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Old 10-07-2014, 01:50 PM
 
Location: Liminal Space
1,023 posts, read 1,545,546 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by neutrino78x View Post
Can't believe you guys are ignoring one of the major benefits of northpark: it is right next to the light rail. Hence you would rarely have to drive anywhere. Most of what is not in the immediate area would be found in downtown San Jose, which is very close on light rail. The 49ers stadium is also a short light rail ride from there.
I'm ignoring that because I work right near a light rail station and whenever I have to go anywhere, driving is 2x faster about 90% of the time. Biking is often faster as well.
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Old 10-07-2014, 02:36 PM
 
1,263 posts, read 3,998,871 times
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Agree. I can't believe in south bay there are people who actually think just because they live near a light rail station, they don't need to drive much. The lines are so few and far between that the routes are usually far from optimal for you to get from A to B. Plus the place you wanna go to is highly likely to not have a light rail station nearby for you to get off. The light rail is only a "nice to have" when your car is in service or something. The ridership is super low for a reason. It is not a reliable and convenient transportation alternative.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bentobox34 View Post
I'm ignoring that because I work right near a light rail station and whenever I have to go anywhere, driving is 2x faster about 90% of the time. Biking is often faster as well.
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Old 10-07-2014, 05:00 PM
 
1,696 posts, read 2,850,458 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fashionguy View Post
Agree. I can't believe in south bay there are people who actually think just because they live near a light rail station, they don't need to drive much. The lines are so few and far between that the routes are usually far from optimal for you to get from A to B. Plus the place you wanna go to is highly likely to not have a light rail station nearby for you to get off. The light rail is only a "nice to have" when your car is in service or something. The ridership is super low for a reason. It is not a reliable and convenient transportation alternative.
There are people who think that way because there are people to whom that situation does exist. I am one of those people--at least on the weekdays. I use LRT and my bike for my workday commute (even when I was working as far away as the Tasman area) and my car for the majority of my weekend errands. There are still many other things that I could go to on the weekend using the LRT as well.

LRT is great for work commute in the San Jose metro, not so great for running errands and doing on-the-whime stuffs because cars are still so much faster (and cheaper!). During commute rush hour, though, LRT is pretty packed.

And though LRT is not convenient to most people, it is a VERY RELIABLE service. Don't confuse convenience or low-ridership with reliability. The LRT train shows up on time on all the years I have used them, I can't recall the last time it did not come in on time.

The problem with LRT, or with any transit in US excluding the NYC Subway, is that you have to PLAN for them. It's just the way it is.

So besides having convenient access to LRT for work and home, you also need to start thinking in a public transit mentality if you want to make public transit work for you. Though I did have convenient access, it wasn't until I got a Clipper card and threw an annual pass on it, was when I finally take public transit seriously and made it work for me.
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Old 10-07-2014, 05:37 PM
 
Location: Boulder Creek, CA
9,197 posts, read 16,787,965 times
Reputation: 6373
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man View Post

The problem with LRT, or with any transit in US excluding the NYC Subway, is that you have to PLAN for them. It's just the way it is.

So besides having convenient access to LRT for work and home, you also need to start thinking in a public transit mentality if you want to make public transit work for you.
One would think that those moving into one of the developments next to the LRT would be doing so, in part, specifically BECAUSE IT'S NEXT TO LRT! A great many of these folks are moving there to take advantage of proximity to tech jobs. Are the latest crop of techies becoming less capable of or willing to plan, because that would seem rather out of character. One can get a lot of things done using the LRT if it's right outside the door.
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Old 10-09-2014, 12:12 PM
 
Location: South Bay
327 posts, read 961,109 times
Reputation: 192
Quote:
Originally Posted by klavierstuck View Post
I'm moving to San Jose shortly. I'm looking at Sunnyvale and Rivermark as two areas of interest. How do these areas compare?

I really like the look of Rivermark area apartments. Most seem like newer constructions so I think problems like noise from neighbouring apartments will be less common. Amenities seem really good too especially around North Park. Rents in comparable apartments in Sunnyvale and Rivermark/Northpark are nearly similar - atleast based on what I see on Craigslist.

My concern regarding Rivermark/Northpark is that there are fewer pre schools in that area. My kid turns 4 in July so I need to prioritize schooling over anything else when selecting a place to live.

