San Francisco.....*Proper* (San Jose, Malibu: real estate, neighborhood, tax)

[Sam I Am]

NOT going to be a discussion about immigration. Please take it to P & OC, but not here.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by john3232
30 years ago I lived in a small apartment not far from Tarvel and 19th for $350 a month. I was also earning $12.50 an hour working temp downtown. Homes were in the $200,000 range and a two flat went for under $500,000.


Now my old apartment is about $2000.

Similar office work I did back in the early 1980's is still around $12.00 an hour.

Homes in the Sunset are going for at least $700,000.

Either you're a hot shot in the high tech/business world, work for the City or life can be quite demanding.

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

^^^This pretty much sums it up for most of the popular parts of California.

I have a public sector job. If I lose it, I'm outta here. There's no chance I'll get an equivalent paying job with the same benefits in the private sector.

This pretty much sums it up for people who have made no professional progress in 30 years (!). In fact, $12 an hour was about two and a half times the minimum wage 30 years ago and now it's about minimum wage, so that's negative progress.

I would think that individuals have some influence over whether they make more money than they did 30 years ago. It ain't all society's fault, or the City's.

[rkwalton]

Originally Posted by westcoastbabe

Ok..so Im in Charlotte, NC and I just had lunch with a colleague of mine who happens to be from San Francisco....born and bred. He has since relocated to the Tampa, FL area, but comes back to visit from time to time. Well any way, I tell how Im interested in relocating out west and how I thought about considering CA or AZ. He tells me to consider AZ but to reconsider CA....I guess im just dumbfounded because everyone that I know here in Charlotte or the east coast for that matter seems to think CA/west coast in the place to be, while he was telling me in his opinion.the east coast is the better coast....I guess its just personal preference....I guess. My feelings toward CA is, why do native californians leave....I mean you don't know how good you have it....Great weather, palm trees, culture,plethora of things to do. Personally I wouldnt give that up for nobody...LIke I said, i guess its just your personal preference.

Because it's a big world out there and, while we know we started off great by being born and raised here, you want to get out there and see it. Not only are there tons of places to see in the USA but there are tons of place to see worldwide. It would be really dumb to limit your life only to certain areas of California. (I say "certain areas" because, BTW, some areas of this state are dismal.)

I won't bash California. It has its problems as does the city of San Francisco, but I will say that the Californians that I know who have lived elsewhere and traveled actually appreciate it more. The reality is, however, now that I'm in my 40s a lot of the people I went to school with when I was young have never left. With that said, I think most people here do exactly what people everywhere do: stay near who and what they know. I have a few friends who've moved here from other places and they really seem to be the ones who realize how great they have it.

Then you have a few weirdos who are natives, like me, who wander away. Some come back and some don't. I think most that don't make it back end up having things that keep them where they are like getting married or work. I have a friend who claims he'd love to move back but went to grad school back east and married a woman from there. Even now that that they're divorced because of their kids he can't just pick up and move back to California. So, instead, he's found himself a second east coast wife and is trying again. Basically, he's going to be there for life and maybe when he's old he'll finally move but I'll bet that he's more likely to be a snow bird type and move down to Florida than move back to California at that time. We'll see.

I'll also agree that if you think there are palm trees in San Francisco, then your perspective is completely off.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by rkwalton

I'll also agree that if you think there are palm trees in San Francisco, then your perspective is completely off.

3394 22nd Street, Mission District

[rkwalton]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

3394 22nd Street, Mission District

Um, yeah, like that's a common occurrence. If you took my statement as a blanket one then I stand corrected. However, that wasn't what I meant. In discussions like this there are almost always exceptions.

That wasn't my point.

Usually, it seems that people think all of California looks like the picture below and, well, it doesn't.

[pch1013]

http://www.city-data.com/forum/9951244-post56.html

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by rkwalton

Um, yeah, like that's a common occurrence. If you took my statement as a blanket one then I stand corrected. However, that wasn't what I meant. In discussions like this there are almost always exceptions.

That wasn't my point.

Caution: Irony Deficiency Alert!

[04kL4nD]

Um, yeah, like that's a common occurrence.

Actually, it is. There are palm trees all over SF.

Are they native? No. But except for in mountainous eastern CA, palm trees are pretty ubiquitous in California.

[dculross]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

Actually, it is. There are palm trees all over SF.

lol sounds like denial to me. sf doesn't fit into the idealistic california sunshine and palmtrees fantasy that some people believe. sf has terrible,year-round cool weather, no palmtrees, and at the beaches in sf people dress like eskimos because it's so unbearably cold.

[04kL4nD]

yep it's a real, arctic, winter wonderland. nobody ever wears t shirts and shorts, and not once has anyone worn a bathing suit at Baker Beach. those palm trees are a myth!