Marin County vs Monterey vs San Jose vs Fort Worth, TX (Fresno: neighborhood, best school districts)

[gookgette]

have to decide between these 4 locations for a job. which would you choose based on my preferences?

what i'm looking for:
1. Diversity - as in food, culture, Koreans...not P.F. Chang's.
2. Somewhat liberal
3. Single, Young Professionals
4. Shopping malls - suburban comforts.
5. Trader Joe's and Costco
6. Parks or trails to run outdoors
7. Warm climate, not too humid. or at least bearable!
8. Good, warm, friendly ppl (like the Midwest!
9. Christians
10. Hipsters
11. Safe
12. Reasonable cost of living
13. Natural Beauty
14. Quality of life
15. Good school system

note:the san jose job is not guaranteed full-time hours.

[NewToCA]

#12 eliminates three of your options (all Ca).

As far as #2 goes, Ft Worth has a pretty strong democratic Party base.

http://texascampaign2008.blogspot.co...ic-voters.html

As far as #9 goes, well Ft Worth is in Texas.

[TimC2462]

I only know Monterey so here your updated list:

what i'm looking for:
1. Diversity - as in food, culture, Koreans...not P.F. Chang's. YES.
2. Somewhat liberal YES.
3. Single, Young Professionals YES.
4. Shopping malls - suburban comforts. Between yes and no. Big mall - go to Salinas or drive to San Jose area.
5. Trader Joe's and Costco -- WHOLE FOODS is better and yes Costco -- no Trader Joe's.
6. Parks or trails to run outdoors. YES.
7. Warm climate, not too humid. or at least bearable! No.
8. Good, warm, friendly ppl (like the Midwest! No.
9. Christians Yes.
10. Hipsters Yes.
11. Safe That's relative.
12. Reasonable cost of living HELL NO.
13. Natural Beauty YES.
14. Quality of life YES.
15. Good school system NO on the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.

[TimC2462]

I've also visited San Jose and Dallas Fort Worth, but have not lived there extensively to warrant accurate answers to your poll.

[allenk893]

I'd definitely chose San Jose out of all the options! Very nice place to live. Depends on location though.

[NewToCA]

Thread was kind of evolving in a direction that would be difficult for posters to disengage, yet wasn't on point with the original request.

Please consider the original requested information in the response.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by TimC2462

I only know Monterey so here your updated list:

what i'm looking for:
1. Diversity - as in food, culture, Koreans...not P.F. Chang's. YES.
2. Somewhat liberal YES.
3. Single, Young Professionals YES.
4. Shopping malls - suburban comforts. Between yes and no. Big mall - go to Salinas or drive to San Jose area.
5. Trader Joe's and Costco -- WHOLE FOODS is better and yes Costco -- no Trader Joe's.
6. Parks or trails to run outdoors. YES.
7. Warm climate, not too humid. or at least bearable! No.
8. Good, warm, friendly ppl (like the Midwest! No.
9. Christians Yes.
10. Hipsters Yes.
11. Safe That's relative.
12. Reasonable cost of living HELL NO.
13. Natural Beauty YES.
14. Quality of life YES.
15. Good school system NO on the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.

Hey Tim,

I agree with most of what you've pointed out.

Just a couple slight adjustments/updates/outlooks:

4. We have Del Monte Shopping Center which we use for most of our Mall type shopping needs. Although we used to live near a huge mall (Del Amo) at one time when we lived in LA County, we don't miss it that much. We've never driven to San Jose to go shopping. My wife has gone to Salinas a few times. That's about it.
5. We do have a Trader Joes now and actually go quite often.
8. Friendliness of ppl can go either way depending on where you live, ppl you meet and places you go to meet them. Since there are a lot of military families/ppl folks are literally from all over including the MidWest. Both of our neighbors are from other states (Arizona & Colorado). We moved here from CO which borders the MidWest and find it easier to make friends here than our previous neighborhood in the Springs. Then again it's not like ppl are walking up to you bringing you cake or cookies when you move in. You have to make the effort to get get to know them a little more.
15. Carmel and PG have the best school districts on the Peninsula. Monterey has some pretty good schools, some better than others. Monterey HS now has a great program called Monterey Academy of Oceanographic Science. My friend's son went through it and really liked it. But the schools in Seaside and Marina are really bad.

Derek

[indflm]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Hey Tim,

I agree with most of what you've pointed out.

Just a couple slight adjustments/updates/outlooks:

4. We have Del Monte Shopping Center which we use for most of our Mall type shopping needs. Although we used to live near a huge mall (Del Amo) at one time when we lived in LA County, we don't miss it that much. We've never driven to San Jose to go shopping. My wife has gone to Salinas a few times. That's about it.
5. We do have a Trader Joes now and actually go quite often.
8. Friendliness of ppl can go either way depending on where you live, ppl you meet and places you go to meet them. Since there are a lot of military families/ppl folks are literally from all over including the MidWest. Both of our neighbors are from other states (Arizona & Colorado). We moved here from CO which borders the MidWest and find it easier to make friends here than our previous neighborhood in the Springs. Then again it's not like ppl are walking up to you bringing you cake or cookies when you move in. You have to make the effort to get get to know them a little more.
15. Carmel and PG have the best school districts on the Peninsula. Monterey has some pretty good schools, some better than others. Monterey HS now has a great program called Monterey Academy of Oceanographic Science. My friend's son went through it and really liked it. But the schools in Seaside and Marina are really bad.

Derek

Point #8 is quite interesting. Thank you, Derek, for clarifying it

Tim, if there is something I should know about #8, please, share it!!!

[TimC2462]

Mallarios, I've moved out of the Monterey area almost 10 years ago but I have lived there my entire life. Derek would have the latest info. i.e. I worked at Whole Foods Market, but never heard of Trader Joe's in the area until Derek brought up that info.

Thanks for the newly updated info, Derek.

A couple of further clarification for my response to the poll:

4. Back in the day, we used to complain about the small variety of stores at the Del Monte Shopping center. Big box stores like Macy's, Mervyn's (don't know if they are still there), followed by smaller stores such as GAP, Champs. The Del Monte Shopping center isn't like a typical mall where you entire a large building to be occupied by retailers under the same roof. Salinas has that with far more retailers, but ask a Monterey resident if they want to drive all the way out to Salinas mall where there have been shootings, you will notice them having second thoughts.

15. Absolutely. Carmel and and Pacific Grove have the best school districts in the area, but they are not part of the MPUSD (Monterey Peninsula Unified School District). The MPUSD encompasses the public schools in the Marina/Seaside/Monterey cities.

8. My experience is limited to having spent time in Oklahoma and Texas where their hospitality is so much different than what I grew up here on the left coast. In Oklahoma, people acknowledge you, even if you're a stranger driving through your neighborhood. They'll wave hi to total strangers. I'm serious. I've experienced the same thing in my five trips to Texas. But I won't stop there though. In the south San Joaquin Valley where I am currently running an family business, we work with clients from the midwest. I find them more approachable and more down to earth. The same goes for Bakersfield and Fresno. I hate to stereotype, but there are folks in Monterey who can typically be full of snobby folks or appear that way due to the faster pace of life. My experience is the same when visiting the bay area.

I'm not saying it's a fact, but that has been my observation in the last 10 years since I moved to the central valley. When I lived in Monterey, I was unaware of the differences until I moved out of the area.

[Evergreen7276]

San Jose is horrible. You would hate living there