Crocker Bound
Our family may move to Crocker Highlands. It's such a lovely neighborhood. I have a few lifestyle related questions:
- How many children was Crocker Elementary oversubscribed by for this year's kindergarten class? What other schools were they assigned?
- Where do neighborhood kids go swimming and/or take swim lessons?
- Do kids walk around the neighborhood to play with neighbors or are they generally driven even a few blocks.
- How advisable is it to bike in the neighborhood?
- is there a neighborhood park where you'll run into neighbors? I see some parks nearby but not in Crocker per se.
thanks!
Aug 16, 2016
Parent Replies
I live in an adjacent neighborhood, and can only comment on some of your questions.
For swimming, there is Lions pool at Dimond Park and Live Oak pool near Oakland High School. My daughter too lessons at Lions, and my only complaint was how cold it still was at 9 or 9:30 when she had her lessons (outdoor pool; I expect this is a common problem at outdoor pools in the Bay Area).
Biking: The area is extremely hilly. I'd be less concerned about danger from cars and more about a) your kids' stamina and enthusiasm for tackling the hills and b) them keeping control of their speed on a steep grade.
I run into my daughter's friends and their parents all the time on Lakeshore Ave. There's a little wedge of park at Lakeshore and Mandana that gets more use than one might expect. Dracena Park, which is actually in Piedmont, is popular. There's another Piedmont play area on Linda Ave next to Beach Elementary School. Dimond Park has a nice playground, a creek, and lots of running around room, in addition to the pool.
Piedmont Pool is great, although we also go to Aquatech in Alameda for year round lessons. It is generally very hilly, so not sure about bikes. Our park situation is grim over here, mostly go to Piedmont parks (drive) or parks by the lake. No idea about the School situation because we live on the physical line for Crocker and Cleveland. We ultimately chose an Independent school for various reasons. Crocker Highlands seemed great but very white and homogeneous. Cleveland seems very alive, diverse, but not as funded and campus is very open in a high dense populated neighborhood. Crocker is a great neighborhood!