living in clayton (Concord, Walnut Creek, Walnut: real estate, condo, low crime)

[jribe]

Does anyone live in Clayton or know folks that do? I am window shopping (haven't visited yet) - are there areas to avoid? The crime maps show it as very low crime; anyone know realistically what the commute to the walnut creek BART?

[jribe]

also any info on the marsh creek villas?

[Malloric]

No real bad parts of Clayton. Commute is going to be a lot longer than you think. Figure 30-50 minutes with a huge range. Whenever 4 and 242 get bad, people start detouring onto Ygnacio. It has to be pretty bad to make the detour worthwhile but it happens.

[jribe]

30-50 minutes just to the walnut creek bart?

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by jribe

30-50 minutes just to the walnut creek bart?

Yup, during rush hour. It'd normally be about a 20 minute drive without traffic but there's really only two roads you can take. Either Ygnacio or Treat. Most days will be more like 30 minutes as the surface streets get busy just from the local traffic alone, but when 4 and 240 are slow then you start getting a lot of people detouring on Ygnacio to get off the freeways. The surface streets can't handle that kind of traffic and it slows down considerably. There's no southern option as Mt. Diablo is in the way so everyone is on Ygnacio and to a lesser extent Treat. 4, 242, and Railroad/Kirker/Ygnacio are basically a triangle. As long as the freeways are slower than the surface streets, people will go with the path of least resistance. Traffic on 4 is awful so that happens. It's not every day but it does happen. Depending on how flexible the employer is you'd have to give it 50 minutes or at least keep an eye on traffic to know what days you need to leave an extra 20 minutes early.

If you just need to get to BART and not specifically Walnut Creek, Concord BART would be easier. Parking is much easier, WC fills up much earlier than Concord does, it's slightly closer and more importantly not in the same direction most people are going. Should be more like 20 minutes most days, 30 minutes with heavier than usual traffic.

[WizardOfRadical]

I always wondered about Clayton. Real estate is kind of pricey there, or at least more pricey than Concord. But the local schools had a real fall from grace. Particularly the high school which to my understanding is better now that it went Charter. Mt. Diablo is a very, very bizarre school district.

[sav858]

Clayton is one of the safest cities in the Bay Area, literally top 3-5 and up there with wealthy communities like Belvedere, Tiburon, and Hillsborough when it comes to safety and lack of violent crime. The schools are really good overall too.

Probably a big reason it's such a good value in the Bay Area is the location being so far down YVR. You probably will be better off driving down Clayton Rd or Concord Blvd to Concord BART. My wife used to live at Kirker Pass/YVR and Clayton Rd and she said it would take her about 10-15 minutes to get to Concord BART. Traffic down YVR can be a bit brutal at times.

[WizardOfRadical]

Originally Posted by sav858

Clayton is one of the safest cities in the Bay Area, literally top 3-5 and up there with wealthy communities like Belvedere, Tiburon, and Hillsborough when it comes to safety and lack of violent crime. The schools are really good overall too.

Probably a big reason it's such a good value in the Bay Area is the location being so far down YVR. You probably will be better off driving down Clayton Rd or Concord Blvd to Concord BART. My wife used to live at Kirker Pass/YVR and Clayton Rd and she said it would take her about 10-15 minutes to get to Concord BART. Traffic down YVR can be a bit brutal at times.

If the schools are so good in Clayton, why were past Api scores so lackluster? And why did the high school go belly up and turn Charter? Serious question....

[sav858]

Originally Posted by WizardOfRadical

If the schools are so good in Clayton, why were past Api scores so lackluster? And why did the high school go belly up and turn Charter? Serious question....

I honestly don't know. I'm not sure on the history of API scores or where you can actually look up at past info but I know the elementary, middle, and high schools rank 7-9 now. Some schools improve over time, Concord High is now a 7 and before was rated a 5. I believe College Park High in PH also increased its API score from last time to a 9 now.

This is what is says on their website:
Clayton Valley Charter High School

As I suspected sounds like they didn't want to be part of the MDUSD, which is probably too large for its own good and has a fair amount of crappy schools. The MDUSD schools in Walnut Creek (Northgate High, Foothill, etc..) also want to leave that district.

[jribe]

thanks for the info everyone. guess i'll keeping looking! any other good suggestions for really safe areas that you can get a condo or townhouse for around 600k?