Anyone else think LA is going down the toilet? (Los Angeles: loan, real estate)

[CLQ]

Originally Posted by LALady

'a couple of lanes'. yikes! That would squeeze traffic lanes down to two.

Converting a couple freeway lanes into railroads for commuter trains would force everyone to use public transportation which would speed things up and we would not have to waste our time dealing with annoying drivers. That would be ideal. The trains can have wi-fi access.

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LA really sucks..
I dont want to go there if I dont have school there..
And if I had a chance to choose, I would go to UCI instead of UCLA..
Im just sick of the traffic in LA...
How can a big city with such a traffic problem!!
The roads are so narrow.. omg.. and road construction in 405 takes forever.

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Originally Posted by CLQ

Converting a couple freeway lanes into railroads for commuter trains would force everyone to use public transportation which would speed things up and we would not have to waste our time dealing with annoying drivers. That would be ideal. The trains can have wi-fi access.

But people still needs to drive to the metro. Imagine how many people is going to LA?? With all those annoying drivers, driving inside the parking lot and park our cars will take a long long time too..

One of the bad things about the US is every place are very far apart. You NEED to have a car...

I wonder how LA, such a bad structured city can be that famous and popular...

Look at Irvine, it has like at least 3-4 lanes with speed limit of 55mph. What about LA? 2 lanes + 30mph speed limit. Everything is so dense, it causes traffic. Even though everything is dense, but not dense enough for people to be able to take train to LA and go places they want..

[Huckleberry3911948]

Originally Posted by hedgefundpirate

Just my own humble opinion been to many cities such as NY,Miami,Tampa,Orlando and I personally think that the city of Los Angeles because of poor political leadership is going down the tubes.The middle class seem to running for the exit.Who wants to live 50 miles out and sit in traffic for 3 hours to get to work.The crappy areas of LA could be bulldozed and redeveloped but I think the liberal PC crowd prevents the real estate developers from doing this.The gang problem could be solved if the LAPD had the support of the good citizens but I think they are underappreciated.Imagine what a train wreck the city would be without them.In order to live in a good area of LA you really have to have a much higher salary than the average family.Myself I think the Cali dream ended years ago.I see a city in the future of only two classes the very few rich and the very large number of poor.The gangs are turning LA into our American version of Bogota or Beirut.

new orleans had political leadership problems but mother nature helped us out.
prediction is 2012 october for some very big sunamis east and west coast.
this will eliminate our political leadership issues.
my advice is take swimming lessons keep a pair of swim fins handy.
stephen s
san diego ca
ps gang bangers are poor swimmers

[beone]

I just spent the weekend in LA. I was completely shocked at how suburban the entire city feels, how much traffic there is, how lifeless it is, how boring and plastic Beverly Hills is. Rodeo Drive is a joke...it was so depressing in all it's glamour because it is completely void of any life or vibe. Hollywood is a total dump. Sunset Boulevard has almost nothing to offer, except for the tiny little part called "The Sunset Strip". Los Feliz was cute, Santa Monica (not part of LA) was by far the best and most interesting part of the whole weekend. I am completely astonished that anyone would choose to live in LA. Wow!

[John23]

I went to orange county on friday. The first time I've been down there in a while (probably since at least the spring).

It's so clean and modern down there. If you're on fairfax, la cienega, la brea, even wilshire...you forget how nice and wide the streets are in the south bay/oc. Two thumbs up for a city layout!

I came back to west la (what are they doing on the 405 near the 10, seems like never ending construction)?

The streets have really declined in the last 10-15 years.

-Venice Blvd has gone way down hill. It's turned into a slum. Near the corner of Sepulveda and Venice, theres a little strip mall with a Baskin Robbins. It was middle class in the 80's when I went there as a kid. Looks terrible now. That area has *really* declined.

-Is it my imagination, or is Santa Monica Blvd getting dirtier, grungier, slidding down hill? Especially between Bundy and the 405? The former Burger King up there looked horrible, tagged up, bombed out. It certainly doesnt fit Santa Monica.

-Pico has always been down.

I havent noticed much deterioration on the western edge of west la (the promenade, to marina del rey, playa del rey).

I have alot of mixed feelings about it. One of the first things that pop in my mind about LA is how uneven it is.

I love the drive on lincoln, near LMU going north. Such great views of the city at night. And its such a nice area around there.

Marina Del Rey is still very nice.

And then 5 minutes away, you're in a ghetto. Western Culver City looks horrible. Then 5 minutes away on Main Street in Santa Monica, it looks great. Then down to parts of Venice, and you're back in the ghetto.

The pockets of prosperity seem to be getting smaller and smaller.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by John23

-Venice Blvd has gone way down hill. It's turned into a slum. Near the corner of Sepulveda and Venice, theres a little strip mall with a Baskin Robbins. It was middle class in the 80's when I went there as a kid. Looks terrible now. That area has *really* declined.

Let's be fair: Palms has never been pretty, at least in my life time. And I say that as a former resident. As with a large part of LA, the 90s were pretty bad for Palms. The 00s have seen it rebound - for awhile it was on the verge of turning into a real bad neighborhood, and fortunately it escaped that fate. It remains the west side's last working class neighborhood. I do think that strip mall should be torn down (I'm not a fan of Howard's nor B/R). Yet, one of my fave local bars and some of my fave local affordable restaurants are right in that area.

