Five years after moving her family into a downtown Oakland apartment complex, Martha Rynberg has no plans to leave. She loves leaning out her tiny Juliet balcony and gazing at food trucks, or the traffic. When an Occupy encampment sprang up nearby, she wholeheartedly embraced its message.
All the same, she wishes her daughters, who are 15 and 6, had a place to play.
“I wouldn’t describe this as inviting for families,” Rynberg said, standing amid the Ramona books, Hello Kitty rain boots, and kid toys that deck the living room of her three-bedroom apartment inside the Uptown complex. While there are perhaps dozens of families living in the Uptown, there aren’t enough community spaces to gather, she says. The outdoor pool is only for swimming; the art park next door is too saturated in dog pee, she said.
Despite those frustrations, Rynberg said she loves raising kids in the heart of the city. And she isn’t alone. So-called Echo Boomers or Boomerang Generation folks — people in their early-to-mid 30s who are getting married and having kids — might have grown up in the suburbs, but they don’t necessarily want to raise their families there.