[BostonCard]

The latter is as much because I don't think Berkeley is the kind of city where I want my kids living, due to both political and safety issues.

The city of Berkeley is fine from a safety perspective (2.3 violent crimes per 1000 residents in 2015); violent crime there is about average from a California perspective (https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/cr...15/home).  It's safer than Pomona, for example, if you were considering sending your kids there, and certainly safer than Los Angeles, if USC were a consideration.

While I understand the feelings about the political leanings of the city of Berkeley, I will say it is a shame.  Your kids would probably benefit from exposure to a broad range of political perspectives, and the City of Berkeley would definitely benefit from having more conservative voices.  I find it one of the contributors to the political dialogue (or lack thereof) that liberals only want to associate with other liberals and don't want to hear conservatives while conservatives only want to maintain dialogue with other conservatives and nobody seems to want to have anything to do with people on the opposite end of the political spectrum.

BC

[BostonCard]

The latter is as much because I don't think Berkeley is the kind of city where I want my kids living, due to both political and safety issues.

The city of Berkeley is fine from a safety perspective (2.3 violent crimes per 1000 residents in 2015); violent crime there is about average from a California perspective (https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/cr...15/home).  It's safer than Pomona, for example, if you were considering sending your kids there, and certainly safer than Los Angeles, if USC were a consideration.

While I understand the feelings about the political leanings of the city of Berkeley, I will say it is a shame.  Your kids would probably benefit from exposure to a broad range of political perspectives, and the City of Berkeley would definitely benefit from having more conservative voices.  I find it one of the contributors to the political dialogue (or lack thereof) that liberals only want to associate with other liberals and don't want to hear conservatives while conservatives only want to maintain dialogue with other conservatives and nobody seems to want to have anything to do with people on the opposite end of the political spectrum.

BC