Sunny, family friendly neighborhoods in SF, Berkeley, or south bay area?

[zitsky]

Originally Posted by ilkhd2

Mountain View is more or less walkable in Downtown area, which is less desirable, because it does not feed to Los Altos school ditrict and it is too close to East Palo Alto. Palo Alto is mostly non-walkable except for some parts. None of them are accessible by BART

I wonder where you get your information?

Your opinion is your opinion, but Mountain View too close to East Palo Alto? You do realize that it goes MV -> Palo Alto -> East Palo Alto? Mountain View is nowhere near East Palo Alto. There is one small section of MV that is less desireable, over by Rengstorff & California, but that is easily avoided, and not all that bad.

Like most cities, Mountain View has side walks everywhere. You could walk from downtown to the border of Palo Alto pretty easily. I'm not saying it would be fun or quick. You could also walk to the Costco shopping center. A bike or bus would be a lot easier.

And Mountain View most certainly does feed into the Los Altos schools, although I believe it depends on which part of Mountain View you are in.

No, there is no BART to the peninsula yet. In Mountain View you can take Caltrain which will put you about a 15 min walk to Market Street. I did that for six months when I first moved to California. We also have light rail going to San Jose.

[ilkhd2]

Okay, yes I was wrong. Anyways, most of Mountain View is not very walkable (even it has sidewalks almost everywhere), some parts are less desirable, because they do not feed in Los Altos High School (although they feed into the district), some parts are on toxic superfund (Middlefield-Whisman-Ellis) and there is no BART station.

[Lagourmande1234]

Thanks for all these suggestions... We have more working flexibility than some since I teach and my husband deals with restaurants all over the country, so our time in SF itself is by choice rather than necessity. We don't have a limitless budget, and have the three kids, so are trying to see what our options might be. What about Pacifica?

[zitsky]

Originally Posted by Lagourmande1234

Thanks for all these suggestions... We have more working flexibility than some since I teach and my husband deals with restaurants all over the country, so our time in SF itself is by choice rather than necessity. We don't have a limitless budget, and have the three kids, so are trying to see what our options might be. What about Pacifica?

Pacifica is a nice place, but keep in mind that it can be pretty foggy at times. It can be terrific to live so close to the ocean. Just be prepared to have more bad weather than places farther south on the peninsula.

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by Lagourmande1234

Thanks for all these suggestions... We have more working flexibility than some since I teach and my husband deals with restaurants all over the country, so our time in SF itself is by choice rather than necessity. We don't have a limitless budget, and have the three kids, so are trying to see what our options might be. What about Pacifica?

Anywhere on the coast is going to be foggy and chilly for a lot of the year. Not much sunshine there like you mentioned you wanted. You still haven't given a more concrete budget.

Do you need a three bedroom house to rent? A three bedroom house in parts of the Bay Area can run from 3k and up...the more desirable towns with the good public schools like Burlingame for example can get far steeper than that. A 3 bedroom house in San Francisco for example would run you well over 4k a month in a more child friendly neighborhood like the Richmond or Sunset Districts. You might want to brows craigslist to get some sense.

You also may want to browse 511.org for commute times to various part of the region during rush hour since you don't really know where you'll need to drive yet.

Public schools in San Francisco are handled by a lottery system (which means your child may have to get to school on the other side of the City) or one that isn't to your liking.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by zitsky

Pacifica is a nice place, but keep in mind that it can be pretty foggy at times. It can be terrific to live so close to the ocean. Just be prepared to have more bad weather than places farther south on the peninsula.

The southern part of Pacifica gets more sun. If you contact property management agencies, you can ask where the more sunny part of town is. And the fog is seasonal, anyway, not year-round. For commuting to SF, and for beach access, it's great.

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

The southern part of Pacifica gets more sun. If you contact property management agencies, you can ask where the more sunny part of town is. And the fog is seasonal, anyway, not year-round. For commuting to SF, and for beach access, it's great.

That area I believe is called Linda Mar. Not really warm and sunny like you'd find in SoCal but slightly better than the northern part of the town. I used to live in the Outer Sunset...Pacifica weather was quite similar.

Poster might want to read up a little from a local...pretty thorough and interesting description of the town

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by Lagourmande1234

We have three kids and are looking to relocate to the bay area. Is love to live in the city itself, and ideally would have close proximity to the beach or surfing, good schools, and lots of sun... I realize that these things, due to the geography of San Francisco, might not go together. I'd love suggestions for family friendly areas with lots of sun and great places to eat, etc within walking distance. If you have any info on how schools work in the area, I'd love to hear that, too. We are up in the air about whether to try to live in the city or better in a BART connected suburb. Thanks!

If you can afford it, the cites along the Peninsula would be perfect for you!

-Great schools
-Very safe
-Thriving city centers
-Near San Francisco
-Near the beach
-Near hiking
-Easy access to BART or Caltrain

I recommend:

Foster City
Burlingame
San Mateo

[mayorhaggar]

There's not really any way to answer this without a budget or knowing where you'd work and need to commute to.

[square]

If you're looking for a sunny, family-friendly city with good schools, go inland. Specifically, the Walnut Creek area. Walnut Creek and the areas around it have access to bart and cheap rent compared to other parts of the bay. There isn't really any proximity to beaches but, cities near the bay don't hit 80 degrees in the summer unless there's some kind of heat wave, they stay low-mid 70's in the summer and have fog year-round. So the use of beaches is limited. Further inland, though, will get hot and sunny.