Suitability of Walnut Creek/Pleasant Hill for a 22 year old? (Los Angeles: crimes, home security)

[bayarea-girl]

Anywhere in the bay area if you leave items out in your car then someone will most likely break into your car. Cars get stolen in WC that is a fact. But I believe the OP was trying to buy a condo which wouldn't be found on Creekside. The slum area of Walnut Creek isn't Creekside although you can find a lot of apartments cheaply I believe the night so nice part is all the way down N. Main past the bart station. To buy a condo in WC there are several places to buy but if I were 22 I would buy downtown. On the weekends WC does have some parking issues other than that it isn't a problem especially when you compare it to other parts of the bay.

[ImRandy]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

ImRandy, really when you think about it there is not a big difference between economic and racial segregation. People with money tend to make areas more expensive to keep certain people out. Not trying to light a match here. But I've often wondered how come the bay has this image of liberalism but when it comes to races and economics things get blurry.

If you say so.

[new2bay]

My car was broken into parked in front of my house in Walnut Creek. Our center console was damaged, glove compartment broken, and GPS stolen. 5 months later, someone opened our car doors and just left them open,(clearly my husband didnt lock the doors), but nothing to my knowledge, was stolen.

A couple of days ago someone in my mothers group from Lafayette, posted that a vagrant tried to BS their way into their house with a cockamamy story at 1AM. They called the police who apparently found he person a couple of blocks away.

Downtown WC has a fairly significant crime problem with store burglaries, armed robberies etc.

A couple of months ago, there was a crime spree in Lamorinda and approximately 50 homes were robbed in broad daylight. The organized crime ring had very easy access to the area via highways and bart from a neighboring town.

The problem with Cotra Costa is that the vast majority of the county is a ghetto (Antioch, Pittsburg, Richmond, Concord) experiencing the worst of the housing and employment problems. Walnut Creek, Lamorinda, Alamo etc, is a small enclave of wealthy areas surrounded by these ghettos who have easy access to the areas via BART, and freeways. Especially with the economy heading south, the crime is going to get worse. Criminals know the citizens of these areas live in a bubble of a 1960's mentality that they can leave their doors open, are laissez faire about protecting their homes, and politically soft on crime.

It really surprises me that these areas do not use home security systems, a private security company to patrol the area, or gating off their neighborhoods for residents only.

These practices are very common in Los Angeles, where people who dont want to be violated by criminals and want to keep their neighborhoods safe, take these types of measures to ensure their safety.

Hopefully the citizens of WC etc will eventually get a clue about how to protect themselves...as I seem to hear about criminal activity in the area on a daily basis, and nothing being done about it.

[City Boy]

Concord is a Ghetto?

[lynz815]

Originally Posted by City Boy

Concord is a Ghetto?

I'm wondering the same thing.

The problem with Cotra Costa is that the vast majority of the county is a ghetto (Antioch, Pittsburg, Richmond, Concord) experiencing the worst of the housing and employment problems. Walnut Creek, Lamorinda, Alamo etc, is a small enclave of wealthy areas surrounded by these ghettos who have easy access to the areas via BART, and freeways

I'd have to say not all of Concord nor Antioch are ghetto (maybe some of the old parts of Antioch are run down and ghetto). Parts of Pittsburg and Richmond, yes, but I would not call those whole cities ghetto. Would i want to live in Pitt or Richmond = not in a million years.

[new2bay]

My point with the post is that all the neighborhoods in close proximity to WC/Lamorinda (Oakland, Richmond, Antioch, parts of Concord, etc) have a lot of criminal activity. Richmond is rated in the top 10 most violent/crime ridden cities in the country, and just 20 min. from one of the wealthier areas in the state, accessible by easy highway and subway connections. So it is not a surprise that the crime is frequent and consistent in Lamorinda/WC....especially because the criminals know that nobody does anything about it. Even the BART parking lots have no patrol or security and cars are consistently being broken into at Orinda and Lafayette stations, and nothing is done about it.

