SF + young kids = workable? (Los Angeles, San Francisco: sales, real estate, apartment)

[mamimo]

Hi everyone! I've been lurking and reading this forum for a while in anticipation of a westward move Someday. I want to say thank you for all the advice you folks have generously shared, especially since our *Someday* is coming soon!

Though we're currently living in the midwest, our family have spent bulk of our lives all over the world. What we have found is we enjoy city life, good public transportation/walkable cities, tolerant folks and diverse culture. So we've been eyeing SF for a long time and finally we've found jobs in South SF. We would really like to live in the city, but we have our kids' schooling (elementary and middle) to consider. From the forum and hearsay, it seems the sane thing for us to do is to live on the peninsula since private schools is not a feasible option for us? I keep wondering about those people who chose to live in SF and raise their young kids there. How do they do it then? What compromises do we need to make? Are schools in SF really that bad? Is the peninsula really just a boring suburb of SF?

Another concern we have is all shades of skin color are represented in our family and in most places we've been in, at least 1 of us sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm tired of that and of the uninvited comments we have received ("YES! They are all MY children!", "Yes! He IS their dad! *sheez*" ). One of my hopes is that SF would be that "home" we've been looking for, where all of us can feel comfortable and accepted. At least it sounds/looks like it is. If that's an illusion, I'd rather someone pop it for me now.

Thanks very much!

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by mamimo

Hi everyone!
From the forum and hearsay, it seems the sane thing for us to do is to live on the peninsula since private schools is not a feasible option for us? I keep wondering about those people who chose to live in SF and raise their young kids there. How do they do it then? What compromises do we need to make? Are schools in SF really that bad? Is the peninsula really just a boring suburb of SF?

One of my hopes is that SF would be that "home" we've been looking for, where all of us can feel comfortable and accepted. At least it sounds/looks like it is. If that's an illusion, I'd rather someone pop it for me now.

Thanks very much!

I would tend to agree that living on the peninsula would be better for raising kids. In many ways the Peninsula is a boring suburb, although probably more racially diverse than a lot of suburbs.

In general, San Francisco does not have a good reputation as far as well run public services go (schools, public transit, city gov't). There's lots of graft, corruption & greedy civil service unions behind the scenes. Not to mention constant fighting from every loud mouthed special interest group under the sun.

The suburban communities tend to be less corrupt and better run as suburbanites are less tolerant of the nonsense that goes on in places like San Francisco & Oakland.

The big problem with raising a family anywhere in CA is the horrible cost of living (especially for housing). 700K will not get you very much house on the Peninsual or SF. If you have boatloads of money, then you won't have a problem. But that isn't most of us.

Full disclosure: I'm single with no kids...so I'm probably not the best source of info. But a lot of the people on these forums say the same things about how difficult it is to raise kids in CA.

[sonarrat]

I used to live in South San Francisco. Nice area for a young single, but I wouldn't want to raise kids there. The schools aren't too great. I would be looking at Millbrae, myself. It will LOOK like it's as expensive as San Francisco itself, but that's not really the case. The cost of living is lower - lower sales tax, lower homeowner's and auto insurance rates, and more affordable real estate compared with the area around SF's Lowell High.

[18Montclair]

but Lowell is worth the price.

Im actually going to South City in just a bit here to have lunch with relatives..LOL

I think its for kids...crime on the peninsula is pretty low but I agree that Millbrae is a better choice, although according to zilliow.com the median home price in Millbrae is $1.07 Million..which nowadays is chump change in the Bay Area. Still something to ponder when looking to buy.

[azsundevil]

Look in the East Bay...Albany, Alameda, Montclair, Rockridge are several good areas. Good schools and cheaper cost of living, yet very easy to get to the city and expose your kids to the wonderful aspects of SF.

[Suzer]

All favorite neighborhoods of mine, azsundevil!

