Everything you wanted to know about Berkeley
-
9/19/2021
Have lived in Berkeley for about 35 years now.
Housing/Real Estate: If you're looking to move here, $1,000,000 will get you a small cottage in the "flats". Most of the flats have mild levels of crime. No murder or anything, but petty stuff like people rifling through your car at night, the occasional catalytic converter theft, and stuff like that. To live a nice life in the hills, you'll need a minimum of $1.5M for a small house. Yes, it's nut.
Family: Almost definitely not a great family town. Playgrounds and such are fairly beat up, there are extreme bum issues (see below), and just plain old weirdness. I'd say great if you're starting in life or the kids are gone and you want a nice quiet life in the hills.
Health: My opinion is that the population is more fit than anywhere else I know. In the hills at least, it's not uncommon to see 80-90 year olds hiking around all the great paths and stairs. And there are tons of bicycles in this town.
Homelessness: It's incredibly bad here. But just the flats. If you come for the first time, you'll take the University Exit on the freeway and you'll immediately get your first taste of what it's going to be like. Tons of shanties made out of pallets and tarps, and tents right in the offramp cloverleaf. A couple of times a year the city gets a bulldozer and cleans it all out, but the next day they rebuild. This behavior is VERY tolerated here by the city government. You'll find people living in tents right on the sidewalk in busy downtown. But the hills are for the most part free of it.
Crime: As I said, there is a lot of petty crime. When I lived in the flats, every coupld of months I would forget to lock my car, and in the morning every compartment is rifled through. I've had countless porch pirates steal packages. There is a lot cell phone theft as well. Murder is extremely low. Maybe 1 a year and probably drug/gang related.
Food/Shopping: A+. There are TWO Whole Foods in Berkeley, and there are TWO Berkeley Bowl's which are better than WF. You won't find better places to get food. There is shopping, but chain stores are almost non-existent here (a good thing). Yes there's a min-Target, a few Starbucks, and McDonalds, but not much else. There is fancy-schmancy 4th Street with all the high end shops. Restaurants are also an A. From the wonderful high end Chez Pannisse to the low end but incredibly good Indian Vik's. Tons of food options.
Government: Well they do a lot of things that don't always make sense, and a lot is neglected. They cater to the homeless desires more so than the taxpayers. There is the Berkeley Marina which is do neglected and dilapidated. No attention is given to it at all. Parks and playgrounds are run down. Yet with all the problems, they find time make laws that may not be ready for prime time like requiring all new buildings to not have natural gas. Sounds nice, but if you're a restaurant building a new place, I think you'll have major problems cooking with electric. Especially Asian that depends on high temp woks. I would prefer they focus on the long existing issues instead of creating new ones.
Weather: Pretty darned nice. If you don't like the cold, this isn't a good place. If you don't like the heat, you'll be in nirvana here! In the summer where its like 100 degrees just behind the hills, you'll be in a sweatshirt when the fog rolls in every summer day. Temps are normally 50-70 in the summer, and roughly 40-60 in the winter. It never rains in the summer (May through October). Not a drop. In the winter, it rains more often or at least it's wet outside.
Transportation/Jobs: Jobs are plentiful right now. You're not quite in Silicon Valley, but a lot of major companies are either in San Francisco or Oakland, so it's a very easy commute. BART is the regional rail line. Loud, dirty and can be somewhat unsafe, but during commute hours its fine. Bus systems are pretty good. Again, if you're in the flats, plenty of bus service. In the hills it's a bit more sporadic, but still pretty good.
Sean | Berkeley, CA