Oakland, Lake Merritt Area (San Leandro, Alameda: home, living in, store)

[emwhite]

Hi folks. I'm planning a move to Oakland in a few months. From what I've heard, the area where I'll be living, West Macarthur Blvd. near Peidmont, is nice in comparison to some of the other areas in Oakland.
I'm basically looking for some impartial opinions about the area just to make sure my friends aren't trying to coerce me with false information.

Also, I have an elementary school aged daughter, and I'm starting to get a bit concerned about some of the things I've been hearing about the public school system in Oakland, so any input on that would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Ultrarunner]

Public Schools in Oakland run the gamut from the very low to very high in performance. Piedmont, surrounded by the city of Oakland has some very highly rated public schools.

As a 40 year Oakland resident, I really think I could live just about anywhere in the city and have... my only concern would be school age children and that would eliminate most Oakland neighborhoods... in my opinion.

[Suzer]

How would the route be using BART if I lived in Lakeshore, and worked on Second Avenue in Oakland?

[Suzer]

More specifically, would it be a challenge to be without a car?

[fizbin]

You'd be walking or biking or busing, depending. 2nd Ave. is about a mile from the business area of Lakeshore, and everything in between is Lake Merritt on the north side and residential on the south.

[Suzer]

Thank you!

[mysticaltyger]

Oakland is very nice in some areas and awful in others. You really have to pick your neighborhoods carefully. Also, Oakland's current mayor is a joke. Their previous mayor, Jerry Brown, was pro-growth and did a lot to bring more business & development to Oakland. Now those projects that got going under Brown's administration are winding down, and the new mayor is corrupt...which is probably at least part of the reason why the crime rate in Oakland is going up again.

[fizbin]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

Also, Oakland's current mayor is a joke. Their previous mayor, Jerry Brown, was pro-growth and did a lot to bring more business & development to Oakland. Now those projects that got going under Brown's administration are winding down, and the new mayor is corrupt...which is probably at least part of the reason why the crime rate in Oakland is going up again.

I don't know that the current mayor (Dellums) is corrupt, but based on what he has said and done so far he is both lazy and ignorant. Lazy because in almost a year in office there is no evidence that he has done ANYthing, and ignorant because he says the people of Oakland are not in favor of putting more cops on the street, even though we voted to tax ourselves to specifically do just that two years ago. The money is piling up and no cops have been hired. Pathetic . . .

[exarkansan]

Lake Merritt area is beautiful
Don't be fooled by the naysayers!
I used to live on Orange Avenue ( above Lake Merritt) the neighbors were nice, it was clean and just plain lovely.
The Oak trees ( hence the name OAKland) are everywhere.
Tom Hanks was raised in Oakland and graduated from Skyline high school.
It's a beautiful place, don't take my word for it - come visit.

Except during violent storms, trees don't generally kill people, nor do they beat them up and rob them. And when they do kill, trees just aren't in the habit of targeting their victims on the basis of color. Blacks in slummy-like areas most likely mainly kill members of rival gangs, who are most likely either blacks or Hispanics, while much street robbery carried out by blacks - entailing the potential need for getting rough - is probably mainly directed at anyone who is carrying something to be deemed of value, and since an element of the decision to rob or not to rob most likely involves a calculation of the difficulty in overcoming the victim, whites may easily be the ideal street-robbery victim (few whites are willing to risk their lives - or even a black eye or a chipped tooth - either for their wallets, their watches, or their cellphones).

On the other hand, break-ins may be more random, more "colorless", targeting anyone who resides in a nice abode (read: who possesses lots of pricey stuff that can be passed on to a fence). Occasionally - or perhaps more and more frequently - very rich blacks are being targeted on open streets for their automobiles especially.

In sum, trees just aren't a good indicator of the crime level, though I would agree that in rural, forested areas of, say, Montana, the crime level, apart from the presence of certain nutty militias like the Minutemen, is probably negligible. I also note that Tom Hanks doesn't live in the Lake Merritt district any longer, even though he surely has the dough to fly to Hollywood and back from Oakland for the yearly film. In this he is probably thinking of the welfare of his family, in spite of the many positive childhood memories which are surely intertwined with Lake Merritt's beautiful oak trees.


Yours,
exarkansan (white dude, just to be up front about that little detail)

[mrvgs]

Yes it's a safe great city. Be sure to say 'hi' to the Guardian Angels as they now walk the streets due to all of the robberies of resturants in broad daylight. Sounds like fun. Even Piedmont ave is not safe with being hit in the past week. and that poor child who was shot getting a piano lesson.