JenniferO1

There are two sides to this town - in my opinion - there is the old Pittsburg and the new Pittsburg. I live in a new Pittsburg area which ironically is located in the Old Town Pittsburg area.

The (downtown) Old Town Pittsburg area has a newly built park which is bustling on the weekends with a farmers market, occasional outdoor movie nights and outdoor theatre events. There are great restaurants, a local coffee shop (which I love), and a newly renovated theatre (the California Theatre). The theatre is beautiful, it has summer theatre camps for youth and showcases several types of performance art throughout the year. During the summer there are bi-weekly car shows and culinary crawls (allowing tastes of each restaurant in the neighborhood). This part of Pittsburg is fantastic.

The old Pittsburg side of things is not so fantastic. There are pockets of neighborhoods that are run-down, and crime looks to be an issue there as well. Pittsburg used to be known as a major industrial area on the east bay - some of that industry has since closed down. There is still a Dow chemical plant, which I personally don't notice, but wonder what pollutants have saturated the land under it. It's located on the outskirts of the city and is next to a wetlands refuge.

We purchased a home here because it was affordable (compared to SF) and commuting to the city is very do-able with the BART. It is a longer commute distance-wise, but I prefer a spacious, newer home to a small, old condo that is priced well above what it's actually worth. I don't know about the school system since we don't have children, but I live near a cute little Catholic Elementary school, and I've heard a couple parents there say good things about it.

Our neighborhood (Clipper Cove) is a newly built, suburban enclave with cookie-cutter styled homes, but since I don't spend much time looking at my home's exterior - it's not a big deal to me. I created my dream interior style with the money we saved by living a little farther from the city. On the weekends, we can walk to the farmers market and around the marina without noisy traffic wizzing by, so for us, it's a great place.