Is schooling really a problem in Rivermark/Northpark or am I overestimating the difficulty in finding a good school in this area?
We live in this area and send our kids to school there. If you're in the Rivermark community, your kids may get mapped to Don Callejon elementary (IMO the only good one in the district), but you have to check the Santa Clara school district mapping to be extra sure. Your kid could get mapped to Montague, which is not very good. Our kid goes to Montague, and we aren't really happy with it and will be moving out of this area to a better school district next year. They are building a ton of apartment buildings and the schools are are being overwhelmed because they aren't building any new schools (whatever happened to proper urban planning?). So whatever school your kid is mapped to, your kid may get bumped to another school. Nothing is certain, which is very annoying when everyone is competing to get into the only good elementary school in the district.

On the plus side, it's a nice areas to live. Live Oak park is nice and Crescent Village is also a great community. There's about 2 or 3 new mega apartment complexes going up in that vicinity that will probably lower the cost of rent. Your dollar here gets you a great apartment with good amenities for the price of a smelly, moldy old apartment in Mountain View. However, school wise you probably won't be overly pleased. But then again, it's just Kindergarten. First couple of years of school probably doesn't matter a whole lot.
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Old 10-10-2014, 02:02 AM
 
6 posts, read 12,752 times
Reputation: 10
Once again, thanks for all the replies. All of your comments help me get a sense of the area even before I move there.

Quote:
Originally Posted by wsugrad03 View Post
They are building a ton of apartment buildings and the schools are are being overwhelmed because they aren't building any new schools (whatever happened to proper urban planning?).
I felt the exact same way. Its only Don Callejon with a 7+ rating in that area. I didn't find any preschools except Heads Up CDC in the area. Most of the others seem day care oriented and I would like something a bit more academic oriented.

Schooling aside, the Rivermark area really looks a wonderful place to live. Sunnyvale proper and Pruneridge just seem to edge it terms of schooling though, which is pretty high up on my selection criteria right now.
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Old 10-10-2014, 06:47 PM
 
Location: South Bay
327 posts, read 961,109 times
Reputation: 192
Quote:
Originally Posted by klavierstuck View Post
Once again, thanks for all the replies. All of your comments help me get a sense of the area even before I move there.


I felt the exact same way. Its only Don Callejon with a 7+ rating in that area. I didn't find any preschools except Heads Up CDC in the area. Most of the others seem day care oriented and I would like something a bit more academic oriented.

Schooling aside, the Rivermark area really looks a wonderful place to live. Sunnyvale proper and Pruneridge just seem to edge it terms of schooling though, which is pretty high up on my selection criteria right now.
Definitely agree with you. Pruneridge is good. Anything closer to the 280 corridor and you're doing much better with schools. Our youngest goes to Montague preschool, and it's actually quite good for a preschool. They do focus on academics. Your youngest loves it. Not sure if Don Callejon has a preschool at the elementary campus. We didn't look because we wanted our kids to be at the same location.
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Old 10-11-2014, 12:56 AM
 
Location: Santa Clara
240 posts, read 476,923 times
Reputation: 193
Quote:
Originally Posted by wsugrad03 View Post
Definitely agree with you. Pruneridge is good. Anything closer to the 280 corridor and you're doing much better with schools. Our youngest goes to Montague preschool, and it's actually quite good for a preschool. They do focus on academics. Your youngest loves it. Not sure if Don Callejon has a preschool at the elementary campus. We didn't look because we wanted our kids to be at the same location.
With all the new Apple buildings (the spaceship is one of several) the south-of-Pruneridge Cupertino schools are getting farther out of reach, especially because the housing inventory has been almost nonexistent for several years now, attracting 10+ bids every time. Also it's really nothing like Rivermark, which is meant to be a unified community centered around a commercial area and large park. Lawrence Expwy splits the neighborhood like a knife ; the Saratoga Creek (despite a bridge Tracy Dr-Mauricia Ave) further isolates two neighborhoods with a rather different feel, Stevens Creek Blvd further isolates the apartments & townhomes south (north of 280) that also feed into Eisenhower elementary. And the school line on both the east side of Woodhams and south of Pruneridge is haphazard, cutting between houses on the same street Browser Not Supported. In summary, there's not a strong neighborhood feel, even though retired residents are very pleasant. The main strip malls center around a 24 hour Safeway and a Bed Bath & Beyond (with fantastic Chromatic Coffee next door). The Safeway & McDo areas can be sketchy past midnight especially if you're a woman (i.e. creepy people following you to your car).

