What's Happened to California??? (Sacramento, Oakland: to live in, restaurant, costs)

[jc76]

Hate all you want on CA, but the scenery there beats MN hands down. Not to mention very few parts of CA are in a 6 month deep freeze of -20 temps and 4 ft of snow. WHile we are shoveling snow and breaking our backs they are already half way to their destination. While we are trapped indoors from Nov-April going insane and praying for sunlight and a temp over 30 theya re walking around outside with a coke and a smile.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by jc76

Hate all you want on CA, but the scenery there beats MN hands down. Not to mention very few parts of CA are in a 6 month deep freeze of -20 temps and 4 ft of snow. WHile we are shoveling snow and breaking our backs they are already half way to their destination. While we are trapped indoors from Nov-April going insane and praying for sunlight and a temp over 30 theya re walking around outside with a coke and a smile.

It is not and never has been a matter of "hate." Rather, for many of us who were fortunate enough to live in California during its heyday, it's a matter of grave disappointment. I think it's akin to watching someone you love suffer a long and disabling illness.

[Clarks]

True, but you still can't live in those areas and hermitize though.

Not sure what the poster means, with the Fedex, UPS, and the Schwan man, one seldom needs to go to town, and town should have a hardware store, and a cafe, it is hard to think of anything else one might need.

What they call small towns here, are usually small cities to most other parts of the country.

Really? A question of definition, I think a reasonable definition of a small town would be a town with less than 25,000 people. California has 217 of them. Plenty to choose from.

Not to mention the site of endless tract homes along the hillsides of the IE and the San Gabriel Mountains gets old and tacky after awhile.

SoCal seems to be what people complain about when they complain about California, but that is less than 1/4 of the state, with nearly half the population, I consider it uninhabitable. California is a big state, a really big state. I found this factoid in an FFA magazine (if you do not know what FFA is, you probably live in SoCal) There is a town in CA, that is closer to Canada than to Fresno, think about that for a moment. Fresno is not in So Cal, pretty close to the geographic center of CA (North Fork, CA) Yet, parts of California are closer to Canada than to it. Pretty cool I think.

A strong case can be made that those who bash CA, don't know CA.

Truck driving really opened my eyes to the better parts of the USA.

There are parts of the USA that are better than parts of CA, but few if any lie east of the 100th Meridian. A poster on this board, Curmudgeon, moved to Missouri, Missouri has one National Forest with 1.5 million acres and apparently, no designated wilderness.

South of him is the Ozark National Forest with 1.2 million acres. and again, apparently no designated wilderness.

California has 24,252,941 acres of National Forest, 14 million of which are designated wilderness.
California has 15.2 million acres of BLM land
California has 6,394,683 acres of National Park Land
California has 1.2 million acres of State Park Land
California protected wild land acres are greater than the size of 32 states. That right there should give you some idea how grand this state is compared to others, particularly those tiny damp humid states east of the 100th meridian.

Yes, I know you will come back to taxes, illegals, regulations, I say, better that than hot humid summers with blackflies, and nasty icy winter with months of gray weather

...

[Screw Sacramento]

Originally Posted by Clarks

Nah, the sun came up this morning, a little cool, but not like Minnesota. The roads worked, the schools were open, folks went to work, or fishing, or golfing, forums for some reason collect complainers like my eaves collected spiderwebs.

It seems they also collect the hard-core California defenders who think the rest of us that spout news and statistics are deluded.

[Rhenzanite]

Originally Posted by AnUnidentifiedMale

I second that. People love to beat up on the big guy. California has always been a target in that respect. Considering that the state has the 6th or 7th largest economy in the world, I'm not too concerned about it falling apart.

It's interesting... not a single person I regularly socialize with wants to leave California. Not one. The company I work for will never leave California...it would be completely stupid for us to do so.

As my little brother says: Haters gonna hate. I have faith that California will make yet another comeback...we're resiliant that way

[Nomadic9460678748]

Originally Posted by Screw Sacramento

What's bugging you, man? I heard Austin has one of the healthiest economies in the nation. Be careful what you wish for with Oakland-you'll find yourself in a place with less space, ruder people, higher unemployment, and more violent crime than where you are now...

I used to live in Oakland. And I love it there. Love it there more than anything Austin has to offer. People were never rude to me, I made great friends there, just went back to visit and people were STILL exceptionally nice to me. So that whole "Bay Area people are so rude thing" . . . if you're rude to them I guess. People were always helpful, kind, and willing to answer my questions. It would be a wish come true for me to go BACK to Oakland. Austin's economy sucks. Have you been here? You've bought into the Kiplinger's hype if you believe that the economy here is healthy. Wages are depressed due to the excess number of applicants put out by UT Austin, rents are the highest in Texas, public transportation is abysmal, if you drive be prepared to sit in traffic for hours, and you can come and stay here during the summer when it's a million degrees outside. I'm sick of it. So sure, the economy is great if you want to work a dead-end service sector job or a half-ass job working for the government--oh wait! There are now government hiring freezes. Ahem.

