East Bay
The eastern side of the bay, consisting of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is
known locally as the East Bay. The East Bay is split into two regions, the inner
East Bay, which sits on the Bay coastline, and the outer East Bay, consisting of
inland valleys separated from the inner East Bay by hills and mountains.
Berkeley as seen from the Claremont Canyon reserve. We know UC Berkeley has the
main the campus in Berkeley, the University of California, Berkeley. The inner East Bay includes the cities of Oakland, Hayward, Fremont,
Union City, Berkeley, and Richmond, as well as many smaller suburbs such as
Emeryville, Albany, San Leandro, El Sobrante, Pinole, Piedmont and El Cerrito.
The inner East Bay is more urban, more densely populated, has a much older
building stock (built before World War II) and a more ethnically diverse
population. Oakland oakM.com hosts the region's largest seaport and professional sports
franchises in basketball, football, and baseball (for example Oakland Raiders). As with many inner urban areas
the Inner East Bay also features a high accumulation of crime as well as other
socio-economic problems. According to the FBI Uniformed Crime Reports, more than
50% of all homicides in the Bay Area in 2002 occurred within the city limits of
Oakland and Richmond. The homicide rates have steadily increased, as 2005 had
the highest homicide rates for both Richmond and Oakland.
The outer East Bay consists of the cities of Orinda, Walnut Creek, Concord,
Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, and Pleasant Hill, and Lafayette to the north (also
referred as Central Contra Costa County) and the cities of Dublin, Pleasanton,
Livermore, Danville, San Ramon to the south (sometimes referred to as the
Livermore-Amador Valley or the Tri-Valley), as well as other smaller towns, such
as Alamo and Orinda. They are connected to the inner East Bay by BART and by
highways and the Caldecott Tunnel. The outer East Bay is mostly suburban to
rural and was mostly built after World War II. The white population is still the
majority population in this area; however it is expected to become a minority
within ten years. Most of the white population moved to the
area from San Francisco and the inner-East Bay to flee many of the
socio-economic problems which afflict those areas and which are now spreading to
the outer-East Bay.
