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I think the whole premise of your original post is outdated. Most of the people moving to California now are people from other countries, not other states. Sure, people from other states still move here, but not nearly in the numbers they used to.
The population growth rate has also slowed down considerably in the last 2 decades.
What was true up until about 1990 is no longer true.
Thats what is so funny about the OP's post. Unless you are old enough to remember:
when Jan and Deans "Gee" was a top hit
The vietnam draft
or Marky Mark and the funky bunch
your observations of "transplants" ruing the state is likely your imagination.
Having been born in raised in Buffalo, NY, and spending countless miserable winter days in a former steel town whilst reading magazines with CA plastered throughout the pages, I can easily attest to the fact that thousands of folks from awful places in the "rust belt" would love nothing better than to escape. I actually ran away from home in 10th grade...not because I didn't like my parents, but because I was sick and tired of shoveling snow, slapping at mosquitos when the weather finally went from oppressive and snowy through the slushy crappy stage then finally into the muggy, sticky hot stage, and throwing my car out of alignment every time I hit a crater (aka "pothole"). I also hated the fact that everyone seemed to marry his or her high school sweetheart, get a job at some local place (like parks and rec. or the power company or Ford), and moved a block away from their old house to raise another generation of trapped (and they don't even realize it) kids. I did put my money where my mouth is, and I moved (eventually, after military service, the poor kid's way of getting out of the home town), to CA. I lived in San Diego, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Capitola, Vista, and Soquel (not to be confused with "So-Cal"), and I can say with great passion that it is easy to understand the draw to CA. I tried AZ first, for 12 years, but the fact that one can catch on fire whilst getting the mail got old...yes, it is a dry heat, but 122 degrees of dry heat sucks no less than being near a kiln or a blast furnace. Like a cockroach, people only came out at night. I agree with certain parts of lots of posts...that if you are not happy with who you are that it will suck just about anywhere. Also, that CA in and of itself doesn't cure any ailments or issues...it just happens to be blessed with nice weather in certain highly populated areas (duh...nice weather = expensive houses and competition for jobs). What I found, however, is that unless you are Native American, no one is truly a CA native in terms of family tree if you go far enough back...so it gets old when natives do get on a soapbox and tell folks who try to move to CA that non-natives are not welcome. In fact, were it not for the "true natives'" (or at least the folks whose criteria of native is simply being born someplace) PARENTS, the natives would have had to move from somewhere else as well...instead of simply being born in the right place. What I don't like is the folks who either bash their own state and do nothing about it (like get/enhance education and job opportunities and move away), or those who sabotage their state in an effort to keep other folks from moving there. My dad once said that "opinions are like ---holes, everyone has one," and I now believe that to be relevant to many things. If you ask 10 different peole what they think, you are likely to get ten different answers. Expecting a forum to give you 100% objective information is about as effective as expecting a forum to change your favorite ice cream or color (or for someone to change their spouse or BF/GF to be the person they want them to be versus the person they are). It is great to read opinions, however, and to ferret out the facts from the fiction (or subjective opinions). I took an online test to get ideas for places to live that were as close to CA as I could get with more property/more outdoor recreation/more pet friendly/more house, but I can assure anyone that there are tradeoffs. I live in Sequim, which has way less rainfall than, say, Forks or Lilliwaup (look them up...), but what no site seems to share is that low rainfall spread out daily is not the same as the same rainfall over a few days. When I lived in Santa Cruz, for example, we got way more rainfall than Sequim, but it all happened in one season, pretty much, over a few weeks. Sequim is very much what I hoped for, but so was San Diego...my priorities just changed. I don't have picture prefect weather, but my acres of land for my dogs to run on without getting a 400 dollar ticket is a plus. So too is no HOA fees, or being able to build shop projects without having to have my garage door closed...and having a mortgage that is nearly 2/3 cheaper. Truth be told, I'd love it if I could spend late Spring until late Fall here, and then winters in San Diego...but on a teacher's salary it wasn't going to happen.