My Aesthetician was robbed at gunpoint in her small shop in downtown Walnut Creek in the middle of the day last year, but here is the catch, she thought nothing of a strange man coming into her shop and just sitting down, asking if his brother could use the restroom...clearly to case the place out, she said fine, and the next thing you know...they robbed her at gunpoint. She thought nothing like this would ever happen in Walnut Creek, yet it does all the time, because of the current attitudes of businesses and residents thinking it is this perfectly safe, apple pie area, which it isnt. It is an area criminals can easily target because the residents are too timid to do anything about it.

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by new2bay

My point with the post is that all the neighborhoods in close proximity to WC/Lamorinda (Oakland, Richmond, Antioch, parts of Concord, etc) have a lot of criminal activity. Richmond is rated in the top 10 most violent/crime ridden cities in the country, and just 20 min. from one of the wealthier areas in the state, accessible by easy highway and subway connections. So it is not a surprise that the crime is frequent and consistent in Lamorinda/WC....especially because the criminals know that nobody does anything about it. Even the BART parking lots have no patrol or security and cars are consistently being broken into at Orinda and Lafayette stations, and nothing is done about it.

My Aesthetician was robbed at gunpoint in her small shop in downtown Walnut Creek in the middle of the day last year, but here is the catch, she thought nothing of a strange man coming into her shop and just sitting down, asking if his brother could use the restroom...clearly to case the place out, she said fine, and the next thing you know...they robbed her at gunpoint. She thought nothing like this would ever happen in Walnut Creek, yet it does all the time, because of the current attitudes of businesses and residents thinking it is this perfectly safe, apple pie area, which it isnt. It is an area criminals can easily target because the residents are too timid to do anything about it.

I can't disagree more with your posts. I live in Lamorinda and I haven't heard about any of this crime you keep talking about. All of my neighbors are retirees and have lived in the area for well over 40yrs and they'd be surprised at your assessments of this area. The only crime that I can possibly imagine would be a bit of vandalism or petty stuff like college kids throwing parties near the college. Hardly the nightmare criminal activity you're describing!

If you are measuring a community's safety record by a few "scary" stories via heresay, then you could say that crime is rampant in the Amish community in Pennsylvania (i.e. the maniac that shot the kids at the school).

If you look take a look at the free local rag, 'The Lamorinda Times", you can actually look up the all of the local police reports in the area- ridiculously few.

[City Boy]

Originally Posted by new2bay

My point with the post is that all the neighborhoods in close proximity to WC/Lamorinda (Oakland, Richmond, Antioch, parts of Concord, etc) have a lot of criminal activity. Richmond is rated in the top 10 most violent/crime ridden cities in the country, and just 20 min. from one of the wealthier areas in the state, accessible by easy highway and subway connections. So it is not a surprise that the crime is frequent and consistent in Lamorinda/WC....especially because the criminals know that nobody does anything about it. Even the BART parking lots have no patrol or security and cars are consistently being broken into at Orinda and Lafayette stations, and nothing is done about it.

My Aesthetician was robbed at gunpoint in her small shop in downtown Walnut Creek in the middle of the day last year, but here is the catch, she thought nothing of a strange man coming into her shop and just sitting down, asking if his brother could use the restroom...clearly to case the place out, she said fine, and the next thing you know...they robbed her at gunpoint. She thought nothing like this would ever happen in Walnut Creek, yet it does all the time, because of the current attitudes of businesses and residents thinking it is this perfectly safe, apple pie area, which it isnt. It is an area criminals can easily target because the residents are too timid to do anything about it.

I think it's safe to say you're paranoid. I had a neighbor like you she would call the police if the mail man changed out of fear he is a burglar dressed like a mail man.

[ImRandy]

As a new resident of Concord I would say much of it is middle to lower middle class but there are areas that lean to ghetto. I wouldn't go so far as to say the whole city is ghetto. It seems like there is a lot more burglary, car theft, and general crime than I'm used to though it could just be my new habit of reading the police logs and the claycord website. I suspect if we all read more about what went on in our communities our perceptions of them would lesson compared to what we actually experience.

[DjRey]

Monument Ave in Concord has gotten worse. I've noticed it. They did an article in the paper on the gangs out there a couple months back. I think it was the Contra Costa Times, great story if you find it.