Commute from SF to Sonoma County: Hellish? (San Francisco, Santa Rosa: townhouse, neighborhoods)

[psychprof]

Hi folks,

I am a newly hired professor at Sonoma State University. I am relocating out there from the east coast and am trying to figure out where I want to live. Does anyone know how bad the traffic tends to be driving from the city to Rohnert Park? I hear the commute is about an hour, but I'm not sure how bad the traffic is.

I am leaning toward living near the school, at least for the first year so I can settle into the job etc, but may want to move into the city next year.

[18Montclair]

Its really, really bad. Worst of all, there's no avoiding it.

[nmnita]

I think your idea about living near the campus until you know your way around is a good one.

Nita

[AuntDianesArk]

You will actually be going against traffic, so it might not be too awful.

[Stacy From Cali]

Congrats on landing a professorship in this year's crappy market!!

It really depends on where in San Francisco you live. I did this for a year (lived in SF taught in Napa) and while it didn't kill me it wasn't fun either. It took me about an hour and 15 minutes (and, yes, it is against traffic so you are moving the whole time). Getting home always took longer because there was more traffic going into the city. I estimated at the time that between gas and tolls I paid over $500 a month. Ouch. Its going to be $5-6 bucks a day just to cross the dang bridge...

When I did this I was living very close to the Golden Gate Bridge (in a neighborhood called the Outer Richmond) so getting out of the city did not take much time. Other neighborhoods could add significant time to your commute.

I'm thinking that it would take you about the same amount of time driving if you used the back roads in Sonoma County instead of the freeway (101 to 37 to 121/116/Adobe Road/Petaluma Hill Road to SSU). Freeway would certainly take longer.

But look. SF is a great place to live, and I did love it, but Sonoma County is nothing to sneer at. Its an amazing place, especially if you are attracted to natural beauty. My advice would be to live nearer to campus than SF, but avoid Rohnert Park (it has no soul...suburban wasteland) and instead focus on looking at places in Cotati, Sebastopol, Petaluma or the town of Sonoma (or if you like the idea of living in the country, Penngrove or Schellville).

[SoCalMomma]

I dont have anything to add other than congrats!

My son will be an incoming Freshman in the fall at SSU and he is super excited! Maybe he'll be in one of your classes

We live in So Cal and have only been up there once, but we liked the area. I liked Santa Rosa a lot, and its not far from the school.

[kiwilover70]

I second what Stacy said about the big advantage in living near the campus,but in avoiding Rohnert Park.(When I went to Sonoma State we called it Rodent Puke). Cotati and Petaluma have much more soul to them and they have an actual downtown that feels like one.Even Santa Rosa and Sebastopol are a much more sensible drive than SF.The advantage about the area is its proximity to SF without having to pay so much to live there.

[psychprof]

Thanks SO much folks. This is very helpful. I'm stuck in Rohnert park for the first year, but hey, it is a three bedroom faculty townhouse right across the street from SSU -at a rate you would not believe. It costs about the same as most 1 bedrooms in the area, so between my roommate and I, we will really save some cash. Plus, I did not have to secure housing from across the country.

And many have warned me about RP. But then again, I have spent the last 6 years in grad school at Penn State, a school renowned for its out of control binge drinking culture, and in the middle of central PA. I am anticipating at least some improvement in quality of life!

As for next year, I am seriously going to weigh the pro's of SF with the cons y'all mentioned (gas, bridge tolls and commute time). I'm thinking petaluma would be good for me. It's close to SSU, and close enough to the city. Plus a decent downtown is important to me. I like to be able to walk to coffee

Thanks for the congrats. I am utterly thrilled about this.

[bellalunatic]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Its really, really bad. Worst of all, there's no avoiding it.

It's not that bad, although it is about an hour. Folks from the East Bay always make it sound like Sonoma County is a million miles away...which of course is so NOT the truth!

[Stacy From Cali]

Don't worry, over by SSU isn't really Rohnert Park (despite what the address may say) its more like Cotati. Living in the faculty housing should be cool...most of it was just built in the last couple of years and its right next to the countryside (on the other side of petaluma hill road is nothing but beautiful hills). In other words its far removed from the tract housing hell that defines most of Rohnert Park. A good place to start out, actually.

When you get here check out North Lights Books and Cafe and Oliver's Market. They are about a mile up the street from where you'll be and they are awesome! Unfortunately the only coffee you'll be able to walk to from your place is Charlie Brown's on campus...and you'll be knee deep in students there. But the coffee there is not bad.

My husband is also starting this year in a TT professor gig and we are also taking advantage of faculty housing, but down in Santa Clara. Isn't faculty housing great??

Talk to people in your department when you get there about commuting from the city. I'll bet there will be at least one...I know of one professor in the history department that does. If you want his name PM me.