Opinions On Near San Diego areas (homes, to buy, gated communities)

[Eyes0cket]

I don't think I ever felt unsafe anywhere in SD.. Even the boarder towns seemed safe enough. I even felt safe in mexico itself but then again I also breakdance and skate in sketchy areas of the northeast so my view of safe feeling might be off from that of a everyday person. I also don't tend to look like a victim so that helps as well. But in general SD seems very safe compared to other parts of our nation. Unless you go way east to maybe el cajon or something I doubt you will find much trouble if your not looking for it.

[DougStark]

If I were you, I wouldn't recommend Vista or Escondido (north of San Diego.) They're older suburbs, heavily hispanic, lots of illegal immigrants too. Being white, I didn't feel like I belonged there.

I'd agree Carlsbad is a good choice. Newer town right on the coast. Higher white population.

If you like warmer weather, stay away from the immediate coast. It can be cool or even chilly, even during the summer.
Some of the coldest weather is in May and early June, ironically, due to persistent cloudy weather conditions.

[Eyes0cket]

I don't mind the cooler climates in the winter near the coast. Coming from NY the weather was near perfect year round. The winter just felt like spring or fall in ny.

I also wasnt a fan of Esco or Vista either, i did some skating in esco and had a friend up in vista, but I tended to stick to the OB --> Delmar areas near the coastal. I am currently looking for houses outside of SD but I do casually browse those areas for houses away from the noisy parts. I haven't seen anything the meets my requirements though. Market is kind of thin at the moment.

haha by replying to an old thread of mine I seemed to have reignited it.. But hopefully the conversation helps others.

[DougStark]

Originally Posted by BacktoBlue

Pretty much everywhere in San Diego city and county is safe. The beach communities are no exception.

Poster, are you serious?? All parts of San Diego city are safe? No way. Stay north of I-8 if you can.

[oddstray]

That corny old notion of "stay north of I-8" is a nonsense, especially as far as safety goes. I'll second the notion that pretty much everywhere in San Diego county is safe.

BTW, DougStark, "pretty much everywhere" is NOT the same as "all parts".

[NYSD1995]

If you are not involved with drugs or other illegal activities, and you don't like taking long walks at night down main boulevards, you will be safe even in the worst parts of SD.

[Eyes0cket]

I have not felt unsafe anywhere, even down by the boarder.. !! Generally feel safe even late at night jogging.

But I don't make a habit of hanging out in residential neighborhoods in random areas which is probably where the unsafe sections are.. I would say the worst parts would probably be east of San diego like, lemon grove and El Cajon, parts of oceanside looked a bit rundown but not unsafe feeling, and down by the boarder if you were in a neighborhood and away from a commercial area.. I would say way south, and way east would be the sketchier parts but nothing crazy, i mean its not south bronx or Compton by any standards. Most of the places that might be sketchy are not anywhere near the beach areas someone would be looking to live near nor the neighborhoods closely inland of the beach areas.

Now the safety of my car is another story lol.. everywhere i park in SD someone will manage to hit it..

[Pedro2000]

It is all relative because domestic violence has been getting far more reported these days and has been up in some areas. Domestic violence is higher than gang activity. And in something like 1 in 3 women are sexually harassed or raped. And recently we have seen some high profile cases in sports, in Tech companies, in hollywood, etc where it doesn't really matter where you are at in life, it seems to be the norm in the way a lot of men seem to act or think. Kind of disturbing really.

So there really is no such thing as "safe" for a lot of women considering there are far more domestic violence cases than gang murders and so on.

[Eyes0cket]

Well that right there is a whole different issue in itself really.. Best you can do is choose wisely in the men you hang out with and make sure you can take care of yourself!! A legitimate self defense program such as "defence lab" can go a long way. To bad most self defense classes are just nonsense and people are duped into thinking they are useful.

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by Eyes0cket

Oh my reasons for leaving SD are varied I can list a few of them along with what i do like about san diego if that helps future readers. None of the below is an attack against san diego just my experiences good and bad.

Dislikes:
People in general I have found to be unreliable from my experiences. I have met a lot of people from all types of activities but they all seem to be like this.. Not really what I am looking for.

The beach areas where I enjoy living come with loud drunken screaming until 4am or so which gets old pretty quickly, I experienced this in OB, CrownPoint, PB and point loma areas. Now i could move away from the beach areas but then I mine as well just not live in SD and could be anywhere else in the world. I stuck it out for 3 years sampling various areas haha.

I noticed it started getting a lot more crowded especially the gyms, when I moved their anytime after 8pm golds gym was dead empty and i could workout outside without the normal annoying gym distractions.. Eventually I quit the gym and started doing gymnastics rings training because that gym got so crowded even after midnight benches were taken.

Anywhere I parked my car it was not safe, I went through 2 cars while i was there both subjected to multiple dents, scrapes and other sometimes more serious hit and run style accidents.

I found myself going to LA just to go out because I really disliked the scene in san diego, the people I met in LA sadly seemed more real and more fun. Whereas san diego was more drunken college style which in my opinion is the worst part of going out, for some its thier thing.

No one seems to have a job, from the homeless guy on the street to the kid living off his parents in an expensive apartment. Everyone I met just seemed to be floating through life and would look at me funny if I said i was going home to get some work done before bed. It was a foreign concept haha

Likes:
I love the training community in san diego for tricking, parkour, martial arts, gymnastics etc etc etc. This part of san diego was amazing, if your into any of that stuff go to San Diego United training center and you will fall in love.

I enjoyed surfing and the consistant solid waves, I am new to surfing but had a great time being a noob in the water.

Walking over the boarder and grabbing some tacos was also pretty fun, Tijuana is an interesting place.

Weather was pretty good, I never had to check the weather channel before waking up to go outside for a run or train at the park. It was consistently moderate temps with very little rain.

A good number (pretty much all) of your dislikes would be solved by not actually living at the beach. frankly, that's why most "adults" in San Diego don't live there unless they're hardcore surfers- and even so, I have friends who are hardcore surfers that don't live at the beach for pretty much the same reasons. Juss sayin'

(I have to disagree with it being like anywhere else in the world if you don't live 500ft from the beach. Where else can you live ten minutes from the beach, 45 minutes to the mountains, and an hour and a half from the desert? You can train in a gym anywhere in the world! Not trying to sway you or anything, just my personal opinion. I'm an avid hiker though, so take it with a grain of salt )