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Hey Househuntersaddict, We currently live in Eastlake/Otay Ranch and it is a wonderful family area. The homes are quite nice, but if I had any criticism, I'd say the yards for the new homes are small. However there are a ton of neighborhood parks as well as well-appointed community parks throughout the area.
The schools are very good. The diversity is wonderful. Probably more Asian (filippino) and Mexican than Black or White, but not sure about that! We are AA and I have 12-year old grandson. He attended a local school for a short while before we moved him to a Charter school, but he still has quite a few friends from the school and that is wonderful and a constant for him - you will always see kids out and about (nothing better than kids playing outside)!
Yes out in that area, Asians and Latinos definitely predominate over blacks and whites but it's still a wonderful area. I remember just driving out Otay Ranch rd. sometimes just for the hell of it. Lower Otay Reservoir is also a nice family park area.
Asians and Latinos are going to predominate over every race other than white people around here. The Latino population is 29 percent of the population, and Asians are 16 percent. Black people are only seven percent of the population.
Gentoo and MovingAloha- Thanks for your feedback. Trying to pick a neighborhood is harder when you have kids to think about it. Your comments are putting me at ease.
No, I wouldn't be concerned. There is a sizeable military presence and that in itself will increase the diversity of any given area.
I'm Black also. I've never experienced any racism outright, but I'm sure there's racist people here. However, it can feel a bit out of place being the only Black guy at my school. I was one of three (including my brother).
Thanks for your reply. How long ago was that, if you don't mind me asking? I went through something similar but it was a looooong time ago in Gilroy,CA...lol
Hi CocoaGoddess- I really enjoy your posts on San Diego from a black perspective because we're AA as well. We've been looking at various areas of SD to buy a home- lemon grove, spring valley, paradise hills, colleg grove, etc. We discovered that we really like the look and amenities of Otay and Eastlake but I wanted to ask you if your children had any opinion on living there. It's very important that my kids feel comfortable. Once, my son said he felt kids were staring at him because he was brown . (This was at our last duty station) I don't want to repeat that.
Thanks
Hi HHA, sorry I took so long responding back.
We have two children--one is in the special ed program, and our daughter has been in the CV school district since 8th grade, and she will be a senior this coming July.
She really, really likes her high school, and I think we made an excellent decision and we don't regret it a single bit. My husband and I just wanted our kid to spend her teen years in a strong, diverse community and to feel like she belongs, have a great stable of friends, and she's having a great "All American" high school experience.
This is a great area to raise a family, I could not recommend it more.
I too like Westcoast babe am relocating to Sunny San Diego. Unlike her I am crazy...crazy enough to follow a dream and get off the East Coast. I've lived here for 34 yrs from Mass to North Carolina born and raised in New Jersey. I have had enough of the Cold seasons snow and ice. Currently we're experiencing a deep freeze -7 below for a couple days. The people are just as cold as the weather too. I've always had a love for the warmer climates maybe because I was born in May.
Now...I finally am planning a move and would like to know what to prepare for...how are the insects and animals what is there to watch out for? I heard someone say Chula Vista is a nice spot. Being Black and from a diverse state like Jersey I love the different cultural foods and people and would like to live around the same. So could you tell me more about this city? How's the beaches are they better than Florida's? And finally being from the East how can I best transition into being a west coast brother Lol Just a little humor...Peace ya'll
I don't know if you noticed recently, but Z90 changed there logo to a different color. They removed the #1 for Hip Hop & R&B text, so what does that tell you?
I think this is happening all over the country though to most Hip Hop stations being changed up to play more pop music and what they call "Electro Hip Hop" which is more techno if anything
I mean, I can't remember the last time I heard Z90 play any "real" rap music, like some old Westcoast gangster rap, or maybe a little East Coast stuff, NONE! I will never understand this either, are these stations that controlled where the DJ's can't play what they want to? It's terrible.