Having been born in raised in Buffalo, NY, and spending countless miserable winter days in a former steel town whilst reading magazines with CA plastered throughout the pages, I can easily attest to the fact that thousands of folks from awful places in the "rust belt" would love nothing better than to escape. I actually ran away from home in 10th grade...not because I didn't like my parents, but because I was sick and tired of shoveling snow, slapping at mosquitos when the weather finally went from oppressive and snowy through the slushy crappy stage then finally into the muggy, sticky hot stage, and throwing my car out of alignment every time I hit a crater (aka "pothole"). I also hated the fact that everyone seemed to marry his or her high school sweetheart, get a job at some local place (like parks and rec. or the power company or Ford), and moved a block away from their old house to raise another generation of trapped (and they don't even realize it) kids. I did put my money where my mouth is, and I moved (eventually, after military service, the poor kid's way of getting out of the home town), to CA. I lived in San Diego, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Capitola, Vista, and Soquel (not to be confused with "So-Cal"), and I can say with great passion that it is easy to understand the draw to CA. I tried AZ first, for 12 years, but the fact that one can catch on fire whilst getting the mail got old...yes, it is a dry heat, but 122 degrees of dry heat sucks no less than being near a kiln or a blast furnace. Like a cockroach, people only came out at night. I agree with certain parts of lots of posts...that if you are not happy with who you are that it will suck just about anywhere. Also, that CA in and of itself doesn't cure any ailments or issues...it just happens to be blessed with nice weather in certain highly populated areas (duh...nice weather = expensive houses and competition for jobs). What I found, however, is that unless you are Native American, no one is truly a CA native in terms of family tree if you go far enough back...so it gets old when natives do get on a soapbox and tell folks who try to move to CA that non-natives are not welcome. In fact, were it not for the "true natives'" (or at least the folks whose criteria of native is simply being born someplace) PARENTS, the natives would have had to move from somewhere else as well...instead of simply being born in the right place. What I don't like is the folks who either bash their own state and do nothing about it (like get/enhance education and job opportunities and move away), or those who sabotage their state in an effort to keep other folks from moving there. My dad once said that "opinions are like ---holes, everyone has one," and I now believe that to be relevant to many things. If you ask 10 different peole what they think, you are likely to get ten different answers. Expecting a forum to give you 100% objective information is about as effective as expecting a forum to change your favorite ice cream or color (or for someone to change their spouse or BF/GF to be the person they want them to be versus the person they are). It is great to read opinions, however, and to ferret out the facts from the fiction (or subjective opinions). I took an online test to get ideas for places to live that were as close to CA as I could get with more property/more outdoor recreation/more pet friendly/more house, but I can assure anyone that there are tradeoffs. I live in Sequim, which has way less rainfall than, say, Forks or Lilliwaup (look them up...), but what no site seems to share is that low rainfall spread out daily is not the same as the same rainfall over a few days. When I lived in Santa Cruz, for example, we got way more rainfall than Sequim, but it all happened in one season, pretty much, over a few weeks. Sequim is very much what I hoped for, but so was San Diego...my priorities just changed. I don't have picture prefect weather, but my acres of land for my dogs to run on without getting a 400 dollar ticket is a plus. So too is no HOA fees, or being able to build shop projects without having to have my garage door closed...and having a mortgage that is nearly 2/3 cheaper. Truth be told, I'd love it if I could spend late Spring until late Fall here, and then winters in San Diego...but on a teacher's salary it wasn't going to happen.
Separate paragraphs are your friend when writing. I gave up reading this after the first couple words.
I think the whole premise of your original post is outdated. Most of the people moving to California now are people from other countries, not other states. Sure, people from other states still move here, but not nearly in the numbers they used to.
Just the Midwest and some parts of the Northeast. The Southerners stopped coming as have the Texans and the Northern New England people. The rest of the West not only stopped moving to California (as they were as recently as 20 years ago) but Californians moved to the rest of the West and parts of Texas (which caused those areas to start looking at Californians the way that many people on these boards look at illegal immigrants - in fact illegal immigrants are FAR more popular in Texas than Californians with no Texas roots nor understanding of Texas culture).
Quote:
The population growth rate has also slowed down considerably in the last 2 decades.
Which is a good thing. Too much population growth brings too many problems. California's population growth rate over the last half of the 20th century was above that of any Latin American country and on a level with Pakistan or Nigeria. Overpopulation destroyed many of the state's good qualities. A stable population or a slightly declining population makes for a better quality of life, as long as the population doesn't start dropping at Michigan or Ohio levels.
California's population growth rate over the last half of the 20th century was above that of any Latin American country and on a level with Pakistan or Nigeria.
but Californians moved to the rest of the West and parts of Texas (which caused those areas to start looking at Californians the way that many people on these boards look at illegal immigrants - in fact illegal immigrants are FAR more popular in Texas than Californians with no Texas roots nor understanding of Texas culture).
I think locals in other states also resent California transplants for driving up the price of real estate - because to Californians, the prices for homes seem cheap by comparison, and will pay what is big money for homes there.
I think locals in other states also resent California transplants for driving up the price of real estate - because to Californians, the prices for homes seem cheap by comparison, and will pay what is big money for homes there.
The impact has certainly been felt, not just in CA (Bay Area transplants), but in Washington, Oregon and to a smaller extent, popular retirement towns such as Ashville, NC and others in AZ, NM and CO. Such a shame.
So write your congressman and tell them to build a fence at the border. Because generally speaking those are the only folks trying to escape to California. English speaking people, including california natives, have been fleeing california much faster than americans from other states replacing them.
Or if you actually knew what you were talking about you would know that surveys showed most of the people who left fell into two catagories 1) young couples with children who mostly wanted to stay but couldn't afford to buy a starter home due to high home prices 2) Elderly couples who's home represented most of their retirement savings. Those elderly folks were simply trying to sell their home and move some where cheap because that's the only way they can retire.
None of those two categories, which make up the vast number of people who left the state, are people "fleeing" the state and instead when asked most of them say they would love to stay but have to leave for financial reasons (either because they can't afford a home or because they have to sell their home to free up cash to use as retirement funds). The good news is the end of the housing bubble has brought down housing prices by about 1/3rd so we can expect this trend to taper off until such time as housing prices shoot up again. Either way net population outflows from the state almost exactly equal net population inflows.
Don't you hate it when real economists throw water on your dumb partisan talking points?
I agree but ended up reading the whole thing anyway.
I printed it and made myself a placemat. I didn't read it though.
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