What is wrong with San Diego (Los Angeles, Riverside: home, neighborhoods, high school)

[Huckleberry3911948]

my memphis uncle says huck living in california is like living with a beautiful woman
that has a headache all the time.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

my memphis uncle says huck living in california is like living with a beautiful woman
that has a headache all the time.

Yes. You've told us.

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by AnUnidentifiedMale

Although San Diego may be making mistakes, Sass, the difference in living conditions between the two places is stark enough to make me believe that it'll be a long time before San Diego is as bad as L.A. in a lot of areas. On top of that, most people believe that L.A. is only going to get worse, so even if San Diego's quality of life deteriorates, it'll still be better than L.A. for day-to-day activities.

Agree. And yes Huckleberry... you've already told us this about 20 times now.

[drshang]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

And I know I will be roasted for this, but I think San Diego is right on track to be a smaller LA. For all the hatred of LA we seem to be making the exact same mistakes they made 20 years ago - too much growth, too fast, with too little infrastructure investment into transportation, water, schools, public safety.

San Diego is nowhere close to being a small LA. Houston is a small LA. San Diego needs to triple in size for it to be a "small LA." Right now the SD area is around 1/7 or 1/8 the size of LA, depending how you define the metro areas of the two cities.

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by drshang

San Diego is nowhere close to being a small LA. Houston is a small LA. San Diego needs to triple in size for it to be a "small LA." Right now the SD area is around 1/7 or 1/8 the size of LA, depending how you define the metro areas of the two cities.

Think of what I said as meaning "a small city with many similarities to LA" rather than comparing population numbers.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

Originally Posted by drshang

San Diego is nowhere close to being a small LA. Houston is a small LA. San Diego needs to triple in size for it to be a "small LA." Right now the SD area is around 1/7 or 1/8 the size of LA, depending how you define the metro areas of the two cities.

Using the "urbanized area" definition from the Census Bureau, L.A. is about 4.5 times the size of San Diego, which would mean that it would be more accurate to say that San Diego is 1/4 or 1/5 the size of L.A. Still much smaller, but not as small as you suggest.

[buckeyenative01]

Phoenix and San Diego both are on track to become junior L.A.'s (if they aren't already). At least San Diego has desirable weather twelve months out of the year, give or take.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

Here's the thing - LIVING in San Diego is much nicer than living in LA - but if you live in LA already... is there really anything in San Diego that LA / OC doesn't have too? They have beaches, we have beaches. They have great coastal towns, we have great coastal towns. Aside from a few attractions (the zoo, maybe the hotel del, downtown SD), most of the stuff in San Diego is geared towards out-of-state tourists as opposed to day-trippers.

I think that San Diego, while a gorgeous and unique city, doesn't really have too many attractions or amenities that are going to encourage repeat visits from people in LA... with the exception of perhaps the beaches on summer weekends and the races in Del Mar.

A lot of the visitors that come to San Diego are day trippers. Something like 33 million visitors with 14.5 million hotel rooms sold, not sure exactly how many day visitors that translates to but its a significant chunk and there is pretty much only one area day visitors can come from, LA/OC/IE.

And I know I will be roasted for this, but I think San Diego is right on track to be a smaller LA. For all the hatred of LA we seem to be making the exact same mistakes they made 20 years ago - too much growth, too fast, with too little infrastructure investment into transportation, water, schools, public safety.

I think SD has done better than LA on SOME issues.

As for growth, SD has handled it better than LA. It could have been better handled but compared to LA it definitely was. The Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) has done a great job at making sure every piece of available land isn't developed and that mitigation measures for new development are enacted. I'm not aware of any similar program Los Angeles has in place. We have many open canyons separating our communities where as in LA they just build homes at the bottom of them many times. The sprawl here is bad but its not as dense as LA's sprawl. SD is also seems farther along with its Smart Growth plans and has a better, more coordinated regional planning agency. SANDAG plays a bigger role in growth and development for SD than SCAG does for LA.

And to show just how backwards LA County is, look up the Tejon Ranch development. A development looking to house about 100K people just south of the grapevine and north of Santa Clarita in an area that has only one way in and out right in the middle of prime wildfire territory with no jobs anywhere nearby or infrastructure. It really amazes me that got approved. Despite the good, sustainable design of that development, the location could not possibly be worse. I doubt SD would ever approve anything near that magnitude in such a stupid location.

As for transportation, San Diego's has a much better freeway system overall as it is better suited to handle the region's demand compared to LA. LA's freeways are WAY over capacity and don't come close to having the number of freeway miles it should given its population. SD had a rail system in place and running before LA. Our Trolley system began operation in 1981 as opposed to the Blue Line in LA opening in 1990. Metrolink began service in 92 as the Coaster began in 95. Considering LA's size it should have had rail way before SD.

We did just pass that school bond but besides that we don't do much, probably not better than LA in that department. Our water system could not be more of a joke and we're pretty bad when it comes to public safety funding so I definitely won't say SD is better than LA in those regards.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

Wow. sav858 and Sassberto - you guys are both treasures here!

[Huckleberry3911948]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

Agree. And yes Huckleberry... you've already told us this about 20 times now.

i will try to be more original but the question whats up with california has come up more than once hasnt it.
redundant question = redundant response?