No where safe in Bay Area/Willow Glen Middle School (San Diego: power lines, renting)

[Jyothi108]

We've been looking for a house for some time now...aside from the terrible lack of homes available right now, every place we look at seems to have some HUGE flaw.... It's on a fault, or near a creek polluted by a mine, or a flood zone, right by a freeway, power lines etc. Is there anywhere safe? I'm wondering if this is why folks like to live in (IMHO boring) Sunnyvale etc. We were really interested in Almaden Valley and Los Gatos, particularly a pocket of new homes that attend Los Gatos schools. But the beautiful creek that runs around the development (Guadalupe Creek) is polluted with mercury. Not to mention the landfill across the street that used to be a mercury mine. It just doesn't seem so ideal if my kids can't play in the creek because of pollution. Other than that we looked at a beautiful lot, great schools, etc. Ugh, I just can't see living by a polluted creek though. We keep thinking about Evergreen but hear the traffic is bad. (Work in Milpitas)

We are quickly being priced out of Sunnyvale and Mtn View. So, now looking at Willow Glen, Campbell etc. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with the new principal Willow Glen Middle and how the school is doing now? We want a good elementary, but are open to private school for middle school. We don't want super duper competitive craziness though...our daughter does well in Los Altos schools where we are renting, I'm a bit scared of Cupertino Schools, but hey, maybe it would be okay to be in a school where good grades were "cool." Which Campbell Middle schools are good? Do you prefer Campbell/Willow Glen over Cupertino or should I not be so scared of Cupertino schools? Budget: 1.4M prefer less...

Other than the housing issue, I'm fine living here vs. San Diego, but I really miss the relative safety there of places to live, great schools and affordability (compared to here

Thanks, in advance! API scores can only tell so much....

[bobby_guz_man]

You need to move to San Diego. Good grief, talk about being picky...

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by Jyothi108

We've been looking for a house for some time now...aside from the terrible lack of homes available right now, every place we look at seems to have some HUGE flaw.... It's on a fault, or near a creek polluted by a mine, or a flood zone, right by a freeway, power lines etc. Is there anywhere safe? I'm wondering if this is why folks like to live in (IMHO boring) Sunnyvale etc. We were really interested in Almaden Valley and Los Gatos, particularly a pocket of new homes that attend Los Gatos schools. But the beautiful creek that runs around the development (Guadalupe Creek) is polluted with mercury. Not to mention the landfill across the street that used to be a mercury mine. It just doesn't seem so ideal if my kids can't play in the creek because of pollution. Other than that we looked at a beautiful lot, great schools, etc. Ugh, I just can't see living by a polluted creek though. We keep thinking about Evergreen but hear the traffic is bad. (Work in Milpitas)

We are quickly being priced out of Sunnyvale and Mtn View. So, now looking at Willow Glen, Campbell etc. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with the new principal Willow Glen Middle and how the school is doing now? We want a good elementary, but are open to private school for middle school. We don't want super duper competitive craziness though...our daughter does well in Los Altos schools where we are renting, I'm a bit scared of Cupertino Schools, but hey, maybe it would be okay to be in a school where good grades were "cool." Which Campbell Middle schools are good? Do you prefer Campbell/Willow Glen over Cupertino or should I not be so scared of Cupertino schools? Budget: 1.4M prefer less...

Other than the housing issue, I'm fine living here vs. San Diego, but I really miss the relative safety there of places to live, great schools and affordability (compared to here

Thanks, in advance! API scores can only tell so much....

Are you scared of your own shadow as well?

[funtimessf]

Why are you focused on the South Bay? If you work in Milpitas then the East Bay would be a natural choice. Fremont, Pleasanton, Danville, and so forth. You will get better quality of life for the money, excellent schools, and so on. As demand for housing went up, parts of Santa Clara County were developed on top of industrial waste left behind by manufacturing facilities that once operated there (e.g. do a search for "Mountain View toxic plume"). Santa Clara County has the most Superfund sites of any county in California. List of Superfund sites in California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Jyothi108]

Thanks funtimessf, I'm also thinking of east bay. Hubby needs to get to Milpitas and frequently SFO....that's why the original focus on Santa Clara.

Yeesh, other replies are really harsh. Asking for neighborhood suggestions, particularly WG, not insults. You've gotta admit, it's hard for people to move here--and questions from newbies, who may be wondering about the history of the area would be expected.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by Jyothi108

Yeesh, other replies are really harsh.

Because this isn't the first time you've posted asking for suggestions. The last time you asked about Almaden Valley, people in here already said the mercury is fine. But you're bringing it up AGAIN.

The creek is polluted with mercury but it's not going to kill or poison anyone. You need to look up the exposure amount. Tons of people live in that area. Tons of rich, litigious people live in that area. If it was bad as you say, people would not have moved there all these 50 or so years, and they would already have filed lawsuits left and right. Just don't eat the fish! A little water splashing isn't going to maim anyone or give kids brain damage, OK?

I would say you should stay over in the East Bay like the other poster suggested. An occasional trip to SFO, you can jump on Dumbarton or use BART.

[Zeya]

Anyone who's been house shopping can sympathize with just being able to find a house without a major flaw. One of our big ones was finding a house that wasn't up against a freeway or on a 6-lane thoroughfare, etc. House shopping quickly becomes an exercise in "finding an acceptable property" instead of "finding the dream home".

I'll speak up and say I would agree to avoid any property on or very near a landfill. There's just too much risk involved with that; I don't care if it's 100 years old and hasn't yielded any problems yet. Avoid. I feel the same about mercury levels; avoid if possible.

I just moved to Willow Glen myself. We're just starting a family, so Elementary was my primary concern for now. We're in the Booksin district. We also feed into WG Middle/High, which I have similar questions about. But we bought our house in the high 700's, cozy enough for our family I think. If your budget is 1.4m, you should be good to go... You can look into Almaden, Cupertino, all kinds of neighborhoods on that budget. It is the middle of winter after all. Spring and through summer is the core home listing / buying season. Homes will start popping up; you just have to be patient.

[thetrb]

If you don't want your kids to get mercury exposure from the creek then just don't let them play in the creek. Not so hard, is it?

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by Zeya

Anyone who's been house shopping can sympathize with just being able to find a house without a major flaw.

But if one appears singularly intent on finding any flaw, however trivial or inconsequential, it leaves many wondering if it's simply an exercise in futility. Basically talking oneself out of living in any of the locales observed.
In this case, it's peculiar that while so many high-income people live quite happily in these places and pay dearly to enjoy them, they're still apparently too awful and toxic for our very skittish home-seeker.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by funtimessf

Why are you focused on the South Bay? If you work in Milpitas then the East Bay would be a natural choice. Fremont, Pleasanton, Danville, and so forth. You will get better quality of life for the money, excellent schools, and so on. As demand for housing went up, parts of Santa Clara County were developed on top of industrial waste left behind by manufacturing facilities that once operated there (e.g. do a search for "Mountain View toxic plume"). Santa Clara County has the most Superfund sites of any county in California. List of Superfund sites in California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Why not consider Milpitas? Decent schools and the commute can't be beat. Also Berryessa area of San Jose would be an alternative.