Pacifica, Half Moon Bay versus Peninsula (eg San Carlos) (schools, title)

[ambient]

Originally Posted by bloom

What are some major issues why one would or would not consider moving to Pacifica, Half Moon Bay versus the usual Peninsula corridor? Working at airport. 2 kids in middle school. Are schools excellent, very good, good, fair, bad? Is fog type weather totally oppressive (yesterday seemed fine but I think Sept/Oct are best not representative months). Other major issues? Thanks in advance.

For one thing, you will spend darn near the entire summer in a gray haze of fog in HMB/Pacifica, whereas you will actually get regular sun in San Carlos.

Another issue is that most jobs and everything else is East into the peninsula, away from the coast. And at least in HMB, your primary corridor will be highway 92, which is a windy two-lane road that gets backed up. It can get notoriously bad during the weekend when there does happen to be nice HMB weather.

To me, it's not even close... Peninsula. But visit HMB often when weather and weekends permit. Pasta Moon is a great Italian restaurant. There's a nice wine shop close to it. Sam's Chowder House is great... and, of course, if you want to really splurge, there's always the Ritz Carlton on the coast.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by twins4lynn

There is a Trader Joe's in Millbrae. When I worked at SFO employees who drove would frequently take a drive over during lunch to shop.

There's a Trader Joe's in San Carlos!

[bloom]

schools?

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by bloom

schools?

California School Ratings, school profiles, test scores - San Mateo County

[cornblitz]

San Carlos is sunnier than Pacifica, but we have plenty of beautiful days here in Pacifica even during the summer. It all depends on what part of Pacifica you are in. Linda Mar and Vallemar are districts in which the fog often clears out during the day; further north, toward Daly City, it is much foggier.

[bloom]

Originally Posted by cornblitz

San Carlos is sunnier than Pacifica, but we have plenty of beautiful days here in Pacifica even during the summer. It all depends on what part of Pacifica you are in. Linda Mar and Vallemar are districts in which the fog often clears out during the day; further north, toward Daly City, it is much foggier.

How 'bout Half Moon Bay? More like Linda Mar or foggier like toward Daly City?

[cornblitz]

In my experience, Half Moon Bay is foggier than Pacifica. We often drive from sun to marine layer when driving down to the farmer's market in Half Moon Bay on Saturday mornings.

[bloom]

First-hand school system comparisons?

[dietrologia]

I've lived in Pacifica for 13 years and have a child at Vallemar. He's been in the middle-school there for two years, having come over from private school.

We were worried about the transition at first, but we've found the the school to be quite good. There are some differences in the schools around town, so your experience will really depend on the age of your child(ren) -- you get to choose whatever school you want to go to (lottery; based on availability). We wanted to avoid the dedicated junior high (Ingrid B. Lacy) as it's pretty large and tested lower than the three K-8s in town. The three K-8s all have their unique strengths.

In terms of high schools, there are two in town with Oceana being the smaller and Terra Nova being a larger outfit. The latter has been dealing with alchohol issues that made the news last year. I don't know that these issues are unique to this high school, though. Times have changed a lot since I was in high school.

In short, while the Pacifica schools run on a tight budget, I don't feel we've shortchanged our child.

Weather-wise, the north end of Pacifica is much foggier than the south. And on the southern end, the farther back into San Pedro Valley you go, you get still warmer and sunnier.

Your commute from Pacifica to SFO should be very easy.

We should talk about crime while we're at it. I'm not too familiar with HMB to know the details, but there may be a developing gang issue there and I know there have been some shootings over the last year or two. Perhaps some residents can weigh in on that.

Pacifica's crime is relatively low-level opportunistic stuff; stuff being stolen out of unlocked cars at the beach parking lots, etc. There's no violent crime that I'm aware of and I check the police logs frequently.

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask any questions.

[bloom]

Yes, helpful dietrologia - thanks.

I'm not necessarily looking for elite schools as they come with uber-competitive issue -for those familiar with San Diego - Torrey Pines HS comes to mind. Any schools to avoid in the middle, high schools areas in Pacifica or HMB?

Crime, drinking is another good topic.

Again please compare categories (schools, commute, crime, other) to the Peninula (or San Diego).

Also, does the commuting equation change if workplace in Mission Bay rather than SFO (from HMB or Pacifica), or not?