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I've lived in Berkeley for 25 years. It has all the benefits of being in a great metropolitan area with lots of diversity, without a lot of crime and feeling packed in like a sardine. My partner and I do fine on his IT salary, and it's cheaper than San Francisco. You might wanna check it out along with Emeryville, Albany, El Cerrito, and parts of Oakland (most Oakland public schools aren't good, though, there are a few).
I bugged out and came back, and am looking to bug out again. I just can't live here anymore. Right before I sold my house in a decent and solid area, the gangs moved in, almost overnight, and started shooting in our cute park and my house, along with a few others, were subject to drive by shootings. Random. Ridiculous!! Three people were shot 2 days before I got my first offer on my home. I TOOK IT AND RAN! I would never move here, or to California in general. I was born and raised in the Bay Area, and have lived in Southern Cal, mid Cal, and more Northern Cal (right now), and all places are full of gangs. It just isn't the same in Cal anymore. You just never know what you are going to get, even in the nicest of areas. Gangs are everywhere here, and are mobile and growing.
Where did you land??? Very curious!!
Last edited by bakabear; 11-07-2007 at 07:21 PM..
Reason: just wanted them to know I know Cali well
Honestly, you NEED to worry about the housing prices. The high cost of real estate here drives EVERYTHING....The high cost of rent and/or mortgages keeps people slaving away at jobs they hate in order to pay the bills. The high cost of rent/housing keeps both moms & dads working full time just so they can pay the mortgage...and it keeps them from spending time with their kids....who are then prone to getting into trouble as they get older because their parents were too busy 'in the rat race' to take the time to provide necessary guidance.
Even a salary of say 80K is not that great in this area if you want to raise a child. If you wife works a lot of that second salary will end up paying child care costs and taxes.
Think VERY carefully about moving anywhere in California with a child unless your income is at least 125K.
I could be wrong, but it appears your thinking is more in line with someone who doesn't have kids who still wants to live in a place with lots of "fun" amenities. The glamor and fun of living in a place like the Bay Area needs to take a back seat to what is actually best for your chid.
California is not really a child friendly place because of the high cost of living here, amongst other things.
This is the most honest response I have seen. California is a difficult place. Being a private teacher, working one on one with children, I can tell you that the children have changed and majorly suffer because most times both of their parents are in high powered jobs. It is generally the Cali way. You should really think twice. Plus, it is so damned crowded here that going 15 miles from the east bay, into sf, could regularly take over 2 hours in traffic. Just a warning. And it is crowded like this on all freeways. Very good friend of mine was visiting from LA and said that hwy 80 was worse than LA freeways. Not long after, Hwy 80 was voted the worst freeway for traffic in the nation. And they are all congested. Heads up.
Cupertino....might be a good choice for you...Lots of 'tech' people....but check out the specific area FIRST….
Honestly...your going to have to do some concerted research....really look LOOK at the town your thinking of. Nice safe towns with good schools are going to be expensive....Dangerous towns with ghetto 'schools' will be less expensive....The Bay Area has lots of both...I could sit here all night and list the good and the bad and the very ugly of the Bay Area...but man I'm so tired of even THINKING about the place any longer...[I bugged out of the Bay Area last year....and am kicking myself for not having left many years ago...]for my own sanity….I just have to let it go…and so your on your own baby….
Now….I have a huge house on ten acres.....in a very supportive community of great diversity...Hungarians...Polish...Italian....Irish ...German...Russian...
Ethiopian...
Catholics...Jews...Muslims...Orthodox....etc….ve ry very diverse...but our crime index....34....is one tenth the national average.....
In the Bay Area.....well.....look….be good to your kids.....get into a nice town...and just pay the money....
You've made me curious! Where do you live, Coffee Mate?
Hi all....
I moved to the Midwest...lets' just say...it's near one of the cities on City Data's top 100 for LOW crime....and I could not be happier...
My work has me at sea for about half the year....I travel all over the world and get first had views that tourists never see. My travels have provided me with a world view second to none. If you want to see the REAL world....the gritty world...ship out...[Working Ports are rarely located in tourist destinations].
So because of all that above....my house is empty some of the time....and I needed to...1] increase my effective salary by lowering costs....not just rent [or in this case mortgage payments] but security costs, storage costs etc. Also the mental drain of having to constantly worry if I'd have anything left when I got home...or if I'd be cleaned out....as has happened to others I know...And...I needed a supportive community to come home to...
2] I needed to live in an area that it still part of America...in the true meaning of that word....Where people are much more down to earth...patriotic and comfortable with who they are as human beings...and who they are as Americans....[regardless of their individual backgrounds....which are widely varied because of all the universities we have in this state....so much for 'red-staters' being dumb...] It is so much nicer to live in a place where people aren't crazed with such dripping sarcastic caustic self-loathing as can be so readily found in the San Francisco Bay Area...where I was born and raised...or in any of the North East ports that I've spent time in....It is truly amazing just how unbelievably negative and hateful people in the afore mentioned areas are.....Try having a simple conversation about any current event...and you'll get a crazed shouting maniac in your face....I've even had them butt into a conversation they were not even part of....they just HAD to get in and start shouting their crazed views at someone....
