20/20 - Hey Fastfilm (Los Angeles: income, to live in, zoning)

[allthingsbeautiful]

20/20 was interesting last night. The stories were about the happiest people in the world etc. Denmark with the cold and snow was considered tops!! That was quite interesting. I always sensed that sunshine and warm weather wasn't everything in life. 20/20 considers climate and environment to equal only about 10% of what makes people happy. Over 40% is based on a person's inner self and attitude etc.

Anyway, hey Fastfilm, your soon to be new locale is considered to be the top in the US. Ashville, North Carolina. It does look like a nice place. Lots of green, artistic community, mountains, mild climate. Sounds like a great place to retire. I just hope that the hordes don't go there and destroy it.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by allthingsbeautiful

...climate and environment to equal only about 10% of what makes people happy...

I knew this a long time ago. Consider that despite the near perfect year round weather in SoCal, most people are doing the same things indoors as people nationwide all week long (and the trend is growing): in their cars, in their offices, running errands, watching TV & DVDs, operating their computers (posting on City-Data), paying bills, washing something, fixing something, calling somebody, shopping, library, doctor's appointments, etc.

The average Southern Californian is outdoors 17 minutes per day during the week and 43 minutes per day on weekends. He goes to the beach once or twice per year. The rest of the time he and Joe from Iowa are climate controlled.

Those 17 minutes are really expensive.

(This argument goes out the window for those who work outdoors.)

[fastfilm]

Allthingsbeautiful and Charles, thanks for the shout out and I'm going to turn this back to an L.A.-specific topic for everyone, that of emigration from born-in-L.A. locals to locales better suited to their lives.

Husband and I have lived here over five decades. We both have much loved outdoor hobbies as well as indoors ones. It would be foolish to discount our admittedly spoiled, and at this point longtime reliance on reasonably good weather in our (not soon enough, have to wait for his retirement) plans to flee from here. Therefore we have been researching locations with what is considered temperate weather, that of the milder versions of four seasons found in the U.S.

As we all know, any place in the U.S. that doesn't hug within 3 - 5 miles of SoCal's Pacific Coast will not have the famed Mediterranean weather. Therefore, relocators with weather-phobia in mind should think in terms of how they can handle the "worst" season elsewhere. Husband and I disagree mightily on this: he can handle hot, and I can't, so no Southwest; I can handle rainy and cold, and he can't, so no Northwest.

We'll still need some urban amenities so we tried to find a pleasant place with mild four seasons, since the climate we had grown used to was unduplicable. Western North Carolina seems to fit the bill. My husband hasn't surfed for the last 40 years, so beaches aren't essential, while I've gone sailing with a friend once in the last 40 as well. But we are out of doors a great deal more than the averages you quoted, often for all day events related to our hobbies. I even, gasp, walk my dogs in our scanty rain events!

You all brought up some interesting points about how a popular relocation site can change, so I've been lurking mightily on the CIty-data forums here on our area of interest. In Western NC, I'm a little afraid of the growing prevalence of: anti-pet laws, clear-cutting and terracing of mountains to make McMansions, lack of legal consequences for illegal aliens, and latent intolerance of perceived differences. But you know what? That's already the fait accompli case here in truckloads. My foreign national neighbors despise anyone born in the U.S; Los Angeles has already outlawed owning unsterilized purebred show dogs; and the spiralling out of control density zoning and development has wrecked L.A.'s natural assets for all but its richest denizens.

Yes, there are trade-offs. Note that Canadians are pretty happy folk too, despite their having what we Californians consider wretched weather- it has to do with happiness being possible in their country. Happiness for us lower income folk in Los Angeles is no longer affordable. Every bill here, from phone to property tax, reflects massive inflation, mainly for L.A. to spend on its burgeoning population of illegals. I'm looking forward to all new problems to replace our current ones.

There are many posters here who will trumpet L.A. as a forever utopia, due to their being able to live in its richest locales, who dispute me in sometimes knee jerk fashion (note that I always encourage those interested entertainment industry jobs to forego comforts and settle here for their careers.) Discourse is always good, but this just isn't the most realistic assessment for other relocators who may not have the financial means to enjoy what L.A. has left to offer those well off individuals. A more balanced assessment is to be found in Pacificcop's first post here:Leaving La / California - Asap and the subsequent discussions.