SF & Berkeley questions

[crl]

Hi,

I'm back with Bay Area questions again. (You all have been so helpful in the past that I just can't resist asking more. :-) )

Our move is getting much closer and we are planning to visit the area over the Fourth of July weekend to locate rental housing. Considering commute and DS' particular school needs for the coming year (public special education preschool), we've decided to focus on Berkeley and SF itself, with Albany as a fallback.

For Berkeley we'd be looking to live within a mile (walking distance) of one of the BART stations. Any suggestions on neighborhoods to avoid or seek out?

For SF we'd be looking for a decent commute to the federal courthouse in the Tenderloin (very close to Civic Center). We've found some interesting listings in Glen Park, but don't know much about it. Any thoughts about Glen Park or other areas of the city?

We've been looking at Craigslist. Any other sources of rental listings we should be checking out?

Thanks!

[Globetrotter]

You should post your questions on http://parents.berkeley.edu/. Great resource!

Kris

[jess_g]

I grew up in Berkeley but now in live on the east coast with my family. I have a special needs child who went to a wonderful special needs preschool. I would be interested to know why you have picked Berkeley as a first choice for towns to live in in the area. I went to both Berkeley and Albany schools and realy liked the Albany schools better. The classes were smaller and the students were nicer but I don't knwo what special ed classes they offer. I would also look at El Cerito (near Albany) and Kensington and parts of Oakland are nice too (like Montclaire and the Rockridge area of Oakland). My brother and his wife and daughter live in Oakland in a fantastic house. I have thought about moving back but don't know if we could afford to and where the best special ed schools are in the area. I would happy to email with you about it if you would like to.

Jessica.

[kwc]

Hi Catherine (also my DD's name!),

Glen Park a real up and coming neighborhood... BART right there, small "village" with a couple of cute coffee shops/ bakeries, florist, cheese shop, a few restaurants. In addition, Glen Park Canyon is a great park with a playground, plenty of room to run around with kids and dog, etc. When we were home-shopping about 5 years ago, we almost bought in Glen Park. Seems to be a lot of young families. However, there are parts of Glen Park that are nicer than others, some maybe a bit transitional. Houses are also pretty small.

We live in West Portal, also a great neighborhood for young families (a slighter bigger "village," great park and library, lots of toddlers, and has a MUNI streetcar stop-- not as fast as BART but 3 lines converge there and the ride to downtown/ Civic Center is underground so it's almost as fast and more frequent). However, it is foggier here and a bit more expensive (it's all expensive) with fewer rentals.

I don't know anything about the public special ed preschools around here. SF is a great place to have a toddler but many of our friends have moved to the burbs or East Bay as our kids are approaching school age due to the schools/ housing prices/ desire for more space. I don't know how long you are planning to stay out here but that may be a consideration. Here's an article from this weeks Chronicle:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/30/MNG1HJ48O81.DTL

Feel free to PM/ email me for more info.

Karen

[crl]

Jessica,
I pmed you.

[crl]

Thank you!

[crl]

Thank you so much! Off to check out the article.

[Saccade]

I've lived in Berkeley, Oakland, and SF. I lived near the North Berkeley BART station for a while. It was very pleasant, quiet, sunny, verdant. Berkeley is less safe toward the far west.

You could also consider the Rockridge area between Berkeley and Oakland -- just lovely, lots of trees and great shopping. WRT Oakland, I lived near Lake Merritt as well and had a great time -- it was more built up and fewer families seemed to live there (more single professionals).

In SF you could live along any of the MUNI streetcar lines and it would be an easy commute to Civic Center. Buses are OK too but less reliably on time. Depending on the kind of neighborhood you want, you could go for a quieter area that is mostly single family homes/duplexes (Sunset, Parkside, West Portal) or Noe Valley with a bit more foot traffic (may be a bit trendy) and have an easy commute. We're in Cole Valley and it's about 10-15 minutes to Civic Center.

Check out the MUNI map and look for the routes that are letters: J, K, L, M, N - those are the streetcar lines. http://transit.511.org/

Feel free to e-mail for specific info.

E to remove MUNI map link -- it brings up a huge live map! Argh!

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/squsqutdg20050713_-8_DS+is.png

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[tny915]

Hi Catherine,
I know your question is which neighborhoods to live in and not which city, but I just wanted to share my thoughts.

I've lived in SF my entire life and just moved to the burbs down the peninsula, for all the reasons in the Chronicle article in Karen's (kwc) post. I never thought we would've ever moved, but the public school lottery system was the deciding factor for me. That, and obviously the housing prices. All my friends, many SF-born and raised, have moved out as well. That said, the city is a wonderful place to live. So much to do, lots of cultural activities, museums, parks, diversity, conveniences. Since you're renting and DC is still a few years away from grade school, you could consider living in SF for a couple years to kind of try it out. There really is nothing like it. And then you can move out to the East Bay in a couple years for elementary school.

In Berkeley, I used to live a 5 minute drive away from the Rockridge BART station. Rockridge always felt very neighborhoody and I loved the little shopping district.

Good luck in your search!

[Alice523]

Adding another rec for Rockridge! I have several friends who live there and love it. It's definitely worth checking out if you're looking for a nice area near BART. Good luck!

[crl]

Thank you all! I have a friend in Rockridge too and it sounds great. But it's in Oakland, right? Unfortunately, the Oakland schools do not have what DS needs for next year--I called and asked. I'd rather not deal with forcing them to come up with it internally or transferring him out of district. At least Berkeley is close!

Any more thoughts? Thanks so much for your help!

[peasprout]

A house near the North Berkeley Bart would be your best bet in the East Bay. There are a lot of great restaurants and places to go within walking distance. Glen Park is a decent neighborhood as well and right by Bart/Muni trains. But I wouldn't say that it's really known for anything in particular though,...no stand out food scenes, not trendy, nothing super exciting. Both would give you decent commutes,...it's so fast and easy with Bart. HTH!
JP

[crl]

Thank you!

[pixelprincess]

We moved from the West Portal neighborhood in Sf to San Leandro in the east bay. While we love it here, schools aren't the best which leaves us thinking about the future. Have you checked out greatschools.net? It is helpful resource for finding schools making your choice a whole lot easier,

[crl]

Thanks--greatschools.net does have a lot of information about schools.