Pinole migration

 I find it odd that BPN categorizes Pinole as North Bay, and I wonder if that may be why you didn't get more responses since I would consider us squarely in the East Bay.  We moved to Pinole from Oakland several years ago when we were ready to buy a house and have kids and we are very happy here.  We live in the back part of the valley, just before it turns into open space.  It's super safe here and people are very friendly.  The local elementary school (Ellerhorst) is better than it's GreatSchools rating would make you think (it's ranked a 7/10).    The middle school and high school are not great, but not the worst.  We're undecided about what we will do for those.  

The downside is that it is a long commute to the city and not really feasible to commute to the south bay.  However, the commute into Berkeley or Oakland is reasonable, about 30-45 minutes during peak traffic.  We also have a workaround to 80 craziness in the form of the San Pablo Dam Road.  Another thing we found disconcerting was the number of Trump supporters and hunters, although in time we have found a group of friends that is a good fit in terms of our own values and I suspect that the area's political leanings may be changing with an influx of new people.  A lot of the houses are getting fixed up and seem to be getting sold to young couples/families priced out of SF/Oakland/Berkeley.  

One of the biggest upsides has been in the gorgeous nature and accessibility of the outdoors.  The valley is very green and we often see hawks and deer.  I once saw a coyote walking down the middle of our street in the middle of the night.  Our backyard has no back neighbors and I feel like I'm in a fairy forest when I drink my coffee in the morning.  We can walk to a trail that leads to the ridge trail from our house, and Kennedy Grove is 5 minutes away with awesome hiking.  There are a lot of other impressive hiking possibilities all within a 5 minute drive.  We are also close to Briones, at least as soon as they finish repairing the washed out road.  Pinole is convenient for going to San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Marin, Orinda, and Napa.  There also seem to be a lot of improvements happening in this area lately: they're finishing the Bay trail, new Sprouts shopping center, the middle school was rebuilt recently and the high school is currently being rebuilt.  We also have a Trader Joe's, a Peet's, a third wave coffee place, an awesome independent music store that gives lessons and feels lost in time, a great old fashioned bakery, and a decent year-round farmer's market.  There are also a lot of great opportunities for kids activities and a bunch of mediocre restaurants.

Our favorite thing about Pinole is that it is one of the last decent places in the Bay Area where normal people can give their kids a normal childhood.  My husband and I are both well educated and could probably find higher paying jobs, but we get to be in the relatively low paid fields that we love while also owning a home and having plenty of time to spend with our kids exploring all of the wonderful things that make the Bay Area worth it.  We feel like we have found the sweet spot in Bay Area living!