[quote=FormerSanDiegan][quote=Russell]Is there any place in the county that is more cloistered by freeways than Clairemont? Where are kids supposed to play without the major risk or a drive by abduction? Tiny little parks on busy surface streets. Bad schools. Other than that it is boring as hell.Clairemont has everything bad about the suburbs and the inner city combined…and none of the good things about either. Besides that, it is colder than Pt. Barrow Alaska nine months out of the year.[/quote]
Having lived there for 5 years, I have to disagree. It is definitely not suburban in the modern sense, but urban enough to be close to the best parts of San Diego. We found great places to play with the kids. Western Hills Park, Mt. Acadia, and oh yeah, there’s a short drive to a little park we liked to call Mission Bay.
There are very few places where I would allow my kids to play in the front yard. There was a case in the OC a few years back, nice suburban development. The kind of place the kids would ride their bikes in the street and a parent actually saw their child abducted on the street. Could happen anywhere.
In fact, in another suburban neighborhood where most would allow their kids to rides their bikes and play in the street, a child was abducted abused and murdered. That was Sabre Springs and the victim was taken from their bedroom. Could happen anywhere.
As for the cold, well it is colder than Santee or El Cajon, but that means you don;t have to have A/C (except for those first couple of weeks in October). Personally, I like the slightly cooler climates of Point Loma and La Jolla over Clairemont or points east. But to each his own.[/quote]
FSD, the weather comment was toungue in cheek. Someone had said that east county is as hot as Phoenix in another thread. My snark on the weather shouldn’t have made any sense to anyone else but that individual… if anyone. Clairemont climate is nearly 100% ideal.
I have lived in Clairemont and Serra Mesa previously for a similar time period and within a few miles during nearly 25 years. I have about 100 units at UNLV… which brought me to the area even more. I have friends there.
I think the geographical Mesa clearly has it’s particular short comings, the ones I mentioned and others,that for me don’t necessarily go away in by living in “desirable’ pockets or because bad apples have surfaced in other “good” areas. I would like it better if I had said random crime, rather than abductions. The abductions are such rare occurrences.Maybe for me it is just the feeling that idiotic random crimes could occur in an instant that I get due to the flow of people in the area, which is directly related to the freeways and some bad local areas.
Of course there are trade-offs to make everywhere. The location to the freeway is great for convenience. That’s not in question.
I consider the areas west of the mesa lip different communities completely, wrong headed or not.Not that everything is terrible about the Mesa or good about Baypark and surrounds. Still, a would-be buyer should very much understand the potential impact of the traffic of cars and people in Clairemont, All AREAS. I don’t think I would live there unless it was a situation of being single or empty nest. To each their own, of course.
With regard to Mission Bay Park, it’s a great site but I don’t see it as very useful to kids up on the Mesa for casual, independent purposes. Anyway the parks issue may not be the strongest criticism. As you say there are not a lot of places kids can have much freedom anymore. I see the overall atmosphere in the area as not conducive to what I consider comfortable family living compared to that which can be had on relatively equal terms otherwise….
