.