I think one of the main reasons why SD is losing the black population, and California as a whole, such as Oakland, which has lost many AA's in the past 5 years, is because of the cost of living, it's as simple as that.
It's getting worse for the poor, and middle class people to survive nowadays in California, especially SOCAL. The housing is just too damn expensive for AA to live decently, and send their kids to good schools. The only people that are obviously doing well, are the upper middle class folks, which happen to be mostly white. The income disparity is getting worse as well, years ago this wasn't the case, you could be an average hard working person, and be able to live happily in CA, not anymore, it takes 2 high paying incomes just to be able to afford a nice home in a nice safe neighborhood, raise some kids, pay your bills, and other things that could come up in your life.
The South is like the new California, people are flocking like crazy to those states, because the affordability is high, especially for housing which makes a big difference for people. To live here, you must make good money having some sort of degree or good college education if you are single, but over in say, Texas, you can work in some clothing shop making hardly nothing, and still be able to make ends meet. This is why people are moving out of CA, we don't have many jobs that pay you enough to afford San Diego. Unless you work from home, or own your own business, then life is a little easier for you.
The segregation issue is another problem for me, I'm Mexican, but I notice how many blacks strictly only live in SouthEasT SD, or the Mid-City area like City Heights. I actually see more blacks in El Cajon now, then I do in Oak Park, it's crazy. I don't know why that is, maybe because it is getting more costly to live in SD, then in El Cajon, I have no idea but basically AA's don't really reside outside of South San Diego. To the West and North, it's almost rare to see some black folks just driving on the freeways, this also goes for Hispanics. I don't buy that SD is truly a diverse place like NYC, Miami, Boston, if it was, we all would live amongst each other, White, Black, Hispanic, Asian. This is not happening in San Diego.
Just to say re your comment about SD upper middle class/good schools: My neighbors in a coastal 'considered upscale' area of SD are about half/half, my direct neighbors are mainly Indian, Persian, Chinese and Korean. The top school districts have attracted families of all backgrounds. When I lived in normal heights, in central SD, my child's closest friends included those of ethiopian and eritrean background. Central SD definitely has people 'living amongst each other' as you mentioned in your post. Also, my friends in SD who happen to be black live all over-La Mesa, Solana Beach, North Park. The consensus seems to be that they 'miss black culture', but like SD and don't find race to be an obstacle at all. I guess it depends on individual factors, lifestyle interests and specifics, too.
Also, I am white and also concur that man, do the radio stations (still!) s*ck in SD...I mean, all of this 'genre hopping' in the music industry-it's not just hiphop; it's country, pop, folk, rock...everything has to appeal to everyone now! The producers always seem to overlap at least two genres, preferably more, into every single song. And as many big names as possible on a given track. You can tell they just pieced it together separately. But SD sees the need to have nearly every one of its stations cater to this 'music'. It's the same 4 da*n songs, every day, all day...
The radio station situation here is similar to SD's general personality, in my view. Kinda monotonous, pleasant enough but nothing really happening. It can really make you want to with that radio station situation, though....yea, there's a jazz station and a couple of classical [one from TJ]...it's just not enough to avoid being completely annoyed by the lack of options. There used to be brunch with Bob and friends Reggae on Sunday mornings on the otherwise classic rock station-I haven't listened to it in awhile, though, so don't know if it's still around. But it was cool b/c the dj could play requests and did just that-playing a wide range of greater and lesser known reggae songs.
I too like Westcoast babe am relocating to Sunny San Diego. Unlike her I am crazy...crazy enough to follow a dream and get off the East Coast. I've lived here for 34 yrs from Mass to North Carolina born and raised in New Jersey. I have had enough of the Cold seasons snow and ice. Currently we're experiencing a deep freeze -7 below for a couple days. The people are just as cold as the weather too. I've always had a love for the warmer climates maybe because I was born in May.
