How would tree hugging, vegetarian liberals fair in Pleasanton, Danvile or San Ramon? (Oakland: private school, university)

[E14]

Originally Posted by Joe_Ryder

You might find that a little more difficult than you might imagine.

how so?

[Joe_Ryder]

Originally Posted by E14

how so?

I just sent you a direct message. Since you like to threaten people, I'll be happy to play but not out here.

[E14]

Originally Posted by Joe_Ryder

I just sent you a direct message. Since you like to threaten people, I'll be happy to play but not out here.

Message read and responded to.

[FlaMD]

absolutely!

[Leannec]

I know this is a really old thread... but there are people like you describe nearly everywhere in the bay area. I'm in Fremont and half the moms I know here practice AP and the other half are only about a half step away from it. I know a fair number of vegetarians, as well as several vegans, and even us conservatives can be tree hugging environmentalists!

Test scores aren't everything, I'd choose the "8-9" schools before the "10's" because it means they probably don't merely teach to the test. Pleasanton has some awesome schools, including one that just introduced an outdoor classroom and SJ has a ton of charters cropping up.

I hope the OP found what she was looking for, but I just wanted to clear some things up for others who might be interested.

[jaynetarzana]

Thanks for your post Leannec. We are still trying to figure out the perfect place to settle and raise our girls. We are in Chicago for now because of DH's job, but as soon as it makes sense we are heading back to California. I love the idea of an outdoor classroom. What a fantastic learning experience for the kids. Classrooms always seem so stuffy to me.

Air quality is a major concern for us so every time we consider anyplace, it must first pass the air quality test and very few places do unfortunately. I realized that Alameda county gets an F for their air quality. California - American Lung Association

Not sure I agree with you on the 8-9 schools meaning that they don't teach to the test. From what I understand, most public schools teach to the test now and the schools that are rated 10 just happen to do a better job of it (or the demographic is such that it is easier to reach the higher scores). I am not an advocate of teaching to the test, but unless you can afford private schools or parents revolt against this practice in a major way, I don't see this changing.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by Yvonne1207

Ah.. I forgot you wanted a warm weather location.

I currently live in San Diego county, and would take SD over anything in NorCal. Love it here, and I grew up in the Bay Area.

Yvonne, I'd love to hear more from you on this. Are you still loving San Diego vs NorCal? I am reviving my old thread because we are still trying to figure out where to move. We moved back to California last year and for 8 months we bounced between the Bay area and San Diego trying to figure out where to settle. DH's job lured us back to Chicago for awhile, but we are plotting our return to the Golden State.

[alamo andrea]

Hello Jay, and welcome to the East Bay! As a fellow tree hugging, liberal, ethical vegetarian, I can tell you that you'll fit in just fine.

I would like to address the 'blah, conservative, lack of diversity' conversation that I see often when people reference the Walnut Creek-Alamo-Danville-San Ramon-Pleasanton area. It is an urban-dwelling myth that anyone outside the city limits must be vanilla. I pulled up some statistics, mostly from City-Data:

In the last Presidential election, the fine people of San Ramon (I had to pick just 1 city) voted 69% democrat and 30% republican. San Ramon is 75% white, 3% black, 4% mulitracial, 15% asian (I know that's broad but they listed so many nationalities that I had to group them) and 2% 'other.' That's 25% non-white, People! I worked the polls in Alamo the night that Prop 8 passed - our precinct, probably one of the more conservative in the 680 corridor, voted overwhelmingly against Prop 8.

Piedmont is lovely. It is tiny, extremely expensive and the homes tend to be smaller and much older than the homes most families desire today. Folks who can live in Piedmont are blessed; there just aren't that many of them.

All of the communities I mentioned are interesting and diverse. If you want a little more 'vibe,' check out Walnut Creek - there's a lot more 'there' there. I agree, San Ramon and Danville are very children-and-golden-retriever centric. San Ramon has no downtown, it's pretty much all sprawl. Walnut Creek, Danville and Pleasanton have downtowns. Walnut Creek is a quick 30 minute BART ride to San Francisco and a direct line to SFO, Pleasanton also has BART.