[TwinMom06]

Hi,

I am a San Francisco native, grew up in San Francisco and attended SFUSD public school from K-12 and then attended UC Berkeley. I have lived in New York City, Boston, Stockholm, and Los Angeles. I must say that I have never lived in the suburbs, except for Los Angeles which felt like living in the suburbs since we had to drive everywhere.

I moved back to San Francisco with my kids so they could grow up in a great walking city. We are a mixed race family, and have not encountered any discrimination.

First off, living in the East Bay would be too far for you to commute to South San Francisco. Your choices will probably be to live in San Francisco or the Peninsula. There SFUSD is not great, but there are a some good schools in the district. Lakeshore Elementary, Rooftop Elementary & Middle School, Lowell High School. The schools I mentioned are alternative public schools, meaning you need not live near the school to be go there, but you do need to put in an application. Check with the school district for how students are ultimately assigned and what your chances are of getting in. I think it is lottery for elementary but for Lowell, it is competitive by grades and test scores. We didn't get into Lakeshore or Rooftop, so we are attending the schools in our neighborhood, West Portal Elementary and Herbert Hoover Middle, and they appear to be very good, espcially if you children test into the gifted (GATE) program. Lowell High School is one of the 2 top high schools in California, and everyone who lives in San Francisco is eligible to apply, but it is competitive to get into.

The rest of the elementary and middle schools are assigned by where you live, but for high school, your children can be sent to any school in the district. My cousin lives across the street from Lincoln High in the Sunset and his son was assigned to Galileo High (OJ Simpson alma mater) across town.

I grew up in North Beach and found that was too hilly for kids. As far as neighborhoods within San Francisco, we like Golden Gate Heights, Forest Hill/West Portal, Noe Valley, the Inner Sunset and Lake Merced area. Lots of families around and easy public transportation access. Although, working in South SF, you may just want to drive, as public transportation outside of the city borders is terrible, unless it is BART. I have never lived on the Peninsula and have no plans to leave for the suburbs, so would not be able to give you input on neighborhoods there.

[mamimo]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! It's very helpful to hear different viewpoints, please do keep them coming. I've compiling notes and mulling over them.

mysticaltyger, sonarrat, 18Montclair -- Millbrae does seem like a possibility. Is the airport noise a big deal there? I wonder how Millbrae compares with say, San Mateo, San Carlos, or Pacifica? These places seem to have *relatively* more affordable housing.

azsundevil -- East bay did sound tempting to us once for exactly what you cited. Unfortunately, we very reluctantly gave up that idea because of the commute. But thanks anyway for the suggestion.

TwinMom06 -- thanks for the detailed reply on SF, I'm very encouraged by your example. We'll be keeping SF on our list and try to contact some schools to see what can be worked out. We're not hopeful that there'll be vacancy at the good ones, but still, we'll give it a try.

[sonarrat]

Most of Millbrae doesn't have any airport noise to speak of. The planes either go south or east over the bay, or west over San Bruno and South San Francisco on the way to East Asia. But if you're closer to the San Bruno border you might get an earful. Either way, my SSF apartment was right in the airport flightpath and it's not as bothersome as you'd think.

And since you brought up San Mateo - pretty much anything close to Alameda de las Pulgas (aka Flea Street), whether it's in San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos, Redwood City, Menlo Park, or Atherton, is going to be a nice area to live in.

[TwinMom06]

Good luck on you decision.
If you are planning to rent, there's a house in our neighborhood is up for rent. It is a 4 BR house with ocean views for under $4000. It is hard to find a 4 BR house up for rent, so I thought I would tell you about this one. Here's the Craiglist link
3,500 sq ft- 3 Story House- Great Ocean View (broken link)

It really is a nice neighborhood, and your kids would be automatically assigned to West Portal Elementary and Herbert Hoover Middle school. If you will be in town, you should take a look at this area and the others I mentioned to see if you like it. Each neighborhood has its own cultural flavor... that is what makes living in San Francisco so much fun!