Help from California Reporters to get info on area for apartments, etc

[Terence D. Skelton]

Since there seem to be a lot of California reporters on this site, I was hoping to pick the brain of some of you on the area.  My son has a master's in biomedical engineering, and since there are a lot of biomedical companies in California, if there's a possibility of him moving there, I'd love to get help from locals on safe places to live, affordable places to live, traffic situations, etc.  A lot of the companies are located in Southern California, which, to me, is a lot more expensive than where he's lived in the past. Of course, I don't want him to find a cheap place that's not safe either.  Now, Southern California is a big place, but some companies he's looked at are in San Clemente, Irvine.  Any recommendations/tips about these areas would be much appreciated.  My email is [e-mail].  Thanks so much!