What's life in San Leandro like? (Hayward, Downey: crime, homes, neighborhoods)

[MisterCali]

Originally Posted by artemis78

On a side note, OP, how are you going to SOMA from the lake that it takes you over an hour? There may be some better ways to get there depending on where you are--that is on the long end for that commute. Google Maps doesn't always suggest the fastest ways for transit.

Since this keeps getting asked, I'm talking about a door-to-door commute, as in the time from when I close the front door of my apartment to the time I walk in the door of my office. From where I am in Oakland (near Euclid & Warwick)...

• It's about a 25-30 minute walk to the 19th St. BART station
• Depending upon the time I arrive, it could be a 5-10 minute wait for the next train headed into SF - usually on the lower end.
• Then it's about a 17-20 minute ride to the Civic Center/UN BART station
• Then it's a 15 minute walk from the Civic Center/UN BART station to my office in SoMa

Even if a SF bound train is departing the very second I arrive at 19th St, the commute, from door-to-door is going to be about 57 minutes.

This is not theoretical. I do this everyday.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by MisterCali

Since this keeps getting asked, I'm talking about a door-to-door commute, as in the time from when I close the front door of my apartment to the time I walk in the door of my office. From where I am in Oakland (near Euclid & Warwick)...

• It's about a 25-30 minute walk to the 19th St. BART station
• Depending upon the time I arrive, it could be a 5-10 minute wait for the next train headed into SF - usually on the lower end.
• Then it's about a 17-20 minute ride to the Civic Center/UN BART station
• Then it's a 15 minute walk from the Civic Center/UN BART station to my office in SoMa

Even if a SF bound train is departing the very second I arrive at 19th St, the commute, from door-to-door is going to be about 57 minutes.

This is not theoretical. I do this everyday.

In that case, there are places in Downtown San Leandro that are a block or two away from BART. Most of the are condos, but the building I clean, owners are permitted to rent. So that walk will shorten.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by MisterCali

Since this keeps getting asked, I'm talking about a door-to-door commute, as in the time from when I close the front door of my apartment to the time I walk in the door of my office. From where I am in Oakland (near Euclid & Warwick)...

• It's about a 25-30 minute walk to the 19th St. BART station
• Depending upon the time I arrive, it could be a 5-10 minute wait for the next train headed into SF - usually on the lower end.
• Then it's about a 17-20 minute ride to the Civic Center/UN BART station
• Then it's a 15 minute walk from the Civic Center/UN BART station to my office in SoMa

Even if a SF bound train is departing the very second I arrive at 19th St, the commute, from door-to-door is going to be about 57 minutes.

This is not theoretical. I do this everyday.

You might be better off taking the NL (ac transit) and taking the 10 (muni) to get to your office.

[honobob]

Interesting, I used to work off Marina Blvd. back in the 80's when the white curtain existed. Generally black people from Oakland did not cross that. The OP is still moving to a city with a lower crime rate than Oakland but I would say in both cities that most of the crime is clustered in small areas. Probably most of SL crime is in low income apartment complexes.

There are nice apartments/condos near the Bart station. SL would not be my choice for a single person unless you like chillin with your dog and gardening in your back yard.

[artemis78]

Originally Posted by jade408

You might be better off taking the NL (ac transit) and taking the 10 (muni) to get to your office.

+1, or the B or NX if you have typical commute hours. (NL runs all day and picks up at Grand and Perkins; NXs and B are just AM/PM commute and pick up at Lake Park and Grand, but are usually nicer buses.) If you haven't tried the transbay bus yet, it's definitely worth checking out--I prefer it to BART during rush hour. You could also consider whether it's worth getting an AC Transit pass if you would use it for other things and hopping on the 12 to BART, which would cut your time to/from BART on the Oakland side considerably when timing works out. Many people also do casual carpool into the city in the morning and BART back. Not such a big issue with so little time left there, of course. If you end up with a commute like that long term, definitely get a bike--much faster and you can leave it at the 19th Street Bike Station.

[PixelatedTherapy]

San Leandro isn't bad, especially when you consider it borders Deep East Oakland to the north. When it comes to urban amenities there's very few. The closest walkable urban area to San Leandro would most likely be Fruitvale in East Oakland, but that neighborhood can be sketchy at times. So I'm not sure if you'd be comfortable with that. The only area that seems to suffer from an elevated crime rate is the section that directly borders Oakland, other than that it's a pretty typical Bay Area suburb. If you can, try and move somewhere near a BART station. In my opinion it's a bit safer than Hayward, and despite what people say, Hayward isn't too bad. It's essentially Alameda County's equivalent to Concord.

[MisterCali]

Thanks for the transit tips; I'll definitely check out those alternatives when I'm more pressed for time in the morning. I actually really like my walk to and from BART stations and on busy days when I can't squeeze a workout in, it's good to know I've at least gotten about an hour of brisk walking in! I have a Clipper card so I already do use MUNI and AC etc sometimes.

Anyway, that's enough side-tracking of this thread. That said, if anyone has an opinion on the San Antonio district/neighborhood in Oakland, I'd greatly appreciate reading your thoughts in this thread.

[Bert_from_back_East]

Originally Posted by WizardOfRadical

San Leandro and Hayward are probably the two of the most depressing suburbs in the world.

I agree.

The general urbanscape of San Leandro, Hayward and other coastal East Bay communities is the ugliest I've yet to see in the United States.

Housing styles in that area are absolutely hideous, and lots of homes appear to have burglar bars on the windows. Yards tend to be very unruly-looking, and it seems like every household sports a brown lawn. All of this gives even solidly middle-class neighborhoods a very rundown look and feel.

Also, it appears as if most of the roads and parking lots haven't been paved in years.

Not my cup of tea.

[ketch89]

1) Buy bicycle
2) Ride bicycle to BART, saving you 40 minutes of walking each day
3) Use money saved on the car you would have bought in San Leandro to afford an apartment in Oakland.
4) ???
5) Happiness

Really though, if you move to San Leandro anywhere outside of immediately adjacent to BART, you'll feel like you need a car.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by ketch89

1) Buy bicycle
2) Ride bicycle to BART, saving you 40 minutes of walking each day
3) Use money saved on the car you would have bought in San Leandro to afford an apartment in Oakland.
4) ???
5) Happiness

Really though, if you move to San Leandro anywhere outside of immediately adjacent to BART, you'll feel like you need a car.

Riding a bike definitely opens up a lot more of Oakland! Particularly in North and West Oakland. Essentially everything above the lake is an easy and flat bike ride to BART and all the other neighborhoods (below the hills).