I see white people…diversity in “good” communities

Remember the movie The Sixth Sense with Bruce Willis and the kid in the movie says “I see dead people” well in my quest to find a new place to call home with no crime rate, a lovely environment, great public schools, clean and green community immediately brings to mind that movie only with the saying, “I see white people.”  

If I want all of the characteristics and qualities of the list above that means, I’m afraid to say, that I’m going to be giving up diversity. 

I thought of all the areas that were close enough to San Francisco and my regular jaunts in/and around Oakland and they boiled down to me either cruising through the Caldecott Tunnel (Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda, San Ramon, Danville) or  Marin County. 

I initially said that it was all about the school systems but really who am I kidding it also boils down to quality of life. Don’t get me wrong I Hella Love Oakland but now that I’m in my 40’s I need to change my living environment. I want to be closer to nature, I’m more into the outdoors and clean living, but I still want to be surrounded by nice restaurants and good boutiques but I don’t want to hear gun shots at night anymore and am tired of the cruiser helicopters flying overhead. So even though I Hella Love Oakland it’s going to end up buh-bye Oakland.

My son’s school raised their tuition fees to $17,900 so that is a factor for us as well even with financial aid. I love love LOVE the diversity of Oakland and the East Bay but will unfortunately be trading it in in the very near future.

I want to love where I am living and those areas above LaMorinda and Mill Valley, the demographics and statistics, are worth investigating as I’m only working off of presumption and assumptions:

Statistics: Mill Valley vs Oakland

 Statistics: Lafayette vs Oakland

(Data Source: http://www.bestplaces.net/docs/DataSource.aspx)

Why can’t we have diverse communities with the stats of Mill Valley and/or Lafayette or Moraga and Orinda? Why do we have to trade diversity for safety and good education? I only know California.

Want to see what you can buy in the LaMorinda area and for how much?

You can get a nice 3 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 1,927 Est. Sq. Ft. home at 285 MORAGA WAY for $925K

In Marin County, more specifically in Mill Valley, you can purchase the home below for $599.9K, its a 2 bedroom  1 ½ bathroom and  1,045 sqft 

I’ll be checking out both areas in the next couple of months and will report back with my findings. So far I know I like both places and got the thumbs up from my son who is okay with both environments. I’ll eventually start a sister blog about Mill Valley as I get to know the place and will report on the great spots and places of interest and what it’s like for women, women investors and women of color that live in both places.

Stay tuned.