Family of 5 thinking of moving to San Diego

[ontheGtrain]

Originally Posted by MarylandFamily

Chula Vista is on our radar. From what we have heard, the schools are pretty school. We will continue to look at this area as well.

Eastlake is your best bet. It is a very diverse area, for SD, and the prices are as cheap as it gets for a nice place in SD. People are nice as well but almost all of the communities here in SD have a lot of nice people. I moved here from Brooklyn, NY a year ago and the people were so nice to me it frightened me at first.

[destroycreate]

To be honest, I wouldn't really recommend Poway or anywhere North County for an African American family. Not that there is loads of racism, but it's nearly all white, on the conservative side, and not as diverse as other areas of the city. I grew up in Poway and went to the public schools there, and while they are good, I remember only an extremely small amount of Black kids at school and while they weren't teased, some comments were made (typical obviously for minorities to experience, but nonetheless irritating) growing up and I don't know, it just wasn't a group of people who were exposed to diversity. The area is as "apple pie America" as you'll get in San Diego. Not to mention, it's sort of far out from the city and where all the fun stuff is in San Diego. It's very autocentric, suburban, and lacking in nightlife/shopping (unless you call giant malls shopping) although there is a lot of open space and you are close to nature and mountains. Seriously...I'm just not a fan of that region of San Diego.

One of the best communities I'd recommend is Otay Ranch, Eastlake, Bonita or the East Side of Chula Vista. These areas are all located in the southern section of San Diego. They have excellent schools, it's much more diverse ethnically (lots of Asians, Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites all mixed togethe), a very low crime rate, and easier access to the urban areas (Downtown, Hillcrest, Coast, etc.).

I think you might find North County a bit dry and isolated, at least I did growing up. My best friend is mulatto and growing up in Poway he was labelled "the back guy" and he's got blue eyes and very light skin! He and I feel much more comfortable in the southern suburbs of San Diego (I prefer diversity as opposed to living in Texas Part II); I love Bonita and Otay Ranch (my favorite actually, extremely clean, it's all newly built), Eastlike, they're again very scenic districts, good housing, and family-friendly, as well as closer to the city.

Here are some pictures:

Otay Ranch



Flickr Photo Download: IMGP8876 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/juanmanuel/3634611800/sizes/l/ - broken link)



Flickr Photo Download: IMGP8816 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/juanmanuel/3633798047/sizes/l/ - broken link)

Eastlake



Bonita

[Fallbrook]

Check out the Bonsall school district, on par with the Poway and Bonita school districts. Good motorcycle riding in North County.

[soymabelen]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

To be honest, I wouldn't really recommend Poway or anywhere North County for an African American family. Not that there is loads of racism, but it's nearly all white, on the conservative side, and not as diverse as other areas of the city. I grew up in Poway and went to the public schools there, and while they are good, I remember only an extremely small amount of Black kids at school and while they weren't teased, some comments were made (typical obviously for minorities to experience, but nonetheless irritating) growing up and I don't know, it just wasn't a group of people who were exposed to diversity. The area is as "apple pie America" as you'll get in San Diego. Not to mention, it's sort of far out from the city and where all the fun stuff is in San Diego. It's very autocentric, suburban, and lacking in nightlife/shopping (unless you call giant malls shopping) although there is a lot of open space and you are close to nature and mountains. Seriously...I'm just not a fan of that region of San Diego.

One of the best communities I'd recommend is Otay Ranch, Eastlake, Bonita or the East Side of Chula Vista. These areas are all located in the southern section of San Diego. They have excellent schools, it's much more diverse ethnically (lots of Asians, Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites all mixed togethe), a very low crime rate, and easier access to the urban areas (Downtown, Hillcrest, Coast, etc.).

I think you might find North County a bit dry and isolated, at least I did growing up. My best friend is mulatto and growing up in Poway he was labelled "the back guy" and he's got blue eyes and very light skin! He and I feel much more comfortable in the southern suburbs of San Diego (I prefer diversity as opposed to living in Texas Part II); I love Bonita and Otay Ranch (my favorite actually, extremely clean, it's all newly built), Eastlike, they're again very scenic districts, good housing, and family-friendly, as well as closer to the city.

I live in North County San Diego, while I can't speak about the areas you reccomend, I can speak about diversity in my kids' schools, which are in the Poway school district. My neighborhood elementary school is only 50% white, while the middle school (in the city of Poway itself) is 51% white. While the African American percentage is very small, 1% and 3% respectively, I wouldn't call them nearly all white, would you? It is true that the city of Poway itself is more white that other areas, but you musn't forget the school district covers a much wider area than the city of Poway.