The Alameda in San Jose (San Francisco, San Carlos: crime, hotel, neighborhoods)

[lokra]

I want easy access to Caltrain and am looking at the area along the Alameda from Race St to Diridon. I have heard that that area has a bit of a prostitution and drug problem, particularly closer to Race St. Anyone have any insight to the extent and burglaries, etc? I have heard that SJPD is not on top of reporting and responding to things compared to smaller cities that have less area to cover, so therefore the online crime maps do not reflect the reality.

Thanks

[darkeconomist]

Originally Posted by lokra

I want easy access to Caltrain and am looking at the area along the Alameda from Race St to Diridon. I have heard that that area has a bit of a prostitution and drug problem, particularly closer to Race St. Anyone have any insight to the extent and burglaries, etc? I have heard that SJPD is not on top of reporting and responding to things compared to smaller cities that have less area to cover, so therefore the online crime maps do not reflect the reality.

Thanks

The SJPD crime map will give you a pretty good approximation of the quantity and kind of crime in an area. Keep in mind that SJ has had trouble, as a whole, with crime as of the last few years because, despite spending $330 million/year on the SJPD, we only have 800-900 active officers at any given time (balanced budgets and unions don't always work well together, and the recession brought it to a boil). The only trouble is that one "hotel" on the corner of the Alameda and Race, but both The Alameda and the Shashta-Hanchett neighborhoods are in demand for their character and walkability.

[MediocreButArrogant]

There's a Whole Foods market right there. How bad can it be? Worst problem will be getting hit by a hipster on his fixie.

[bobby_guz_man]

The Race Street/Alameda is pretty much Shasta-Hanchett neighborhood. That's a million-plus neighborhood. You'll be fine. Many of us in San Jose would love to live there, me included.

Now if you go south to Race Street/San Carlos, then it's a little bit different. Still not bad but neighborhood is gritty.

Bottomline, if you're a block from the Alameda, you're in good hands.

[neutrino78x]

Yeah that's not a bad place to be, you have the Whole Foods and you are close to San Jose Diridon Station, within what I would consider walking distance, less than two miles. That gives you access to a train to San Francisco and also the light rail internal to Silicon Valley. Soon there will be a BART station there. So get a good job located near a light rail station and you're all set, you don't need to use a car to get to work.

Also relatively close is San Pedro Square, which is another really good part of San Jose.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by darkeconomist

The SJPD crime map will give you a pretty good approximation of the quantity and kind of crime in an area. Keep in mind that SJ has had trouble, as a whole, with crime as of the last few years because, despite spending $330 million/year on the SJPD, we only have 800-900 active officers at any given time (balanced budgets and unions don't always work well together, and the recession brought it to a boil). The only trouble is that one "hotel" on the corner of the Alameda and Race, but both The Alameda and the Shashta-Hanchett neighborhoods are in demand for their character and walkability.

^^Regarding SJPD, this is spot on.

I am not aware of any significant crime problems in the area and I am in that area fairly often at night. But I will concede visiting might not be the same as living there.

[EdLeGrand]

Avalon at Cahill Park and Avalon Morrison Park are two complexes on/near The Alameda. They look to be well kept and in better areas. I actually just stopped in Whole Foods earlier today for a coffee.

[BicoastalAnn]

There's also Avalon on the Alameda, which I toured myself... It seemed okay, but I did see some homeless people just hanging out in the parking lot and the yelp reviews indicated they struggle with keeping homeless people from breaking into the garage/harassing people at their door.