Quiet, Diverse, not without problems - 3/21/2022

I've lived in Richmond since 2014. I find that for proximity to the rest of the East Bay, Marin county, and San Francisco it's a tremendous location. We moved here from Oakland in order to raise our kids. We were lucky enough to find a quiet neighborhood (East Richmond Heights) where all our neighbors have either been here for a long time or herald from Berkeley. There are many great things about Richmond - The public areas are fantastic. Lots of parks scattered throughout the city, including some East Bay Regional Parks like Miller-Knox Shoreline and Wildcat Canyon. Lots of green spaces for the kids to play outside. The weather is moderate with lots of sunshine throughout the year. The diversity at our local public school is a wonderful mix of different backgrounds. People have mentioned the schools being "bad" but our experience so far has not been any different than the schools I've had experience with in the past. We've dealt with El Cerrito Preschool Co-op, George Miller III (a head start program), Cameron School as well as Mira Vista. All of them have their flaws but for the most part my children are thriving thanks to the hard working staff at these schools. Richmond feels like a working-class city. The restaurants are not fancy, but excellent none the less. Lots of great Mexican food, Korean food, Thai, Mediterranean. There are a lot of hard-working local businesses like car mechanics and other commercial enterprises along 23rd avenue as well as San Pablo Ave. I love the sheer amount of Mexican Tiendas on San Pablo avenue and throughout the city. Getting high quality produce and fresh food, spices and the like for while supporting a local neighborhood business is fantastic. Having lots of options for public transportation is excellent, including the giant commuter BART station El Cerrito Del Norte. SF is only 45 minutes and $6 away by BART. It is easy to get in and get out of the city for baseball games, concerts, and events without having to pay for parking or sit in traffic. There is also a ferry which goes to SF daily. The things I like least about the city - There are 2 railroad tracks that cut the city in half, and the city has not done much to make the neighborhoods around these train tracks accessible. It makes it difficult to get from one side of town to another, as there are only a few roads that cross over each - 37th, 23rd, Cutting, MacDonald road are some of the few that can get you 'over the tracks.' I also loathe the Chevron refinery. It has a huge footprint down by Point Richmond, with tons of oil tanker shipping vessels parking down by the bridge and lots of trains pulling in and out with oil tanker cars. I commonly see the refinery "flaring" or burning excess gases as a 'safe' way to release dangerous chemicals. Chevron gets involved in local politics and talks a lot about "giving back to the community" but in reality they support business-friendly politicians who will overlook their bad safety record (among the worst refineries in the Bay Area) and continue to allow Chevron to pollute the local neighborhood. This city will be much better off when the refinery safely shuts down and stops being a monument to fossil fuel dependency.

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Just as shi%^y as ever - 1/16/2020

Grown up around all my life, and lived for the past 3 years. Diverse in the worst kinda way (the way that will get you robbed or assaulted). The epicenter of the spillover crime in nearly every other city within a 10 mile radius except oakland. Public transportation here gives you the perfect idea of what you'll be dealing with. A loud swathe of the city hears gunshots all summer long.

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Richmond has been my home for well over 30 years. - 6/23/2017

I've lived here for more than half of my life, and never want to leave. The weather is nearly perfect. The population is very racially diverse and people for the most part get along. Politically it's left of center. We have 32 beautiful miles of coastline (more than any other city in the Bay Area). Housing is high, but less than most of the Bay Area. I love my neighbors, my friends, and living in such a great place!

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Weather - 10/29/2015

It Hasn't Rained For Quite Sometime | Although It Does Not Snow, It Does Occasionally Rains | When A Naturally Occurring Element Of Earth Is Missing, It Feels Like A Part Of You Is Missing

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Enjoying Richmond - 1/22/2015

It's hogwash to summarize Richmond as 'very bad.' I live in Richmond and the crime in my neighborhood (Clinton Hill area) is lower than where I moved from in central Berkeley. I suggest people keep an eye on the various crime maps available to see for him/herself what's going on. Also - there is a fair sized community of people in Richmond who commute to SF by the backdoor (San Rafael bridge to the Golden Gate) - both my neighbors do, and tell me it's a far better commute than across the Bay bridge from Oakland. This may be arguable, but the viewpoint is popular. There's also is a big restaurant life with lots of very authentic ethnic foods represented - check out the reviews for these. And by far the best nursery in the entire bay area is here - Annie's. Annie has a huge selection of carefully selected genetic strains of plants and is one of the most famous nurseries in the country. In short, Richmond has the best parks in the bay area, the best coastline, some of the best neighborhoods, restaurants and nurseries (more than just Annies) has a big bohemian population full of artists and entrepreneurs, and is still affordable, but won't be much longer. I bought a house here in June '14, and 6 months later, according to realtors, it's worth about 10% more.

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Quality of life - 2/26/2012

Richmond,California is very bad and not a good place to raise a family.High crime,robberies,shootings and gangs.School are not good always rated low.

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Why Rich City rocks! - 9/19/2010

If you like trails, water, sailing or cycling you'll love it here. And, if you like moderate temperatures, you can't beat it!

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The Bay Area is Expensive! - 12/23/2007

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and I used to love it here, but in the past 5 years I've fallen out of love with it. It's overcrowded, expensive, long commutes, grumpy people (not to mention crazy drivers), and not the best place to raise kids. Yeah, it's diverse, pretty good weather, and plenty of things to do but insanity of the place is getting to me...

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A plus where we live - a close Jewish community - 11/1/2007

Where we live has been enhanced by the Jewish community we have found. Our kids go to a Jewish Day School. We joined a small synogogue. The community of people at both are wonderful, embracing, supportive and very nice! There is much diversity in a variety of ways which enriches us. Aside from that, there are lots of fun events like Israel in the Gardens in close-by San Francisco, local stuff too. People who are new to our area that make contacts through various ways in the Jewish community are made to feel very welcome and comfortable.

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