California a disasterous state (San Diego, San Francisco: real estate, condo, travel)

[Caliguy2007]

California is the State people love to Generalize and is also the State that people like to put the spotlight on,especially when it comes to the Negatives.

I don't deny that we have problems here in CA,but it's unbelievable how some people think that these problems are unique to CA and not found anywhere else.

Originally Posted by JakeDog

I find it strange people harp on California for all of its faults- let's put another state to that kind of scrutiny and see how it measures up. Much of the South is poor, segregated, humid, and boring. A lot of the NE is just too cold and/or industrial and ugly. Pick a state, let's examine it's positives and negatives and I will bet California will measure up very well.

[tchick]

It is the attitude of Californians that make the rest of the country find fault with it. The self rightous attitude is a HUGE turn off. Have you ever visited the east coast?

Much of the South is poor, segregated, humid, and boring. A lot of the NE is just too cold and/or industrial and ugly.


I hope you will enjoy and live in California for many many years.

[tchick]

Originally Posted by JakeDog

I find it strange people harp on California for all of its faults- let's put another state to that kind of scrutiny and see how it measures up. Much of the South is poor, segregated, humid, and boring. A lot of the NE is just too cold and/or industrial and ugly. Pick a state, let's examine its positives and negatives and I will bet California will measure up very well.

Hmmm....From your posts is looks like you are leaving for Washington DC...

[greatbasinguide]

California, 1,000 miles long, 300 miles wide, deserts, mountains, forests, farmland, coast line. 30,000,000 people, far too darned many, fortunately most of them live south of Conejo and the Grapevine and for the most part they stay there. The rest of the state is pretty grand.

The majority of the land in the state is federally owned, there for your recreation. Are taxes too high? Of course, where aren't they? Are there too many illegal immigrants? of course, where aren't they?

Quit whining, you will be dead inside of 100 years, enjoy your life while you have it.

[vfrpilot]

California, 1,000 miles long, 300 miles wide, deserts, mountains, forests, farmland, coast line. 30,000,000 people

You are totally right! So many people think LA is CA and don't have the foggiest idea of the immense area that CA covers, and how different it can be in different areas.

Are taxes too high? Of course, where aren't they? Are there too many illegal immigrants? of course, where aren't they?

Our sales and property taxes are lower here in CO. There may be illegals here, but not nearly like San Diego. They are virtually invisible. The local school doesn't have to have special programs for ESL students like the schools in San Diego (37% at the school where our daughter would've attended in San Marcos).

Quit whining, you will be dead inside of 100 years, enjoy your life while you have it.

We enjoyed our life in CA, but now are enjoying a better quality of life in CO. It's not for everyone, but it works for us.

[greatbasinguide]

CO has too many people for my taste Mexican laborers are found nearly everywhere in America these days. Quality of life is pretty subjective. I live in CA, in a small town, lies at 6,000 feet in the mountains. A fine town

North of us three hundred miles to the Oregon border and west to the coast, a chunk of land the size of Ohio live fewer than a half million people.

[Angelstar490]

I love California and I miss living there - have always planned to return there one day. I lived in Humboldt County, actually I chose to leave after graduating from Humboldt State with a BS in nursing; even for a nurse jobs were scarce in 1984, I was stuck with a midnight shift job and would have been there for a while if I had stayed. Prior to that I had been a bartender and also been on welfare, even though I already had a Bachelor's degree in psychology. In Arcata there were people with Masters' degrees waiting tables. I even worked at Eureka Fisheries fileting fish as I was so desperate for work; now THAT was an awful job! So I went to Michigan and easily found a good paying nursing job right away. Never meant to stay here for more than a summer and now it's 23 years later and I'm still here! I don't need alot of money to survive and I have never been into having alot of material things but even with that attitude I found it hard to survive in Humboldt. Housing was scarce and expensive too. Then there was the marijuana and all of the other drugs that were just everywhere in Arcata and Humboldt. I wanted to move my kids away from all of that back to the conservative midwest. Of course there are drugs here too but nothing like in Cali. But I still miss the ocean and the redwoods so much, not to mention the people and the way of living. Everyone so friendly and laid back up in Humboldt and Mendocino, it's not like that back here in Michigan. I really think that Mendocino has the happiest people in the whole world, from what I have seen!

