This month’s been a busy one… at Wikimedia we’ve done a lot of hopping around getting things together for the fundraiser, and my lady and I spent a few days out west scouting apartments in San Francisco for the relocation. I’m finally caught up with MediaWiki code review, and some dreaded coughing plague from the trip is catching up with me, so it’s time to hit the posting backlog… :D
Found a nice little flat that’s merely twice the cost of the places we were eying in Tampa… believe it or not that is a good deal for SF. :) We’re going to try compensating for part of the cost by going car-free.
Public transit in the city is pretty decent — especially compared to suburban Florida. Most places in the city are within a mile of a light rail line, and buses are both plentiful and frequent.
Further, San Francisco is a fairly car-hostile city. The hills make driving less than fun in many neighborhoods, and parking costs are atrocious. We were in town during municipal elections and watched the city’s voters reject a ballot measure to increase the amount of parking, in favor of allocating more funds for public transit. Even just parking at home would cost us $100 a month to rent a space in the carport out back!
The savings on insurance, parking, maintenance, and payments on a car whose transmission won’t die in the hills should more than pay for the occasional rental for trips out of town. Depending on how much we end up driving, we may actually be saving money versus living in the suburbs… we’d have cheaper rents out in Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill, but more need to keep a car for everyday tasks.
Of course there’s always personal preference to account for, but one cheaper-rent area that’s still very public-transit-accessible is Oakland. It long had a reputation for being a bit of a rough area, but many parts are pretty nice these days. Some people even like it better than S.F.!