Heading to UCLA to pursue my MBA, but the Mexicans...

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Living in Los Angeles, you just have to be used to the fact that Mexicans are the majority of the city and are everywhere.

I never really thought about it because I grew up in the area, but if you are uncomfortable with Mexicans, you wont be happy there.

Its too bad because the UCLA area is very nice. I spend 3 years in an apartment on Pico and Sepulveda and another year off of San Vicente and Bundy (which is technically Brentwood, but anyhow). Those areas are more populated by Persians than Mexicans anyway. I loved every second of it!

Miss that city!

[markb90]

From a sociological standpoint, illegal immigration only becomes a concern when the economy goes down.. because people start pointing fingers at people "taking their jobs"- the jobs which they, the finger pointers, would not have taken in the first place.
What is tearing California apart is the stupid amount of money we spend on useless things, while cutting back on education.

[Cheektowaga_Chester]

Does the United States Want to Keep Mexicans Dumb? - Page 1 - Columns - Orange County - OC Weekly

[HyperionGap]

Why do you bump 5 year old threads with barely relavent articles to the OPs?

[CamaroGuy]

Originally Posted by markb90

From a sociological standpoint, illegal immigration only becomes a concern when the economy goes down.. because people start pointing fingers at people "taking their jobs"- the jobs which they, the finger pointers, would not have taken in the first place.
What is tearing California apart is the stupid amount of money we spend on useless things, while cutting back on education.

Its the situation with the pensions for state employees that's really screwing up the state right now.

[HarryKerryJr]

actually they are illeagle Central Americans.

[Those Who Squirm]

I wasn't aware of any crime wave in the Valley, but I was aware of bad areas within the SFV going back 23 years and more. Pacoima and the north and eastern parts of Van Nuys had a gang reputation, while the western parts of VN were known for streetwalkers, especially along Sepulveda Boulevard. In general, except for Ventura Blvd and other areas close in, the SFV was where a lot of families moved to buy houses in the postwar generation, but it's always been rather boring and safe at best. By boring, I mean that the commercial drags are full of strip malls, chain restaurants (mostly fast food burger and taco joints, but also TGIF and so forth), drab business parks, jammed avenues and freeways, and wall-to-wall sprawl. It's much like Orange County in that every major intersection looks pretty much like every other major intersection.

It's important to remember that fifty years ago we had 6M people in the county and 2M in the city limits. Although as such L.A. was already the third-largest city in the country, the lifestyle was oriented to single-family homes and average people could afford them. What's happened since is that those population figures have grown to about 10M and 3.8M respectively. The house prices have shot up out of sight as a result, out of reach of average working people. Rented housing is considerably more accessible, but to many who grew up in the "old" L.A. that's unacceptable. Unacceptable or not, in my opinion it's part of the process of becoming a world city, because in any of the developed countries I don't think a world city exists in which a detached house within city limits is a realistic option for the average person. Teachers are not buying town houses in Paris and accountants aren't doing it in London or Berlin. Top drawer managers and administrators, perhaps, but not the ordinary staffers who are there to do the actual day to day task specified by the job title. Now it's become the same in L.A., or if not, it's well on the way.

As for safety, security, and so on L.A.'s like most large cities in that common sense precautions are always advisable. At night, except in the worst areas, you're not going to get caught up in a gang incident. But as in most places, such crime that does exist happens out of opportunity and desperation. Keep aware of your surroundings, lock your car and home, and you'll be fine. To those of you who didn't have to lock your houses in 1964, let's get real: What did you have in 1964? Furniture and a huge boxy TV with a 20-inch screen. Maybe the woman of the house had a bit of jewelry--and that was it. It wasn't like today with all the electronics that we have now. If I sound complacent, it's probably because I grew up in one of the supposedly very good areas, featuring not only expensive houses and relatively placid streets, but also 100% car dependency and zero amenities close at hand. Once I left the parental home I vowed I would never again live miles away from everything. And you know what? I still get a bit of a thrill from being able to walk to my barbershop, as I did today, or to the local coffee shop. Until I moved out, I had only done stuff like that on vacation. We both work at home, and as a result only need to fill our gas tank about once every six weeks. Perhaps I'm lucky, but in many years of walking and taking public transit (trains mostly) at night, I have never once been menaced or mugged. Nor does a gritty patch of sidewalk bother me that much; I've seen the same sort of thing in many other cities, including some that are held out as exemplars of taste, culture, and visual appeal. I very seriously doubt that L.A. today is any more dangerous than any of the Eastern cities with which you're more familiar.

A word about San Diego, I went to UCSD so I remember it well. A fantastic beach town, though it does have a lot more to offer.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by peterlemonjello

Living in Los Angeles, you just have to be used to the fact that Mexicans are the majority of the city and are everywhere.

I never really thought about it because I grew up in the area, but if you are uncomfortable with Mexicans, you wont be happy there.

Its too bad because the UCLA area is very nice. I spend 3 years in an apartment on Pico and Sepulveda and another year off of San Vicente and Bundy (which is technically Brentwood, but anyhow). Those areas are more populated by Persians than Mexicans anyway. I loved every second of it!

Miss that city!

San Vicente and Bundy - that's near where Nicole Simpson lived/was murdered, isn't it? I went to LA for the first time last May and left the Santa Monica Pier and had no idea how to get back on the highway. Started recognizing street names that I had heard during OJ's trial and realized I must be lost in OJ/Nicole's neighborhood.

[Marv101]

California has lost upwards of 4,000,000 citizens over the past twenty years according to Joel Kotkin, and the population growth rate for LA between 2000-2010 was under 4% according to the census, which is downright dismal, as opposed to booming cities throughout Texas, as well as Nashville, Raleigh and numerous other cities.

Spending more $$$ on schools is pointless until the Democrats in Sacramento take on the teachers union, far and away the most powerful union in the state, and stop giving their blessing to our schools constantly cranking out thousands of illiterate children annually who can't get out of our horrible schools thanks to the Democrats who destroyed our schools three-plus decades ago just as easily as they destroyed the national housing market and took down the economy with it.

The forthcoming shortage of children within the state as detailed in an exhaustive study done by USC courtesy of the Lucile Packard Foundation will leave to a total demolition of the state's finances when there are no longer nearly enough working adults to pay the rapidly rising healthcare costs of our rapidly aging population.

[ProjectMersh]

Originally Posted by Marv101

California has lost upwards of 4,000,000 citizens over the past twenty years according to Joel Kotkin, and the population growth rate for LA between 2000-2010 was under 4% according to the census, which is downright dismal, as opposed to booming cities throughout Texas, as well as Nashville, Raleigh and numerous other cities.

I wish Joel would leave too. But seriously California had explosive growth for decades. It is now in a more mature stage. Let those other states/cities grow fast (from much smaller bases) and continue to attract back office work.