[JakeDog]

"Hmmm....From your posts is looks like you are leaving for Washington DC..."

I am looking into job prospects in several places. I don't live in California now, but I used to and wish I did now (San Diego in particular). Washington D.C. has a lot of interesting job prospects and I think it is an exciting city. Guess what- I like D.C. and parts of California. I also like Boulder, Austin, NYC, Santa Fe, and several other places. I hate Fresno, which is in California. It just strikes me as absurd how people bad mouth California, but states like Texas, besides Austin, have little to nothing to offer and have as many of the same problems and some other ones to. I guess I'm just insane, but I find Santa Barbara to be more appealling than Pittsburg or Richmond. Call me crazy, but California seems pretty nice.

[tori86]

Originally Posted by hockyis1

I don't mean to be a jerk, but your whole soap box complaint is just wrong. I know I'm going to get flamed for my post here, but I really don't care...

Government entitlements and the welfare system is broken...we get it...but it's broken across the the country. California is definitely not the only state with welfare issues. This has been going on for decades...

This is what most of the complaints on this board are in a nutshell -
1) It's unfair that real estate prices have skyrocketed
2) It's unfair that I don't make enough to afford a comfortable home
3) It's unfair that I can't afford to move to a different state because I hate living in California so much
4) It's unfair that we live in a capitalistic society where people that can make good money make it ahead in life
5) It's unfair that the federal government can't kick out all the immigrants and illegals and they are making my quality of life go down
6) It's unfair that California is going down the crapper because of policy and the economic boom.

This is a great site for people to be warned of the high cost of living in California - because there are plenty of pessimists and complainers out there that can dissuade you from moving. To them, life is black whole where the government is holding them down and they can never stick it to "the man".

To me, there are very few excuses. For every complainer on this board, there is another example of a single mom with two kids who put herself through law school on her own dime - only to retire early and put her kids through college. Did she complain? Did she wish for government entitlements? Did she care what her neighbors did? Heck no...she buckled down, shut up, worked hard, got educated, didn't quit because someone said she "couldn't afford it or couldn't do it", and made it through successfully. That's what this country is about...not complaining about the circumstances that are "forced onto you", but making the best of what you got, and getting ahead.

If you only make 35K a year...guess what? There are a million of oppurtunities out there where you can make more. You don't have to be smart...you don't have to have a college degree, you don't have to have wealthy parents, you don't have to have anything going for you to turn your life around. Period. There are few life circumstances that I give grievance to. The rest of the "situations or problems" people have are because of poor judgement in decision making. If that makes it twice as hard for them to get ahead - too bad for them. Got pregnant at 15? Too bad, should have thought twice. Do drugs and now can't get a federal job or pass a urnialysis? Too bad, should have thought twice. Got fired because you did something stupid at work...guess what...too bad. BUT...none of these things mean you are doomed for failure, it just means it will be harder.

Go out there...change yourself...live life.

Let the pessimist flame away!

Im so glad you commented because im 20 years old with two kids puttin myself through university as a social worker and I know all about the "welfare state"
I work hard but if it was not for the additional support from the british government I could not afford to put myself through university with two children! Welfare state is a 2-sided coin!
I study and live in the first ever country to create a welfare state BRITAIN!
And believe it or not I love california and plan to move my family and I over just as soon as I finish studying.
No body seems to way up the facts such as the welfare state is their for a reason and while it doesn't help everyone it does serve a purpose. I agree it could be addapted in areas but have any of you ever looked at what good the welfare state provisions provide.
I may not live there yet but from my research I see that every state in america has problems (as does the rest of the world) such asglobal warming and crime, i.e possiblity of terrorist threats etc.
Tom bates u come accross as very negative, hostile towards anything possitive said about california I feel as if u have a much more personal greivence with a situation that occured in the state rather than the state itself?
Life is what u make it if u dont like urs quit complainin do something about it!

[Joe_Ryder]

I moved to the Upper Midwest from the San Francisco East Bay about a year ago. I am actually heading back this Friday. My wonderful life here in the picturesque winter wonderland is somewhat not what I'd expected or hoped for.

