any benicia residents here? (Concord, Vallejo: house, neighborhood, movies)

[christeen]

Well, I tend to like Safeway's prices over Raley's, but I could deal. Couldn't take a bridge to Trader Joe's though and the Napa & Fairfield stores are too far as well.

Didn't the town ever feel too small? I'm still getting used to the small-town feel of Napa and it's almost 3x the size.

Thanks for the tips on neighborhoods and schools. I'd still like to know if the $$ is draining from the public schools since I understand Benicia like so many other CA schools relies on parent "donations" to help fund programs. With so many for sale signs in the area, I'm concerned there will be a corresponding drop in school funding.

I do love the proximity to the Bay Area, the weather, etc. Just trying to figure out if it's better for us to go to Davis instead. Thanks again!

[snappy]

Originally Posted by christeen

Didn't the town ever feel too small? I'm still getting used to the small-town feel of Napa and it's almost 3x the size.

Christeen, it never felt too small to me because I had access to all the surrounding areas. Napa is much more isolated and may feel small. Although I loved the Napa Valley.

I never made it to Davis but have heard a lot of great things about it. Good luck on your choices.

[christeen]

Thanks, snappy. I'll keep reading/researching -- this is a great site & forum!

[gizmo980]

Ugh. I drive past Benicia every day, and that smell is AWFUL! I don't know how it smells in town, but the freeway stinks pretty badly. I work up in Napa, btw, and it's a really nice little town... it has everything you need right there (Target, Walmart, grocery stores, restaurants, etc.) and really is an easy drive to Vallejo & everywhere else. I commute between there and San Francisco 4x/week, and even that is pretty quick - 50 minutes door-to-door without traffic. American Canyon is also pretty cute, though I don't know if it has much to offer. Fairfield and that area isn't really my cup of tea... I almost took a job there, and didn't particularly like the town, though I can't say why. Davis is much nicer, so I'd definitely recommend that over Fairfield. Anyway, hope that helps!

[LateNightLarry]

Originally Posted by christeen

My husband and I are planning to buy a home this year and are considering Benicia (as well as Napa and Davis. We really like what we've seen and heard so far about Benicia (small town, cute main street, great schools), except:

Refineries, etc: I know the expensive new homes are near the refineries, but it seems most other residents aren't affected by them since the wind blows the other way. But I've read there's an old military arsenal and old dump that were located in other parts of the town, yet I never hear anyone mention it on the posts here. Are these just not a concern for residents? Is the water, etc ok?

Thanks so much for any feedback.

The refinery is built on part of the old arsenal grounds. many of the old Army buildings are still there and converted to others uses, and many new office/industrial buildings have been built there. Benicia is also across the Carquinez Straits from several other refineries, and the wind blows towards Benicia, particularly the eastern portion.

There is an old dump which was covered over with many feet of dirt, BUT, very bigh BUT, there have been many health problems in the area. The main street in the neighborhood is Rose Drive and the streets coming off of Rose Drive. The Southhampton area is not part of the problem area. Benicia is fairly expensive, and has become yuppified. My wife's aunt lives in the old part of Benicia (West J Street) and her very small two bedroom house would probably sell for about $800K; that's what similar houses around here have sold for in the past couple of years.

LateNightLarry

[snappy]

And speaking of winds...The wind blows constantly and hard all the time in Benicia. I had forgotten about that till reading the post above.

However that means no AC required. We didn't have any and in 5 years there were only a couple handful of days that we really needed it and well there's the wind!!

And ya, the older areas are very expensive, but Southampton and newer areas not so much. Well for California!!

[christeen]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

Ugh. I drive past Benicia every day, and that smell is AWFUL! I don't know how it smells in town, but the freeway stinks pretty badly. I work up in Napa, btw, and it's a really nice little town... it has everything you need right there (Target, Walmart, grocery stores, restaurants, etc.) and really is an easy drive to Vallejo & everywhere else. I commute between there and San Francisco 4x/week, and even that is pretty quick - 50 minutes door-to-door without traffic. American Canyon is also pretty cute, though I don't know if it has much to offer. Fairfield and that area isn't really my cup of tea... I almost took a job there, and didn't particularly like the town, though I can't say why. Davis is much nicer, so I'd definitely recommend that over Fairfield. Anyway, hope that helps!

Thanks, gizmo. Yeah, the smell driving past Benicia is bad, but I've never smelled when in the city and my husband's friends say it all blows away from the town.

We actually live in Napa and really like it except the lack of diversity, so-so schools and the long/dangerous commute through Jameson Canyon to Vacaville (though they're supposed to widen it by 2013). You're right, the drive's not bad to Vallejo (though getting worse as American Canyon is built up with more and more traffic lights to slow everyone down). We're definitely serious about Davis right now, but haven't ruled out Napa or even Benicia yet (but getting there cuz of the refineries).

Sounds like you're doing a reverse commute from SF to Napa? 50 mins is fast even when I'm driving. Have you ever taken the ferry from Vallejo? That's something I'd be looking into if we stay in Napa or move to Banicia.

Yeah, Fairfield is not as charming as Napa, Davis or Benicia, though I like the racial diversity and much more affordable home prices.

Originally Posted by LateNightLarry

The refinery is built on part of the old arsenal grounds. many of the old Army buildings are still there and converted to others uses, and many new office/industrial buildings have been built there. Benicia is also across the Carquinez Straits from several other refineries, and the wind blows towards Benicia, particularly the eastern portion.