Now...I finally am planning a move and would like to know what to prepare for...how are the insects and animals what is there to watch out for? I heard someone say Chula Vista is a nice spot. Being Black and from a diverse state like Jersey I love the different cultural foods and people and would like to live around the same. So could you tell me more about this city? How's the beaches are they better than Florida's? And finally being from the East how can I best transition into being a west coast brother Lol Just a little humor...Peace ya'll
I'm sure others will have much to add to your questions, I'll just say: No humidity and practically NO insects or bugs. No mesquitoes. It's heaven in that sense. The weather is milder than FLA. No extreme heat in the summer [unless you are further inland in SD county], and very little rain-no big rainstorms, really. And no hurricanes. I have only been to a few FLA beaches [Naples/San Marcos Island area]-and they were beautiful, but I find SD's pretty perfect. There are so many-the entire city runs along a coast line-and in CA all beaches are free and public. They are pretty clean in SD, too. And they have a range of personalities-some a younger crowd, rowdier, some more family oriented, etc.
SD is a giant series of spread out suburbs. There is a small urban core area, but mainly it's going to be suburban plazas where you will find the diverse culture and foods. If you look on wikipedia, you'll find the demographics for SD city and Chula Vista broken down by group, to give you a general idea.
I was born and raised in MA; have lived in SD for 10 years now. Whether black or white, I recommend reading the past threads on this forum, re: 'east coast to west coast move', NJ/NY to SD, east coast to so cal, etc. Search those types of topics and see what comes up. West coast is completely different lifestyle, etc. I'm sure you will get great responses on this thread, too. Good luck to you!
Just to say re your comment about SD upper middle class/good schools: My neighbors in a coastal 'considered upscale' area of SD are about half/half, my direct neighbors are mainly Indian, Persian, Chinese and Korean. The top school districts have attracted families of all backgrounds. When I lived in normal heights, in central SD, my child's closest friends included those of ethiopian and eritrean background. Central SD definitely has people 'living amongst each other' as you mentioned in your post. Also, my friends in SD who happen to be black live all over-La Mesa, Solana Beach, North Park. The consensus seems to be that they 'miss black culture', but like SD and don't find race to be an obstacle at all. I guess it depends on individual factors, lifestyle interests and specifics, too.
Also, I am white and also concur that man, do the radio stations (still!) s*ck in SD...I mean, all of this 'genre hopping' in the music industry-it's not just hiphop; it's country, pop, folk, rock...everything has to appeal to everyone now! The producers always seem to overlap at least two genres, preferably more, into every single song. And as many big names as possible on a given track. You can tell they just pieced it together separately. But SD sees the need to have nearly every one of its stations cater to this 'music'. It's the same 4 da*n songs, every day, all day...
The radio station situation here is similar to SD's general personality, in my view. Kinda monotonous, pleasant enough but nothing really happening. It can really make you want to with that radio station situation, though....yea, there's a jazz station and a couple of classical [one from TJ]...it's just not enough to avoid being completely annoyed by the lack of options. There used to be brunch with Bob and friends Reggae on Sunday mornings on the otherwise classic rock station-I haven't listened to it in awhile, though, so don't know if it's still around. But it was cool b/c the dj could play requests and did just that-playing a wide range of greater and lesser known reggae songs.
The clubs in SD reflect the radio stations too. You largely hear what you would hear on the radio and it's the general appeal to as many as you can type. Now I used to DJ parties here years ago and I will tell you that SD audiences can be hard to open up to genres they aren't accustomed to even if they are popular elsewhere. the same is true for unknown artist. The exception to this is the Punk scene which is thriving here.
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. (This was at our last duty station) I don't want to repeat that.
with that radio station situation, though....yea, there's a jazz station and a couple of classical [one from TJ]...it's just not enough to avoid being completely annoyed by the lack of options. There used to be brunch with Bob and friends Reggae on Sunday mornings on the otherwise classic rock station-I haven't listened to it in awhile, though, so don't know if it's still around. But it was cool b/c the dj could play requests and did just that-playing a wide range of greater and lesser known reggae songs.