Local folks are nice and friendly and all that. They have good schools, little crime, and inexpensive housing (more on that later). Many are assuming that we are going home because of the brutal winters and I see no reason to tell them the truth since it would hurt their feelings. I actually enjoyed the winter. The air was cold and crisp. The sky was a magnificent shade of blue and it was sunny for the whole two months of solid sub-zero temps. I enjoyed the winter very much. The other three seasons are not so great. It seems the dead of winter is about the only time it is sunny. The fact is that I'm going nuts here. The food is boring and flat. There is no color besides green and snow white. I have learned that everything has a price. The price for safety and cheap housing is mind numbing boredom.

Yes, the cost of living in California is comparitively expensive but then again, a Ford Escort costs much less than a Ferrari for a reason. This doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the Ford, but it's not a Ferrari. Apples and Oranges. I've come to realize that property in CA isn't expensive at all for what you get. It's just that property in the Midwest is very cheap. There is a reason it's cheap. You are simply getting less. It would depend on how you define quality of life I suppose. If a huge house on a huge lot is what it takes to make you happy, the Midwestern suburban experience may be just the right thing. Don't get too caught up in the Tax issue. Actual taxes paid are less but the rate is quite high. Houses are cheap so you pay less. Consider that wages are significantly less in almost every field too. I really can't find anything too wrong with the upper Midwest so don't get me wrong. The people are pleasant and polite and things move at a very manageble pace but it simply isn't California. It may be fine for many people but it's just not suitable for me. I like the people in this town and will miss most of them but it's just not quite enough to make me want to stay.

When looking at California, you have to consider that it's a huge state with a massive population. It's quite diverse. If you are willing to just look around a bit, you'll find whatever you're looking for. The large cities are dangerous but if you look closely at the numbers, you'll see that CA large cities are generally safer than many in the US. There is a lot of gang activity in LA and up in the SF East Bay but the violence is for the most part gang memebers and drug dealers killing each other off. If you are not into the drug culture and actually hold a job, you are not in that little world and are fairly safe from it. There are of course exceptions but that's true for the most part. In Ca, you can live in the desert, the city, on the beach, on a farm, in the mountains, in the country. CA has the snowiest places in the US as well as some of the sunniest. If you wish to live in a community of a particular ethnicity, it's also there no matter what it is. I'm fairly certain some parts of LA are inhabited by Martians. If you want to live in suburbia or a penthouse or in a tent in the woods, it's a possibility in CA. No other place on Earth has as much both grand and horrible as CA. About the only thing CA doesn't have is swamps. At least nothing of any proportion.

Many people have become disillusioned with the changes in CA in the past 20 years and moved thousands of miles away to get away. Like me, they almost always come back. I don't wish to return to Oakland but I fortunately didn't sell my home there so I have a place to live. I will be able to search for a better place in CA in the coming months but I now know that what I'm looking for was within easy reach the whole time and not 2000 miles away in some remote not so little hole on the prarie.

Many people who do not live in CA see LA as being the definition of CA. The opposite is true. LA is NOT CA! LA is LA. LA is great and horrible but though it happens to be located in SoCAl, it is an entity all in itself with it's own personality and it's own set of rules. Much the same as NY city is a completey different animal than NY state. There's just a heck of a lot more of CA to be different. I've lived in LA, San Francisco, Redding, Santa Rosa, and Oakland. These places are all entirely different from one another and show the marvelous diversity of CA. If you can't find it in CA, it either doesn't exist or you aren't looking. It's unlikely you'll find it across the border either.

When you move out of CA and plan to live in a place with real seasons consider that you will no longer be living in the moderate climate most Californians enjoy due to the Pacific ocean. Once you get past the Sierras and the Rockies, winters are cold, summers are brutal and spring brings weeds and mosquitos, Fall is pleasant but very short. I travelled when I was young and lived in many cities throughout the US and a few overseas. Overall, I feel the weather in CA can't be beat.

CA is a great place. That's why 32.5 million people (last number I heard) call it home. It took me some time outside the state to fully appreciate that. I am originally from Houston,TX but lived in CA for almost 30 years and do consider myself a Californian. I am so looking forward to going home.