Recent content by winterblues

La Sirena Grill in the Orchard Hills shopping center closed. I?m sad, really liked their fish tacos, enchiladas, and chips and guacamole. Covid really took a toll on their business and I noticed they never really recovered even after everything opened back up.

Hi there! I'm in Woodbury (so we are also zoned to PHS--at least for now) but my kids are only in elementary school (so take this with a grain of salt). However, I've seen parents asking this question on NextDoor and I've never seen any negative comments from parents of current PHS students...

Well, this isn't good. LA Times reporting that an entire elementary school class in Hollywood is in quarantine due to an outbreak (7 children in one class infected). https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-25/l-a-unified-first-coronavirus-outbreak-grant-elementary Los Angeles school...

We did IVA last year (for our 2nd grader). It was...not good. The teachers stuck to that awful Florida Virtual curriculum until about mid-winter, then finally switched over to the California common care workbooks (Journeys, GoMath, etc). They didn't really hit their stride until the Spring. I...

Hi there! Take my advice with a grain of salt?I?ve owned 2 homes in Irvine (since 2009) and have lived here even longer, but I?m solidly middle class and posting from an Irvine shoebox (i.e., a detached condo). With those caveats, I?d say a couple of things. Northpark is a really nice...

@zovall, tell me more! I'm totally with you--so hard to focus on anything but the cons. Are you still in Irvine? What have you settled on--do the pros of being in Irvine outweigh the cons?

@moc, thank you for the solidarity. My kids are 3 and 7 and it's hard feeling so cramped (being at home 24/7 during COVID I'm sure has amplified those feelings). Yes, we love that we have a ton of parks and trails to go to, but the tiny bedrooms means our "great room" looks like a daycare with...

These OC housing trends are depressing. I work hard and make an okay salary, and would love to be able to move up from my Irvine detached condo to a modest home with a driveway and yard. Now I feel stuck. Irvine will be out of reach for first-time buyers and middle class move up buyers. I am...

I don't have first hand experience with this, but my brother rents in Orchard Hills Reserve (in Vivo, an Irvine Pacific home), and he always complains about how poorly done the insulation is in the home and is fairly certain the owner did NOT do the upgrade. Hopefully other owners will chime in.

Just checked the dashboard, more positive student cases: Cypress Village Elementary Jeffrey Trail Middle School Portola High School

Congrats! Our first home in Irvine was in Mandeville, it?s a very nice, quiet, underrated neighborhood. Plus low HOA and low Mello. I?m sure your buyer will be happy.

@marie, hoping for the best for you. Hopefully that teacher receives a bit of gentle feedback and adjusts accordingly. @qwerty, glad to hear in-person is going well for your daughter. Mine is highly sensitive and keeps saying she doesn?t want to go back to school because she doesn?t want to...

Hi! We are in IVA too, but my daughter is only in 2nd grade so I'm not sure how helpful I will be. Not sure if this is an IVA issue or an individual teacher issue, but yes I've noticed that during the live Zoom lessons, there is an awful lot of chit chat, sharing news, procedural stuff, etc...

I believe the tax bills are broken out into two sections. One section is taxes and the rest, including MR, are "Special Assessment User Fees". Exactly--this is the section I was referring to. Mello Roos are not taxes but do appear on the property tax bill. :)

It's definitely worth calling that number next to the CFD on the tax bill to see why it went up. I was very unpleasantly surprised when we bought our Woodbury condo that CFD 04-2A also goes up 2% per year. I thought only the Mello Roos in Great Park went up, but apparently there are CFDs in...