I'm sure you'll make the right move and be very happy here. Andrea

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by alamo andrea

Hello Jay, and welcome to the East Bay! As a fellow tree hugging, liberal, ethical vegetarian, I can tell you that you'll fit in just fine.

I would like to address the 'blah, conservative, lack of diversity' conversation that I see often when people reference the Walnut Creek-Alamo-Danville-San Ramon-Pleasanton area. It is an urban-dwelling myth that anyone outside the city limits must be vanilla. I pulled up some statistics, mostly from City-Data:

In the last Presidential election, the fine people of San Ramon (I had to pick just 1 city) voted 69% democrat and 30% republican. San Ramon is 75% white, 3% black, 4% mulitracial, 15% asian (I know that's broad but they listed so many nationalities that I had to group them) and 2% 'other.' That's 25% non-white, People! I worked the polls in Alamo the night that Prop 8 passed - our precinct, probably one of the more conservative in the 680 corridor, voted overwhelmingly against Prop 8.

Piedmont is lovely. It is tiny, extremely expensive and the homes tend to be smaller and much older than the homes most families desire today. Folks who can live in Piedmont are blessed; there just aren't that many of them.

All of the communities I mentioned are interesting and diverse. If you want a little more 'vibe,' check out Walnut Creek - there's a lot more 'there' there. I agree, San Ramon and Danville are very children-and-golden-retriever centric. San Ramon has no downtown, it's pretty much all sprawl. Walnut Creek, Danville and Pleasanton have downtowns. Walnut Creek is a quick 30 minute BART ride to San Francisco and a direct line to SFO, Pleasanton also has BART.

I'm sure you'll make the right move and be very happy here. Andrea

I agree! I'm an ethical-vegetarian liberal from the Boston area and I actually don't mind those areas... hell, if I'm still in the Bay Area, that's most likely where I'll move since it's more family-friendly. Admittedly, I'm not much of a tree-hugger. I love cars and will fight to the ends of the earth to be able to blow straight by any plug-in electric in my turbocharged S2000 that gets about 10mpg when I'm leaning on the gas, so I do have a bit of a social tie in with other "dudes" who live in those areas. I just go to a Buddhist temple and eat tofu.

A good friend of mine lives in Castro Valley, and he and his family are more conservative-leaning than me, but we all get along great. The sort of conservatism you find in the East Bay is not the same as the conservatism you'll find in Southern Illinois. They'll likely invite you over for dinner, won't come at you for your political beliefs, and hell, chances are good that they may own a Prius and shop at Whole Foods! They just don't think that they should be taxed, want our borders sealed and guarded with APC's, and for some reason think that if gays are allowed to marry, their kids will suffer...?

I've been over there many times with an ex who was Japanese-American and had her arms covered in tattoos. We'd pull up into the parking lot to a Safeway in my convertible with some good-old Boston hardcore playing loud enough that that anyone nearby could probably hear it, and when we got out smiling and held hands, the older folks walking to their Escalades would smile politely, even warmly at us. Hell, one time a lady who looked like a total stepford wife in a Safeway told her that the "artwork on [her] arms was amazing!" and asked if she had it done "back home." I've been all over Walnut Creek, Castro Valley, Hayward, San Leandro, Vallejo, Vacaville, etc. with her and another ex who is Pakistani and no one gave us nasty or weird looks. People in the more conservative areas here have a much more fiscally conservative/socially libertarian viewpoint and you'll likely get along just fine.

[takingthePlunge]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

Thanks clongirl, you reply was very helpful. Being near like minded people is very important to us, but so is having access is great public schools. The California performance map shows that whole corridor from Pleasant Hill all the way down to Pleasanton to have school ratings of 10 out of 10.
California School Performance Maps

Suburban boring is okay for this era of our lives. We are raising little ones and our priorites lie in clean air, safety, education, clean neighborhoods with low crime.

Hi Jaynetarzana. I'm reading your old posts from a few years ago as I came across them when I recently posed the same question about the Pleasanton area: Can a liberal family live comfortably there? So, I'm itching to know where you settled down with your family and how your school situation panned out? I have three children of varying ages and would prefer private school (for the small class size - I feel it will provide a smoother transition for them being the "new" kids). We really like Pleasanton but there aren't many private schools within a 15 minute drive. I'd love to hear where you've settled and how you like it.