Living/Working Near Fremont... (San Jose, Oakland: apartment, to rent, crimes)

[jasonandbeda]

Hi, I'm considering work as a Fremont Police Officer and wondering if anyone has any insight on two factors; 1) the overall safety of Fremont to work as a Police Officer and 2) what are nice towns within a reasonable distance to live in for a family of 5. We're going to rent a house.

Were a tight-nit family from a small town near Pittsburgh ,PA hoping to find a community of friends and neighbors we can depend on.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide,

Jason

[aslowdodge]

I think fremont is a relatively safe area overall. My friend is going through the academy for them right now and I think is dad was a captain or something in fremont pd.
Most of fremont goes from average middle class to fairly upper class in the hills. The city itself is very diverse racially and Mission San Jose High is one of the top HS's. My friend is a teacher there and if your kids aren't very smart, they will be at the bottom as the students are very driven and have high GPA's
Fremont would be a decent place to live, obviously some neighborhoods better than others. Niles seems to be a neat place to live right next door.
Me personally I would live in Pleasanton and commute into fremont about 10 miles away. I'm biased because I live here, but I moved from the east bay ( fremont is part of that) to here because I like it so much more.

[jasonandbeda]

Thank you for the info. I appreciate it. My wife is worried about the cost of living as well on everyday items. Out east here, everyone is telling her that it's so much more expensive to live there. I visited a grocery store website for San Jose and looked at gas prices but it didn't seem that high. Any idea on the prices of everyday items like a gallon of milk, gas, a big mac lol, electric, gas, or water bills? This is hard to say I guess but any info to calm my wife's fears is good info to me

Thanks

[jasonandbeda]

Also, it would be great to get your friend's opinion of the academy and the department. Any tips for me on the police work and training would be excellent.

Thanks again!

[LexusNexus]

Welcome to the area. My wife is from Pittsburgh (Verona) and we live on the other side of the bay near Stanford. I have heard good things about Pleasanton. I have a friend who lives in Fremont and her son had huge problems with gangs. She ended up putting him in a school in Pleasonton and that made all the difference in the world. I think Pleasonton is a more positive community and lower cost of living.

There was a Fremont Unified School District Ethnic/Race Relations Committee Meeting on Wednesday, February 21, 2007. This is some stats from that meeting.

- Officers Brannon, Rodrigues, Fowlie, Pedrotti, and Maples were in attendance for the presentation and this is what they shared:

- There are 2,500 gang members listed in the Fremont area
- The Southern Alameda County Gang Violence Suppression Task Force investigates all crimes committed in Fremont, Newark, and Union City and keep files on gang members
- Mainly two specific Hispanic Gangs in the Fremont area:
Nortenos, who use the color red, the #14, from the Nuestra Familia Prison Gang, mainly born in the United States.
Surenos, who use the color blue, the #13, from the Mexican Mafia Prison Gang, mainly born in Mexico.
- The Nortenos are located in the Irvington, American, and Niles areas
- The Surenos are located in the Central Avenue area
- “My Space” is the biggest computer link for many pictures and interactions about gangs
- Definition of a Gang :
Three of more people
Violated a combination of 25 crimes – robbery, rape, murder, etc.
Has a common name, sign, or symbol
Cool to be part of the group
You can get Jumped in (beaten up) to be part of initiation or Jumped out,
a more severe beating to get out of a gang
- Crips are made up with Black gang members
- There is also an Asian gang, UCV, who are Vietnamese, mainly in Union City
- Gangster Rap is music with negative wording relating to gangs

Generally, the area from Fremont on up to Oakland is infested with gang activity. Milpitas may not be as bad, but still not good either. This is less of a problem on the other side of the bay in cities like Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, etc. I also believe that Fremont contains the largest concentration of people from Afghanistan than anywhere else in the country. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[jasonandbeda]

Hi RomanInSF, we're actually living in Verona now! I guess it really is a small world. Thanks for the information. Gangs are a main worry of mine so I appreciate what you wrote. I think Pleasanton sounds great. Any opinion on Tracy? Distance on mapquest says @ an hour but does anyone have a real travel time?

Also, any info on the prices of necessary items, food, gas, utilities, etc. in the bay area?

Thanks again!

[Joker32]

Originally Posted by jasonandbeda

Hi, I'm considering work as a Fremont Police Officer and wondering if anyone has any insight on two factors; 1) the overall safety of Fremont to work as a Police Officer and 2) what are nice towns within a reasonable distance to live in for a family of 5. We're going to rent a house.

Were a tight-nit family from a small town near Pittsburgh ,PA hoping to find a community of friends and neighbors we can depend on.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide,

Jason

I grew up in Fremont for 21 years. For the most part, its a very safe area. The area near mission peak/Ohlone College have million dollar exclusive homes and its a very rich community. Central fremont, towards "Little kabul"(mostly afghan region) and central ave is a little bit more gritty but on the whole not that bad. Its more out of the way and does have some "barrio" like areas (Some Norte/Sur stuff) but really minor compared other bay cities. Fremont has tons of million dollar expensive homes and good schools,etc...depends on what your price limit is. The "Mission San Jose" area is probably one of the richest areas around. Athletes for the 49ers often buy their homes there

On the whole I think Fremont is far safer than nearby Newark/Union City

[pot_roast]

Fremont has a large Afghani population as well, and along with it, a couple Afghani gangs. The farther north (closer to Oakland) you go the worse it gets too.

The food prices aren't bad. No more expensive or cheaper than anywhere else around here. But the rents? Yikes. That's what will get you. Rents have been going up an average of 10% a year, and buying a place is almost impossible for many folks.

[Mando82]

The cost of living in my opinion is high here. I moved here from the east coast about 2 years ago. I rented for about one year in Fremont on Stevenson Blvd. and Fremont. It was a 2 bedroom, nice apartment for $1700/month. Its just me and my husband and we go to the grocery store about twice a month and average costs are about $400-$500 month. We finally learned to go to Costco for our meats, and the farmers markets for our veggies. Gas prices are are averaging around $3/gallon for regular unleaded. Fast food costs are about the same, just more choices! Recently me and my husband bought a house in northern fremont. It is a 2 bedroom, 2 story, approx. 1300 sq. ft. for $535,000. Our PG&E bill averages around $50-$60, and the water stays around $30. Most houses around Fremont are renting for around $1800 and up depending on size. However, despite the cost of living the weather and atmosphere makes up for it. There is tons to see and do, and its quite beautiful. If you are looking into raising children though I would recommend moving out to Pleasanton area. Tracy is way to far. I have a friend that lives there and commutes in and it takes him about an hr. 15 min. without any traffic. Well good luck with everything. I know what its like to be in your shoes. Hopefully the PD is paying well! //pics3.city-data.com/forum/images/icons/icon7.gif

[jasonandbeda]

Thank you very much for the info. It was really helpful for us. Looks like Pleasanton is the place for us. Tracy looks really good but for the drive.

The starting PD pay is around $77k a year. I plan on renting a house $2k or under and luckily we have no credit card debt, just car payments that total $500/month. Anyone got any advice on if that salary will sustain or will we be counting pennies at the end of every month and eating beans out of a can? lol

Thanks again, Jason