Is it my imagination, or is Santa Monica Blvd getting dirtier, grungier, slidding down hill? Especially between Bundy and the 405? The former Burger King up there looked horrible, tagged up, bombed out. It certainly doesnt fit Santa Monica.

Unfortunately, abandoned buildings on the west side are bound to attract transients, it's no surprise that the abandoned Burger King has become a magnet for the homeless. Another structure that should be knocked down. Otherwise, I do think it's your imagination. However, the "Persianization" of that stretch of SM Blvd. is very real. Still, I'd consider it safe. A couple of my fave restaurants and my absolute fave cafe in West LA is on that stretch of SM.
The west side has fewer gang problems than the rest of the city (with the exception of a few very small pockets, and what's left of Oakwood is the only one of them that compares to what one would see in the Valley, South Central, East L.A., etc.) but it does have a sizeable homeless problem (the only exceptions to this being Culver City, Marina del Rey, and Beverly Hills, due to tougher law enforcement policies in those areas.) Any abandoned building is going to attract the homeless. They tend to find about these places really fast.

[/quote]The pockets of prosperity seem to be getting smaller and smaller.[/quote]

If you realized how expensive the apartments and condos off of SM Blvd. in West L.A. went for, you wouldn't say that. (For that matter, you probably couldn't understand how anyone would pay huge amounts of money to live in NYC, but that's a different story. )

And personally, I'd take Fairfax any day over O.C. but that's just me. Not everyone likes "clean and modern". I'd rather be reminded of the atmosphere of the old L.A. (or the old S.F.) then somewhere sterile and brand new, but that's just me.

[gypsy lady]

I think it is interesting how people are here on citydata.com where statistics are presented and yet they repeatedly ask others opinions about places. this site has all the statistics to find out out l.a. and other cities and one can find answers to all those inquiring questions as to whether a place is good or bad, etc.

this is also the internet where the safest cities in the u.s. can be located, etc. opinions are okay, but facts are much better.

[katenik]

Originally Posted by gypsy lady

I think it is interesting how people are here on citydata.com where statistics are presented and yet they repeatedly ask others opinions about places. this site has all the statistics to find out out l.a. and other cities and one can find answers to all those inquiring questions as to whether a place is good or bad, etc.

this is also the internet where the safest cities in the u.s. can be located, etc. opinions are okay, but facts are much better.

statistics can be misleading, either intentionally or not. depending upon the subject, a dozen conforming opinions can be a better indicator of reality than a single competing statistic. also, as you note, people come here to ask a lot of subjective questions that statistics cannot answer. what's wrong with that?

[greggd]

Originally Posted by John23

I went to orange county on friday. The first time I've been down there in a while (probably since at least the spring).

It's so clean and modern down there. If you're on fairfax, la cienega, la brea, even wilshire...you forget how nice and wide the streets are in the south bay/oc. Two thumbs up for a city layout!

I came back to west la (what are they doing on the 405 near the 10, seems like never ending construction)?

The streets have really declined in the last 10-15 years.

-Venice Blvd has gone way down hill. It's turned into a slum. Near the corner of Sepulveda and Venice, theres a little strip mall with a Baskin Robbins. It was middle class in the 80's when I went there as a kid. Looks terrible now. That area has *really* declined.

-Is it my imagination, or is Santa Monica Blvd getting dirtier, grungier, slidding down hill? Especially between Bundy and the 405? The former Burger King up there looked horrible, tagged up, bombed out. It certainly doesnt fit Santa Monica.

-Pico has always been down.

I havent noticed much deterioration on the western edge of west la (the promenade, to marina del rey, playa del rey).

I have alot of mixed feelings about it. One of the first things that pop in my mind about LA is how uneven it is.

I love the drive on lincoln, near LMU going north. Such great views of the city at night. And its such a nice area around there.

Marina Del Rey is still very nice.

And then 5 minutes away, you're in a ghetto. Western Culver City looks horrible. Then 5 minutes away on Main Street in Santa Monica, it looks great. Then down to parts of Venice, and you're back in the ghetto.

The pockets of prosperity seem to be getting smaller and smaller.

I actually think west la is getting cleaned up. not quick enough for me but many of the older apt bldgs and crappy retail are being torn down and redveloped.

Burger king was tagged up by misguided youths. It's completely fenced and no homeless live on the premises. Its a shame the district councilperson doesnt put a telephone call into burger king about that issue. Soon it will be a mixed use development all brand new and tidy.

There is actually quite a bit of development going on in West LA. Did you ever see any of that? 100s of hi end units are going up in the very areas you mention for quite a bit in sales/rent. Have you seen Culver city along culver blvd? downtown culver? Culver city, with no rent control, has come a long ways.

Sunset blvd goes on for miles from PCH to downtown LA. Did you check sunset strip all the way to the west? or just the east end of hollywood?

I've always felt building owners and tenants should be resonsible for maintaining their bldgs and parking areas free of graffiti, trash etc. including the curb. The big difference between LA and other areas, such as orange county, is that LA did not require vegetation and setback. Zev Yaroslavsky (Mr Wilshire Blvd Hi-rise to the sidewalk, rubber stamper) was notorious for this and has now supposedly done an about face.. all talk so far.

I too agree that the streets are in serious decline. They are simply not repaving them. Our mayor is bs'ing everyone that he is on top of pothole repair. I know, first hand, it is a poor program with patches lasting 2-3 weeks and they are very poor in workmanship. The repair procedure has changed completely.