Concord

City, Contra Costa County

© McCormack's Guides

 

Zip Codes: 94518, 94519, 94520, 94521, 94522, 94524, 94527, 94529

Contra Costa’s most populous city, a bedroom-office community with about 67,000 jobs, many of them in its downtown. Population 124,599. www.mccormacks.com

School scores low, middling and high. Crime low. In many ways, a dynamic and well-run city with a strong tax base — large discount stores, three malls, auto dealerships —  that helps pay for parks, recreation and cultural activities.

Concord has a music pavilion that attracts top-notch musical acts, and a modern branch campus of California State University, East Bay. Also, campuses for John F. Kennedy University and Chapman University.

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Although homes and apartments are still going up, Concord’s boom days are over, with one big exception.

In 2005, the feds decided to close most of a military base on the north side of Concord and turn over about 5,200 acres to the city. Concord is talking about putting half into open space and using the remainder for housing about 33,000 people, and for shops and offices-commercial. Studies and arguments underway.

In recent decades, the city has turned its energies to its downtown and filling in its empty spaces with apartments, condos and offices. www.mccormacks.com

After years of pushing and pulling, the downtown seems to be coming together as visitor destination. The allures include a movie plex, a BART station, restaurants and thousands of office workers who shop in the downtown during the day.

John Muir Medical Center (Concord) is located just north of the downtown, along with a second BART station. Chevron has a large office complex west of the downtown. The new apartments and condos give the area more shoppers.

Frequently compared to its neighbor, Walnut Creek, Concord differs in one major aspect. Many parts of Walnut Creek were built for the upper-middle class and professionals, the junior officers of World War II and Korea.

Concord has its upscale neighborhoods but the town, in its initial suburban years, was built mainly for the GIs, the privates, sergeants and petty officers. These days, every home is expensive but Concord, especially in its first suburban tracts, offers more variety in housing choices and lower prices than other Central County cities.

In 1950, Concord counted about 7,000 residents, many of them tied to the farming economy of the region. Then the freeways came and the town took off. www.mccormacks.com

By 1960, the population had soared to 36,000 and by 1970 to 85,164. In the 1970s, Concord started to run out of easily developable land. The population in that decade increased by 18,000. In the 1980s, Concord added 8,000 residents and in the 1990s, about 10,500. Since 2000, the city increased its numbers by 2,700, many of new people settling into the new housing in the downtown.

The state in 2009 counted 46,638 residential units: 27,884 single detached homes, 2,915 single attached, 14,462 apartments and 1,377 mobile homes.

Concord built out from its old farming center. In and near the downtown, you will see the pre-1950 housing and first homes of the suburban boom, usually three-bedroom, 1.5 or two bath, the sturdy tract models of that era. These neighborhoods, one of them surrounding a lake, offer the most in “affordable” housing.

Moving out from the center, the homes get newer and often larger. Flat lands give way to gentle hills. Concord has old and new apartment complexes in and south of its downtown and it has many new complexes along Clayton Road, on its east side. In the old neighborhoods, the utility lines run overhead; in the newer section, they’re buried. Some streets have a real country feeling with small orchards and gardens.

Concord annexed aggressively after 1950, one reason why it is having trouble pulling its downtown together. www.mccormacks.com

The major shopping centers and the pavilion are located some distance away from the downtown, which lacks big-store magnets to draw shoppers. SunValley and Willows straddle Interstate 680; Costco is located on the south side, Park N’ Shop, west of the downtown, the music pavilion on the east side.

Clayton Road and Monument Boulevard, two major arterials, are lined with shops, and small malls are scattered around the city. All this makes shopping easier for residents but weakens the downtown as a shopping destination.

In recent years, the city has been building condos and apartments in the downtown and creating the foot traffic and patronage necessary to revive the section. It seems to be working. New additions include restaurants, an ice cream parlor and a bagel cafe.

In 1992, California State University, East Bay, opened satellite campus off Ygnacio Valley Road. It offers upper division (junior and senior) classes and master’s degree courses. Diablo Valley Community College is located in Pleasant Hill, a short drive from downtown Concord.

In some ways, Concord is kind to commuters; in others, harsh. www.mccormacks.com

Interstate 680 and Highway 242 run close to the downtown and the west side of the city. The BART stations, with their large parking lots, make commuting to Oakland and San Francisco if not easy, at least endurable. County Connection runs buses all around the city and to other destinations in the county. Concord’s success in attracting thousands of jobs pays off for many in a short commute.

But if you live on the east side, you have to traverse almost the entire city to get to the freeways and the BART stations. Metering lights have been installed on Kirker Pass-Ygnacio Valley Road in East Concord, which gets much traffic from Pittsburg. At peak hours, the arterials to the freeways are usually congested.

As for the freeways, in recent years they have been overhauled and widened. Overall, the Concord commute falls into the category of ... not bad. About 30 minutes to downtown Oakland.

Buchanan Airport is located just outside Concord, near Highway 4 and Interstate 680. Popular airport. Many small prop planes and executive jets. North Concord and the airport neighborhoods pick up some of the noise but most of it goes to Pleasant Hill.

