Where to Live: Oakland or Redwood City?

I've lived in northern california, bay area all my life. I would never consider living in Oakland especially if I had children. I would not feel comfortable for one minute letting my children out to play, even in my own backyard standing right next to me, stray bullets and all that. If you have the opportunity to go anywhere other than Oakland, I would.

I live in Oakland and I've visited Redwood City, they are majorly different. I love Oakland with all it's diversity and grittiness but that's what I am used to. (It doesn't sound like you are comfortable with big city life.) There is an abundance of things for children to do, good restaurants, lots of live entertainment and many resources. Check out Berkeley Parents Network. You may post your question there as well. Redwood City would be like living in a bubble, although crime is everywhere. Your children will have a very different experience socially in Redwood City. And if it's just the school, COVA, that draws you to Oakland than that's not much to go by. COVA is only a year old, they are opening up several more grades, but who knows what the teachers will be like or how the school will run. I didn't like that teh bathrooms are outside of the building and the lack of security around the school. They have a great vision but there will probably be a lot of kinks to straighten out. Perhaps you can connect with parents of COVA students. Good luck......Lisa

I live right at the San Mateo bridge on the Hayward side. The commute to, and over 92 toward RC in the morning is horrid. RC is a nice community. I would choose RC over Oakland in a heartbeat. Oakland is riddled with crime and drugs seem to be the a big part of the problem. I don't even permit my 17 year old to drive into Oakland. Save yourself the headache and look for a nice neighborhood in RC.

I've lived in the city of Oakland for almost 41 years. So it is possible to live here, but you have to realize in advance that you will deal with multiple problems as far as shopping and traffic.
However the whole Bay Area is going to have heavy traffic. When you Mapquest a location and it tells you so many minutes, you just automatically say to yourself, add at least fifteen minutes for traffic. As far as SFO is concerned, you can always use BART but that involves time also.
So the next major obstacle is shopping. The stores are more limited in Oakland. I feel this is primarily because most of the major stores have pulled out and gone elsewhere due to the large amount of crime. Plus lower income people generally aren't as concerned about neatness, and the stores are dirtier.
So I guess now that I have given you my negative view of Oakland, maybe someone else will be more positive. How do I survive here for so many years? I work and shop outside of Oakland. I try to go at times that aren't major commute times.
Good luck in your search.
A.

Wow, it's really interesting how negative the oakland comments are and largely from people who don't/haven't lived there. I admittedly don't know a ton about living on the Penninsula but I can give you an east bay perspective. I grew up in Berkeley and alwasy thought of Oakland as this "crime ridden" place. Now I live in oakland. There are plenty of great neighbohoods in oakland and you don't always have to drive through some sketchy area to get there. In general terms, anywhere about 580 is great as are specific neighborhoods like Rockridge, Claremont, Adams Point, Lakeshore/Grand ave. (where I live).
I work in SF and my commute is 20-30 minutes(driving and public tranportation), that's shorter than co-workers who live in SF or on the penninsula.
Shopping, I consider the entire bay are when it comes to favorite shopping destinations. There are great local shops but for 'bigbox' stores I go to Target in Berkeley (a 10 minute drive), and if I have to a malls in SF or Walnut Creek (15-20 min drives). There's also a Target in San Leandro (just south of Oakland) in the mall down there.

One of the reasons I love the east bay is its character, community and lack of cookie-cutter strip malls.

Good luck with your search.

Sounds like you already made your decision...I worked in RWC for a few years and it is a place I would live. If you have someone who knows Oakland well find out exactly where to live.

I'd also choose Redwood City in a heartbeat. I've lived in the Bay Area all my life, and although I attended church and worked in Oakland at times, I would never CHOOSE to go or live there.
Every city has it's issues, but if I were raising kids, I'd steer clear of Oakland all together.
Welcome back to the Bay Area. I hope all goes well for you and your family.

S. J.

RWC seems like a better choice. Traffic from Oakland to SF and back for your husband will be a nightmare if he works standard hours. Shopping will be limited in Oakland. Does Oakland even have a Target? You have two kids....you need quick easy access to places like Target/Payless shoes. I grew up on the Peninsula. When my sister moved to a great part of Oakland I would visit quite a bit. As much as I loved where she lived and the shopping/restaurants right in her little area, that we could walk to, when you wanted a bigger variety of places to go you were limited. I know shopping and traffic isn't everything, and the correct school for your kids is certainly a big deal, but they are major things we do everyday.

I've read the posts so far and don't see anything positive re: Oakland so let me try while staying very objective. I grew up in Menlo Park so I am familiar with Redwood City as it was then -- and my family still lives in Menlo Park with my dad's office now in Redwood City. I also lived in Los Altos as an adult while working in Silicon Valley. And I've lived in SF, moving to the Montclair district of Oakland (one of the really nice areas) when I got married.

*Commute: This is a toss-up depending on mode of transportation and where you are going. Driving from the Peninsula to SF is easier than driving from Oakland *but* taking public transportation to the city from Oakland (BART) is easier than from RWC (Caltrain) -- I've commuted via car, train / BART to SF from both locations for work. Also, getting into the city for evening events (dinner, symphony, baseball) seems to be easier from Oakland ... you tend to feel closer to the city and the city's culture in Oakland than in RWC. I often take BART, meet my husband who drives into work and then we drive back together. Driving to football games at Candlestick is easier from the Peninsula than from Oakland.

*Shopping: This is toss-up in my mind contrary to other posts. RWC is close to Stanford Shopping Center which has all of the best shops but you still need to drive -- an easy 15 - 20 minute drive and free parking lot. From Oakland, you can get into SF for shopping more quickly than from the Peninsula if you are going on a weekend day for example. However, I generally shop in Walnut Creek -- also a 15 minute drive -- which has almost all of the same shops minus some of the very high-end ones (Nieman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, for example) plus some really cute boutiques. There are free parking lots and paid parking.

*Poverty / Crime: You are right on Oakland having higher crime rates. RWC used to have high rates as well, not sure about today, I believe it is better than Oakland now. RWC has gone through some "gentrification" in the last couple of decades as the cost of Bay Area housing has gone up. It definitely had a low-income population when I was growing up but lots more families have moved in I think. Occasionally you do drive through the tougher parts of Oakland to get to places you are going ... not that often but it does happen.

Anyway, I hope this helps!