Santa Barbara- Suggested rental neighborhoods - Walkable & Safe for my Teenagers (Mesa: where to stay)

[jojoIOP]

My two teens are moving to SB; they want to rent a studio or 1br apartment in a good area of SB close to the Santa Barbara High School and the SB City College.

Any suggestions what areas are good, safe, quiet, walkable, etc?

Any suggestions where to stay away from?

There are two high schools--we only want to rent near SB High School.

Thanks!

[rimmerama]

Why only near S.B high? The high school and Sbcc aren't exactly near each other.

Santa barbara doesn't really have much in the way of bad areas that I noticed - but I lived in goleta.

[jojoIOP]

Thanks for writing. I know they are not so close but I'm just not sure if the Mesa area attends Santa Barbara high school. Is that a desirable area to live?

One of them wants to be within walking distance to santa barbara high school where friends will be attending.

Again, we are not sure where the district line is for the two high schools.

Anyone know?

[Gidgetsmidget]

Originally Posted by jojoIOP

My two teens are moving to SB; they want to rent a studio or 1br apartment in a good area of SB close to the Santa Barbara High School and the SB City College.

Any suggestions what areas are good, safe, quiet, walkable, etc?

Any suggestions where to stay away from?

There are two high schools--we only want to rent near SB High School.

Thanks!

Santa Barbara is a pretty walkable city BUT SBCC and SBHS are separated by the freeway (SBCC on the Mesa as you said, SBHS on the eastside closer to Milpas). Would be a pretty far walk to one or the other. Do they have a decent budget? My friend is looking for a 2 bedroom and hasn't found one yet (just started) but the one bedroom she looked at was $1575 and you had to have stellar credit. Even dumps are fairly expensive.

Both eastside and westside do have some gang problems but it's not huge. I have lived all over the city and never been robbed or had a problem walking around. That said, I wouldn't walk alone at night. Even IV has had several armed robberies and one attempted rape at knife point in the last few months. VERY unusual for IV and this area in general.