San Jose Native Opinion
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12/3/2012
I've lived in San Jose for 35 years (& 4 in San Francisco). We are hoping to finally move out of state soon, if the job market allows. We were lucky to be able to buy a house here, but most native San Jose friends had to move away in the 90's.
Here's what I like about San Jose: Good police force (much of San Jose is safe & well-patrolled); Downtown area is cleaner than places like San Francisco; great restaurants & wide variety of stores; a lot to do if you like man-made entertainment (movies, trampolines, go-carts, water parks, amusement parks, etc); lots of paved bike trails; people are pretty liberal here; there is a lot of cultural & racial diversity; the hills around San Jose are pretty to hike in or drive through; summer, spring, & fall are nice seasons for weather; we have good libraries; we have Spanish Immersion public school (your kids can learn Spanish for free). A lot of attractive houses & safe neighborhoods/decent schools..unless you go into downtown, East San Jose, Alum Rock, Or Edenvale/Santa Teresa; there are more jobs here (but a LOT of competition.
Here's what I hate about San Jose: Rediculously crowded; a large percentage of people living here are not from California...no one remembers the way it used to be; middle-class here equals poor..you need to make +$150,000 a year for a family of 4 if you want to afford afterschool daycare & extracurricular activities; relatedly, the average family in much of San Jose have college degrees from Ivy League schools, which makes us SJSU grads have a harder time competing for jobs; College here is too expensive; elementary class sizes are +30 at all grade levels; Property taxes are insane here; everything costs much more here than in a place like Salinas or Bakersfield..because people here can afford it; there are crowds everywhere at most times of the day...hours of sitting in lines & traffic; you cannot eat any fish you catch from any of the lakes anywhere near here, wouldn't want to swim in them, & the campgrounds are all filled up all the time & over-crowded; it doesn't snow here, & people wish it would; People here are angry, rude, & impatient; teenagers use the f-word in place of, "uh," especially when your 9 year old is watching them; 14 year old girls here wear girdle-tight Daisy Duke shorts that are too short & expose their butt cheeks..you will need eye bleach. Any of the fun activities I listed in the above, "pro's" section will cost an arm & a leg, & there will be a crowd waiting in line; kids need to be accompanied by an adult for most activities, because it is a big city with a lot of creepy pedophiles; kids who are not supervised tend to act like they are Johnny Knocksville from, "Jackass," it's the San Jose teen culture..ie your property will be stolen off your porch, you will be blocked in the road by 16 teen boys playing, "bike party," in the lanes; your kids will think they're deprived because they don't get to have an iPhone, iTouch, laptop, & ski trips to Aspen..and a house with six bedrooms.
zue | San Jose, CA