4 Responses to “Dublin, CA?”

• Dr Bob Says:
  July 30th, 2010 at 10:15 am

  I live about 15 minutes from Dublin, so I’m moderately familiar with it. It should be a nice place to live. It has a low crime rate and good public shools.

  BART opened the Dublin/Pleasanton station some years ago, and plans to open a new West Dublin station in 2009, so that gives you good access to San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley. (Many BART stations, however, have really inadequate parking on weekdays.)

  If I had to pick two drawbacks to Dublin (which may or may not be drawbacks, depending on what you’re looking for), it would be the following:

  1) Much of Dublin’s housing is relatively new. This is good in some ways, but it lacks the charm of older neighborhoods.

  2) Dublin is part of the East Bay, but it might be called part of the Far East Bay (or, as some call it, the mysterious Far East Bay). The older East Bay cities (such as Berkeley and Oakland) have milder year-round climates. The more eastern communities (farther from San Francisco Bay) have more extreme climates. That means that the nighttime temperature might drop just below freezing a few times a year in the winter, and there are many hot days (at least 90 degrees, but with low humidity) in the summer. Some people like the heat, some don’t. In any case, it makes for higher utility bills and a good climate for swimming pools. (We’re in the middle of a drought, however. One of the water districts in the East Bay just announced mandatory rationing this week. I’m not sure whether this affects Dublin yet.)

  Dublin is within the East Bay Regional Park District, which has many very nice parks throughout the East Bay. (Some seasons are better than others, however. Some parks are very hot in the summer and get muddy in the winter.) The other large park in the region is Mount Diablo State Park.

  And it’s only a few miles from San Ramon’s In-N-Out Burger — the best fast food hamburgers around.

  – edit

  I first saw the phrase the mysterious East Bay in a column by the great late columnist Herb Caen, in the San Francisco Chronicle. From the point of view of a San Franciscan, the East Bay is a mysterious place. Caen also used the phrases near East Bay and far East Bay.

  The mental image of a San Franciscan looking east is something like this: In the foreground are the Ferry Building, San Francisco Bay, and Berkeley and Oakland. Behind them are a bunch of indistinguishable East Bay suburbs, and then Tahoe and Yosemite, with Chicago and New York in the distance.

  – edit
  I just want to comment on the statement below that a mediocre house in Dublin costs $400,000. That was true about seven years ago, but not today. I just looked at single-family houses in Dublin on realtor.com. The very lowest asking price is $415,000, and the median price $729,000. Townhouses and condos would be somewhat less. These reflect asking prices, and not actual sales. For a list of recent sales, see the San Francisco Chronicle web site, and click on Alameda County:

  I would guess that Dublin real estate prices are close to the typical prices for the Bay Area as a whole, and slightly above average for Alameda County.

  I didn’t mention the cost of living because you’ve looked at apartments, and I figured that you already know about the high cost of housing. The high cost of living here is dominated by housing costs. For reasons that are somewhat obscure, gasoline is also expensive in the Bay Area. The cost in Dublin should be about the same as the cost in my neighborhood, and I paid $3.97 a gallon yesterday for major-brand regular gas. Bay Area incomes tend to be higher than in other parts of the country, so local services (for example, from a car mechanic or a plumber) also are costlier. Taxes are also high, except for property taxes, which are a complete mishmash because of Proposition 13, passed in 1978; next-door neighbors can pay vastly different taxes, depending on how long they’ve owned their house.

  Traffic is often bad in the Bay Area, but I don’t think it’s any more of a problem for people in Dublin than it is in most other cities. The more severe commute problems occur for people who live east of Dublin, in places like Livermore and Tracy.

  One of the nice things about living in California is the availability of local produce at farmers markets and upscale supermarkets. The nearest farmers markets to Dublin are in Pleasanton to the south and Danville to the north. If you want to see the ultimate farmers market, visit the Ferry Building in San Francisco on a Saturday morning.

• tonalc1 Says:
  August 2nd, 2010 at 6:26 pm

  LOL—the mysterious Far East Bay

• Roaddogg Says:
  August 5th, 2010 at 11:57 am

  Keeping in mind that the SF Bay area is one of the most expensive regions to live in the entire country, Dublin is pretty good. The area is safe, has lots of shopping, restaurants and is located in a major hub of pubic transit including BART rail, ACE rail and several bus systems lining the area with all major work sites and entertainment venues. Good Luck!

  PS. A mediocre home in Dublin,CA would cost about $400.000 with the same home in mid America costing about $125.000 Just something to think about. Gas in Dublin today is about $4.19 a gallon and in mid America $3.49 .

• renee Says:
  August 5th, 2010 at 10:26 pm

  dublin is nice but also expensive

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