</rant>

[Screw Sacramento]

Originally Posted by Nomadic9460678748

I used to live in Oakland. And I love it there. Love it there more than anything Austin has to offer. People were never rude to me, I made great friends there, just went back to visit and people were STILL exceptionally nice to me. So that whole "Bay Area people are so rude thing" . . . if you're rude to them I guess. People were always helpful, kind, and willing to answer my questions. It would be a wish come true for me to go BACK to Oakland. Austin's economy sucks. Have you been here? You've bought into the Kiplinger's hype if you believe that the economy here is healthy. Wages are depressed due to the excess number of applicants put out by UT Austin, rents are the highest in Texas, public transportation is abysmal, if you drive be prepared to sit in traffic for hours, and you can come and stay here during the summer when it's a million degrees outside. I'm sick of it. So sure, the economy is great if you want to work a dead-end service sector job or a half-ass job working for the government--oh wait! There are now government hiring freezes. Ahem.

</rant>

I guess. You're the one speaking from experience, so go where you're happiest. I just heard the numbers in Austin were most optimistic. I'm sure the weather's humid as hell, though.

[Clarks]

It seems they also collect the hard-core California defenders who think the rest of us that spout news and statistics are deluded.

I think those who are dissatisfied with their life in CA, are dissatisfied. I don't think changing geography will change that. I think that those who hate California are urbanites for the most part, and really, where they live is meaningless, urban, suburban, is the same all across this country.

Those who hate California, really need to get out the front door and do something.

Funny thing, somebody around here complained that illegals cost the CA economy 10 billion dollars. I hope all the whiners about illegals don't use tobacco, as tobacco use costs the CA economy 18 billion a year.

So, lets get rid of tobacco first, as it is the bigger problem, then we deal with illegals.. My guess? most of those who whine about illegals smoke. Oh, speaking of smoking, it seems that most everyone east of Colorado smokes. One of the greatest things about CA is the relative lack of smokers, and the fact that one can eat in a restaurant or drink in a bar without being annoyed by exhaled smoke.

Funny story, one of the most difficult peaks I ever climbed was Mt Mitchell in NC, although the elevation was lower than my Truckee home, and the trail was a paved walkway. All those eastern smokers, smoking their way along the trail nearly killed me.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

It is not and never has been a matter of "hate." Rather, for many of us who were fortunate enough to live in California during its heyday, it's a matter of grave disappointment. I think it's akin to watching someone you love suffer a long and disabling illness.

Or .... it's like watching someone you love go through a "healing crisis".
When the person "emerges" from their illness, they are stronger and more balanced and "purified" or cleansed of the root cause(s) of their illness.
It's just another way to look at it.

[Nomadic9460678748]

Originally Posted by Screw Sacramento

I guess. You're the one speaking from experience, so go where you're happiest. I just heard the numbers in Austin were most optimistic. I'm sure the weather's humid as hell, though.

Thank you. It's what I intend to do. Texas doesn't make me happy. I've long since outgrown the place. And Austin . . . well, I think it's really, really overrated. It's fine for Texas, but I really do prefer Oakland. And yes, the common (mis)information about Texas is that things are just BOOMING. Governor Goodhair does his part to perpetuate the idea. I have no idea how to properly link the thread but you should check out the one in the Austin Forum questioning whether the job market is recovering. I found this:

"My family and I moved here a month ago and nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have printed out 37 pages with 45 companies per page and my daughter and I have been calling everyone of them and nothing they are not hiring. We have contacted every strip mall, nothing. Craigslist all trash, half of the jobs listed for government required BA degree, it is terrible. I have never seen anything like it. If anyone is thinking about moving here without a job and one that pays 17 or more an hour, please don't do it. Don't make the mistake that I have. I have lived in several places since 2007 and I believe this job market is the worst. Even target is not hiring, gas stations, stores, home depot you name it no openings anywhere. Oh there are one or two but it's bad it's really bad. A person would be better off on the beach somewhere. We love Austin but to go through this now after two and a half years of it all ready is way to much. So if anyone knows of a office management, administrative, project coordinator position let us know please."

The poster's name is austinhome.

And it's ridiculously humid here in the summertime. People try and diminish how much by saying, "Well Houston is worse." That may be so, but it's still humid. I have a huge head of spectacularly curly hair which doesn't like humidi-tah. Not one bit. So yeah . . .