Every so often a plane crashes — once into SunValley, the mall. In December 2006, a plane dipped into Highway 4, just north of the runways. Four on board killed; no one else injured. Hullubaloo in media about the dangers of the airport but this passed in a few days. The reality: despite the crashes and noise, airport is here to stay.

Three large hotels, a driving range and a small golf course near the airport. A second golf course on the north. www.mccormacks.com

Concord is loaded with activities, many intended for the kids. Water extravaganza (slides, pools, etc.), 20 parks, 12 playgrounds, community center, several fitness clubs, skate park. Over 100 bocce teams; bocce league. Concord Youth Center offers a variety of activities and plans to triple the size of its facilities. Soccer fields near Highway 4. The city is big on softball and soccer. Large library in the downtown. Japanese cultural center. City museum.

Blue Devils Marching Band among best in nation. Concord, in many ways, including scholarships, always has gotten behind music. Local boy who made good: Dave Brubeck.

Local football power: De La Salle High School, rated among tops in U.S. Swimming champ: Natalie Coughlin, five Olympic golds.

Music pavilion, seating 12,500, offers country, rock, jazz, pop, classical. Also known as Sleep Train Pavilion, after current sponsor. Sampling from recent years: California Symphony, Faith Hill, Cher, Beach Boys, Wynona, Yanni, John Tesh, Celine Dion, Willie Nelson, Huey Lewis, Preservation Hall, KISS, Sting, Alabama, Bruce Springsteen, Santana, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Several small theaters. Many restaurants.

Park for small dogs, park for large. www.mccormacks.com

School scores bounce all over but many above average. Served by Mt. Diablo Unified District. Day care at most elementaries. Over the last 15 years, the district has passed two bonds to make general improvements, rewire campuses for high tech and build better facilities for the disabled. See Schools.

The district, however, still has money problems. Teachers consider themselves underpaid and the district concedes as much but lacks the money to pay much more.

Five homicides in 2009 (preliminary figures), six in 2008, three in 2007, two in 2006, one in 2005, five in 2004. For previous years: four, three, zero, four, two, four, zero, four, four, four, five, three, five. Large and fairly new police station. Concord police are a force in town’s politics and generally what they want, they get (because Concord wants good police protection). See Crime.

Crime in many cities is highest in low-income neighborhoods, lowest in high income. From these correlations, sociologists, not unreasonably, conclude that poverty causes crime.

But many low-income neighborhoods are low or fairly low in crime. Other forces — family stability, good policing, etc.  — can lower crime. Concord has several low-income neighborhoods but the city's crime numbers indicate that it is much safer than its demographics suggest. 

• North Concord, above Highway 4, has many offices and warehouses. Large Lowe's (home improvement) opened in 2010. Home Depot close by.

• Laborers hiring hall on Monument Boulevard. How to treat day laborers, many of them illegal immigrants, has been argued for years. Many of them avoid the hall and station themselves along a mile of Monument. Another preferred location, Home Depot. For the interested, offer $15 an hour. www.mccormacks.com

• SunValley Mall includes a Macys, a Sears, a Penneys. Willows Mall features an Old Navy, an REI. Two Trader Joe’s, one close to airport, another on the south side of town. Concord also has two of the best used-book stores in the county and just over city limits are giant bookstores, Barnes and Noble and Borders. Other stores include a Sam’s Club, a Home Depot, Fry’s Electronics.

• New technology allows cities to water its median strips in a sophisticated and efficient way. Concord has done a pretty job on planting shrubs and flowers in its strips.

• Free wi-fi. In 2006, deal struck: wi-fi firm can erect antennae poles around town in exchange for free wi-fi in many parts of Concord. 

• Recent opened near downtown: Chuck-E-Cheese restaurant,  only one in Contra Costa. Chuck-E-Cheese went into decline years ago and many were the predictions that it would fail. Well, it certainly struggled but now appears to have found a following.

On the other hand, Krispy Kreme Donuts, not too long ago the rage of Contra Costa County. At the height of popularity, KK opened a modern shop near Interstate 680. A drive-through ... at many times of day, three or four cars were in line. Now ... Kaput! Also gone in 2009: a long-time car dealership run by a local family that contributed generously to local causes. Sold Hummers, which ain't humming any more. Perils and rewards of capitalism.

• Tattoo? — no thank you! City Council in 2006 voted 3-2 against a permit for a tattoo parlor in the downtown. Opponents warned of shady customers and offended families. Supporters, including a cop, argued that many decent people are tattooed. www.mccormacks.com

• For years elk roamed the Concord Naval Weapons Station. They thrived so well that the excess were shipped to other preserves. In 2006, with the base being turned to civilian uses, the remaining 40 elk were netted by helicopters and shipped to a larger preserve.

• Did you evah? Fairfield couple in 2006 pleaded no contest to staffing a Concord apartment with prostitutes — right across the street from the police station. Cops caught on. Said the lawyer for the defense: consenting adults, no harm done. Enterprising wife was given a year of house arrest; hubby placed on probation. Both moved to Las Vegas, said newspaper.

Chamber of commerce: www.concordchamber.com

City web site: www.ci.concord.ca.us

Mt. Diablo School District: www.mdusd.org