There is an old dump which was covered over with many feet of dirt, BUT, very bigh BUT, there have been many health problems in the area. The main street in the neighborhood is Rose Drive and the streets coming off of Rose Drive. The Southhampton area is not part of the problem area. Benicia is fairly expensive, and has become yuppified. My wife's aunt lives in the old part of Benicia (West J Street) and her very small two bedroom house would probably sell for about $800K; that's what similar houses around here have sold for in the past couple of years.

Thanks for all the info. I've been finding a lot more googling this stuff too. Looks like the refineries and arsenal are on the eastern side of town, but the dump was on the west side of Rose Dr. Southampton homes look cute. From what I've seen, $800k gets a lot of home in Benicia these days.

What kind of health problems have you heard about? Asthma from the refineries?

Originally Posted by snappy

And speaking of winds...The wind blows constantly and hard all the time in Benicia. I had forgotten about that till reading the post above.

However that means no AC required. We didn't have any and in 5 years there were only a couple handful of days that we really needed it and well there's the wind!!

And ya, the older areas are very expensive, but Southampton and newer areas not so much. Well for California!!

It's definitely cooler in Benicia. I love the weather there. At least it saves AC money, even if it brings in an occasional whiff of refinery. Interesting the older areas would be more expensive. Are you talking closer to the water/downtown? Still, the prices have been coming down a lot.

Thanks everyone!

[karelise]

Christeen - I can't help you with the areas you're looking into but wondered if you could tell me a little more about Napa...?

We're considering the area and are concerned abou the schools and what seems to be a very have vs. have not society ( though I guess that is true in a lot of places). Do you feel that it is too 'small-town' ish?

thanks for any info!

[christeen]

Originally Posted by karelise

Christeen - I can't help you with the areas you're looking into but wondered if you could tell me a little more about Napa...?

We're considering the area and are concerned abou the schools and what seems to be a very have vs. have not society ( though I guess that is true in a lot of places). Do you feel that it is too 'small-town' ish?

thanks for any info!

Hi karelise:

Napa is great overall, but like any city there are some drawbacks. I've lived in large cities most of my life so it sometimes feels too small-townish to me, but my husband grew up in a small town in the midwest and is totally comfortable w/ the size of the city. So I think it depends on where you're coming from. And fwiw, we're moving to Davis which is an even smaller town!

I miss the excitement of having lots of choices for places to eat (esp ethnic foods), things to do, etc that you get in the Bay Area. Napa often feels isolated because it takes so long to get out to other cities because traffic is heavy on the narrow roads leading in/out (though they're working on the connection to Hwy 80 in Fairfield, and there's talk of a bypass through American Canyon into Vallejo). On the other hand, even though it's a small town, there are lots of cultural events, world-class restaurants etc because of the tourism industry. (The downside is those things are mostly for rich and/or tourists, most families here don't eat out at French Laundry that often ). And there's a resurgence going on in the downtown area that is pretty exciting. There are also a lot of good activities for kids and supposed to be a kids discovery type museum opening soon. I think for teens it's hard since there's nothing for their age group to do.

The other small-town feel of the city is running into the same people over and over again. On the one hand it's nice to know so many people, but sometimes I miss the anonymity of living in a big city. The best thing is the kids play with each other on the streets, leave their bikes out in the front lawns, etc and that aspect feels pretty safe. I tell my "big city" friends I live in Mayberry when I describe it here.

As for have vs. have-nots. There actually is a good range of income groups, at least it seems that way, not just super rich and super poor, thought there are those too. I do hear that some folks "up valley" look down on us lowly folks living in Napa, but haven't really noticed it.

The issue I have w/ the demographics is it seems the racial divide of the income groups. Because of the wine industry, there is a large Latino population that came to Napa to work the fields. But I hear some resentment by some longer-term residents about having to "cater" to this group when it comes to educating bilingual kids and other issues. (These are often the same people who comment in the paper about the "dam-" tourists). Race often comes up in the comments to the local paper (www.naparegister.com) whenever a Latino person is involved in a car accident, if a crime is committed, etc, ie "I bet he's illegal," etc. Many were even angry the theme of this year's town/country fair was "Fiesta De Napa" even though they still had all the country music groups etc they always do. I realize that kind of racism is everywhere and is probably a minority viewpoint, but at the same time, I do get the sense that not all Napans are so welcoming of outsiders. That's when it feels like I'm living amongst a bunch of hillbillies and really miss living in the Bay Area.

As for schools, some of the elementary schools are really good (as so often happens, these will be found in the more affluent areas). But the high schools are just so-so. IIRC when test scores broken down by race/ethnicity, Caucasians score much higher overall than Latinos, but again I tend to think it's because the income groups also tend to fall along racial lines. Although some parents are very active, I just never got the sense that the community was behind the schools the way you see it in Davis or other high performing areas. In that sense, I do agree that the city seems to cater more to the tourists than the residents who are supporting that industry. Schools are good, but not all great, and I'd hope the revenue coming from the tourists and wine industries could help especially as the district deals w/ the funding cuts everyone's facing these days.

Sorry to ramble, that's probably more than you wanted to know of one person's opinion. Good luck w/ your decision!

[gentledental4u]

racial diversity is not all it's cracked up to be......