Eisenhower is great for a Cupertino school elementary, it's 1/3 South-Asian, 1/3 East-Asian and 1/3 American + European. Almost all kids in my son's class are bilingual somehow, which is pretty cool. His 2nd grade homework takes 1h/week, 1st grade was more like 30min a day, so it depends on the teacher but nothing overwhelming so far. Also, we kinda regret sending him 2 days a week to Pomeroy's Stratford for Pre-K, I had the same thinking that academics would be a good supplement to daycare, and it's pretty clear he was nowhere as happy as he is now. Of note: Eisenhower doesn't hesitate to make a handful of kids repeat Kindergarten or 1st grade. If you settle for Rivermark, Stratford remains a pre-K option.

Just one block north of Eisenhower Elementary, a few steps north of Pruneridge is Sutter Elementary, in the Santa Clara school district. From the API scores and presumably the demographics, I don't think it's very different at all. Can't say about middle and high school but my sense is they're only getting better every passing year.

If not for the schools, in my opinion the area north of Pruneridge feels generally more laid back, quirky, settled, woody, less perfectly trimmed and proper. The zone between Saratoga Creek and Stevens Creek Blvd has a bit of that as well. The rest is a bit too perfect-looking sometimes. Also of note: the area is exceedingly safe, except immediately on Pruneridge where all the "crime" news congregate, and that's not to say much. Real crime tends to start at Saratoga Ave.
That whole area is cheaper than the Cupertino schools-Sunnvyale so if you're looking to an alternative to Sunnyvale AND Rivermark both, it's worth looking at more closely.
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Old 10-11-2014, 10:31 PM
 
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
13,562 posts, read 10,291,979 times
Reputation: 8247
Quote:
Originally Posted by spicydreamt View Post
With all the new Apple buildings (the spaceship is one of several) the south-of-Pruneridge Cupertino schools are getting farther out of reach, especially because the housing inventory has been almost nonexistent for several years now, attracting 10+ bids every time. Also it's really nothing like Rivermark, which is meant to be a unified community centered around a commercial area and large park. Lawrence Expwy splits the neighborhood like a knife ; the Saratoga Creek (despite a bridge Tracy Dr-Mauricia Ave) further isolates two neighborhoods with a rather different feel, Stevens Creek Blvd further isolates the apartments & townhomes south (north of 280) that also feed into Eisenhower elementary. And the school line on both the east side of Woodhams and south of Pruneridge is haphazard, cutting between houses on the same street Browser Not Supported. In summary, there's not a strong neighborhood feel, even though retired residents are very pleasant. The main strip malls center around a 24 hour Safeway and a Bed Bath & Beyond (with fantastic Chromatic Coffee next door). The Safeway & McDo areas can be sketchy past midnight especially if you're a woman (i.e. creepy people following you to your car).

Eisenhower is great for a Cupertino school elementary, it's 1/3 South-Asian, 1/3 East-Asian and 1/3 American + European. Almost all kids in my son's class are bilingual somehow, which is pretty cool. His 2nd grade homework takes 1h/week, 1st grade was more like 30min a day, so it depends on the teacher but nothing overwhelming so far. Also, we kinda regret sending him 2 days a week to Pomeroy's Stratford for Pre-K, I had the same thinking that academics would be a good supplement to daycare, and it's pretty clear he was nowhere as happy as he is now. Of note: Eisenhower doesn't hesitate to make a handful of kids repeat Kindergarten or 1st grade. If you settle for Rivermark, Stratford remains a pre-K option.

Just one block north of Eisenhower Elementary, a few steps north of Pruneridge is Sutter Elementary, in the Santa Clara school district. From the API scores and presumably the demographics, I don't think it's very different at all. Can't say about middle and high school but my sense is they're only getting better every passing year.

If not for the schools, in my opinion the area north of Pruneridge feels generally more laid back, quirky, settled, woody, less perfectly trimmed and proper. The zone between Saratoga Creek and Stevens Creek Blvd has a bit of that as well. The rest is a bit too perfect-looking sometimes. Also of note: the area is exceedingly safe, except immediately on Pruneridge where all the "crime" news congregate, and that's not to say much. Real crime tends to start at Saratoga Ave.
That whole area is cheaper than the Cupertino schools-Sunnvyale so if you're looking to an alternative to Sunnyvale AND Rivermark both, it's worth looking at more closely.
You can also consider the Birdland neighborhood in Sunnyvale, just north of Homestead, between Lawrence Expressway and Wolfe Road - where the cross streets are named after bird species, in alphabetical order (from W to East). Served by Laurelwood Elementary in SCUSD, very high API. However, it's probably gone up a lot in price so I don't know how reasonable it is now.
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