It's all part of the mentality of 'direct action' or some other tag that justifies such sociopath degenerate behavior....
So....heck with it...I left....Besides the California I knew and loved is long gone....Buried under all the 'wondrous' concrete and black top of the toxic silicon valley. If only people could see what was lost....the stunning and rare beauty......they’d be stunned….shocked….they'd positively cry....like I do.....
Hi all....
2] I needed to live in an area that it still part of America...in the true meaning of that word....Where people are much more down to earth...patriotic and comfortable with who they are as human beings...and who they are as Americans....[regardless of their individual backgrounds....which are widely varied because of all the universities we have in this state....so much for 'red-staters' being dumb...] It is so much nicer to live in a place where people aren't crazed with such dripping sarcastic caustic self-loathing as can be so readily found in the San Francisco Bay Area...where I was born and raised...or in any of the North East ports that I've spent time in....It is truly amazing just how unbelievably negative and hateful people in the afore mentioned areas are.....Try having a simple conversation about any current event...and you'll get a crazed shouting maniac in your face....I've even had them butt into a conversation they were not even part of....they just HAD to get in and start shouting their crazed views at someone....
It's all part of the mentality of 'direct action' or some other tag that justifies such sociopath degenerate behavior....
So....heck with it...I left....Besides the California I knew and loved is long gone....Buried under all the 'wondrous' concrete and black top of the toxic silicon valley. If only people could see what was lost....the stunning and rare beauty......they’d be stunned….shocked….they'd positively cry....like I do.....
I'm sorry to hear of your terrible experiences in CA! I live in Sonoma County, and have for most of my life, and I can truthfully say that most everyone I know are not as you described. The interesting thing is, I felt the same way at one point in my life as you did, but later upon reflection, it wasn't that the people were innately "crazed with such dripping sarcastic caustic self-loathing" or "unbelievably negative and hateful", but it was my circumstances in life at the time that I was seeing the world through. Most people are not "out to get you", and do have a sense of wanting the best for the ones they love (which basically means that everyone wishes the best for everyone, if you unfold that reasoning out to the whole population), but the struggle to gain wealth & happiness can quickly fog over the better aspects of humanity. I can truthfully say I am the happiest I have ever been right now - living in Northern CA. I don't make alot of money, but I am surrounded by many family and friends, which I think means more than money anyways.
TheStarLiesWest: If you want to find a good community to move to in the bay area I would suggest you start reading the small local newspapers from those respective towns (California Newspapers - California Newspaper List) to see what they are concerned with. That way you might find a good match. If you find a city that perks your interest I am sure that people who read this board will be able to give you their views on those towns as well.
Honestly, you NEED to worry about the housing prices. The high cost of real estate here drives EVERYTHING....The high cost of rent and/or mortgages keeps people slaving away at jobs they hate in order to pay the bills. The high cost of rent/housing keeps both moms & dads working full time just so they can pay the mortgage...and it keeps them from spending time with their kids....who are then prone to getting into trouble as they get older because their parents were too busy 'in the rat race' to take the time to provide necessary guidance.
Even a salary of say 80K is not that great in this area if you want to raise a child. If you wife works a lot of that second salary will end up paying child care costs and taxes.
Think VERY carefully about moving anywhere in California with a child unless your income is at least 125K.
I could be wrong, but it appears your thinking is more in line with someone who doesn't have kids who still wants to live in a place with lots of "fun" amenities. The glamor and fun of living in a place like the Bay Area needs to take a back seat to what is actually best for your chid.
California is not really a child friendly place because of the high cost of living here, amongst other things.
This is the most honest response I have seen. California is a difficult place. Being a private teacher, working one on one with children, I can tell you that the children have changed and majorly suffer because most times both of their parents are in high powered jobs. It is generally the Cali way.
Thanks. I also see and hear about this all the time. The poor kids are more prone to getting into trouble with the law. The richer kids are more prone to materialism...and I trace a lot of it back to both parents working high powered jobs and long commutes (and sometimes both).
Thank you for the heartfelt comment....Indeed Sonoma is a nice place to grow up and live....Unfortunately that is not where I grew up and lived....Had that been the case.....sure...I'd probably have a very different opinion about California....and as I've stated in a number of posts...I love California.....the landscape that is....There are few places on Earth that contain such beauty....But....that beauty is under constant attack...all in the name of so called development and progress.
The Sonoma area has changed little in 50 years.....still mostly agricultural....but Santa Clara Valley....has gone from paradise to what it is now.....And because I LOVED the way IT WAS....and I know that it will NEVER be that way again....I take it personally....it hurts....I can't even drive down the roads any more because....it goes like this....
'neat old oak tree used to be there....'
'nice farm used to be on this spot......'
'this spot was an untouched natural spring....with great water...now its houses...'
'beautiful fields used to be here.........'
'this spot was an orchard that produced the best cherries I've ever had..gone now'
....and that colors my attitude toward the place.....After awhile I felt as though I was walking around a cemetery.....looking at all the corpses.....the dead valley....all buried under 'high-tech'.....so...yea...I'm bitter about it....and one day decided that I still had life in me...and I still loved nature...and rural environments....farms...fields...woods...and if that was no longer here...in my home...well I should pack up and go to where life was that way still....so I left....
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This is so honest
