Anyone else think LA is going down the toilet? (Los Angeles: credit, school)

[prim2007]

Originally Posted by LALady

Just cuz another city is worse doesn't mean LA people don't have the right to complain. Your argument makes no sense to me. Florida has sink holes that swallow houses... does that mean I should not complain about the sink holes on LA streets?

I think sharing concerns/complaints are fine but you have to admit that some post are so animous and with such disdain for the city/state, it does make you wonder why the poster is still living in the city. I can't fathom why the person can't leave; particularly if you have no home (apartments are fairly easy to get out of), the job sucks (so you say), the people are phony and unfriendly (so you're not staying for the social outlet), gangs and crime are so bad and rampant you can't walk down a street anywhere or go out at night, and the traffic is so impossible you can't visit any places fun, schools are disastrous, etc. I've lived in many cities/states, even choosing to change careers or make sacrifices with salary to move. Given how expensive Cali is, any other location is relatively "cheap" so cost of living shouldn't be an issue. I'm just honestly perplexed about this inability to leave a city that is causing such misery.

[Sorcerer68]

Originally Posted by prim2007

I think sharing concerns/complaints are fine but you have to admit that some post are so animous and with such disdain for the city/state, it does make you wonder why the poster is still living in the city. I can't fathom why the person can't leave; particularly if you have no home (apartments are fairly easy to get out of), the job sucks (so you say), the people are phony and unfriendly (so you're not staying for the social outlet), gangs and crime are so bad and rampant you can't walk down a street anywhere or go out at night, and the traffic is so impossible you can't visit any places fun, schools are disastrous, etc. I've lived in many cities/states, even choosing to change careers or make sacrifices with salary to move. Given how expensive Cali is, any other location is relatively "cheap" so cost of living shouldn't be an issue. I'm just honestly perplexed about this inability to leave a city that is causing such misery.

Well said. A Greyhound bus ticket is under $200 to go to the east coast and proceeds from selling their junk in a yard sale should cover that and then some.

[LALady]

Originally Posted by prim2007

I think sharing concerns/complaints are fine but you have to admit that some post are so animous and with such disdain for the city/state, it does make you wonder why the poster is still living in the city. I can't fathom why the person can't leave; particularly if you have no home (apartments are fairly easy to get out of), the job sucks (so you say), the people are phony and unfriendly (so you're not staying for the social outlet), gangs and crime are so bad and rampant you can't walk down a street anywhere or go out at night, and the traffic is so impossible you can't visit any places fun, schools are disastrous, etc. I've lived in many cities/states, even choosing to change careers or make sacrifices with salary to move. Given how expensive Cali is, any other location is relatively "cheap" so cost of living shouldn't be an issue. I'm just honestly perplexed about this inability to leave a city that is causing such misery.

Fair enough but...

some of the folks on this website have left or have plans to leave. They mention it periodically.

[katenik]

[quote=applejack47;901064]I would like to make some comments in regards to Los Angeles in comparison with other major U S cities. First of all, I would estimate about 50 to 70 percent of the people who live in L.A. are NOT ORIGINALLY FROM L.A. OR EVEN CALIFORNIA FOR THAT MATTER! I know of the unfriendlieness, crime, social problems and other ills that is spoken of about L.A. Most of what you're seeing are coming from people from other U S cities and perhaps the world. They're bringing the problems here. They think they're gonna bring their ways here and change things. NO THEY ARE NOT! as they are finding out. When you have a city that is as big (geographically and population-wise) as L.A., it should be no shock that big city problems exist. This is true for any big city. Some worse than others. Nevertheless, problems exist.

Judging from a lot of the posts, I find it quite amusing to hear people bashing California and L.A. in particular, yet at the same time, very few of these of people are making any serious attempt to leave. If it's so bad, why waste time and energy pissed off about it. LEAVE! People here have no clue how good they've got it here, despite all it's problems and people struggling. Believe me, there's far worse than L.A. I know because I'm not from CA originally. I was born and raise in Chicago, IL (which in my personal opinion is much worse than L A could ever be). I grew up on the city's South side, which is 96 percent black. I was very glad to get the hell out of there. Crime like you wouldn't believe. Coming to CA back in 1985, I took many opportunities to visit L A and in particular, South L A, Compton, Watts and other bad areas and let me tell you L A doesn't compare. I seen what L A calls slums and public housing and I've been laughing my ass off ever since. That city has NO CLUE what public housing is (or as it's said in the hood, THE PROJECTS!) and if their idea of public housing is Nickerson Gardens, they have a lot to learn about urban America.
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phil,
i grew up in LA, spent summers in chicago in the early 80s, and lived in philadelphia for a few years more recently. guess what? you are absolutely correct, and i have heard the same from others who have these same (or similar) bases of comparison. one friend from chicago told me that he laughed when he came to LA, and saw that 'the hood' had detached single-family homes with neat lawns and back yards, instead of dilapidated row houses, or concrete jungles similar to RT Homes. (i'm glad to hear they demolished that blight on the landscape, btw. have you ever read THERE ARE NO CHILDREN HERE by jonathan kozol?) i love LA; i just wish i had money to live here more comfortably. (who doesn't, right?) someone once told me that this is the easiest place in america to be poor. while i take issue with the notion that poverty can ever be easy, i do think i know what he meant.

[BIG GIT]

I think if ur are poor u will not like cities that have high price$ it is common cents, if u have common cents that is.

[zagyzebra]

I left LA for Southern Oregon. I love it here. I love it in L.A. I still own my home in the Hollywood Hills because I cannot imagine severing my link to the city. Yes, I am raising my son in So Oregon instead of Los Angeles, not due to quality of life, schooling or such, but because it became quite clear to me when he was 4 years old and needing to be shuttled back and forth from pre-school during rush hour, that commuting with a child would be a huge pain in the ass in L.A., and surely there was a better way...somewhere else. I do not regret the move I've made. But am I so glad I have made the decision to keep my home in Hollywood, because when my son is grown and on his own, believe me, I'm not going to wither away into old age in this rural area. I'd trade a vital, thriving, albeit crowded and dirty city over cows and pastureland. But truthfully, I'll want both, so that when I get tired of one, I can come home to the other. The best of both worlds.

[Christine Joan]

Originally Posted by prim2007

I think sharing concerns/complaints are fine but you have to admit that some post are so animous and with such disdain for the city/state, it does make you wonder why the poster is still living in the city. I can't fathom why the person can't leave; particularly if you have no home (apartments are fairly easy to get out of), the job sucks (so you say), the people are phony and unfriendly (so you're not staying for the social outlet), gangs and crime are so bad and rampant you can't walk down a street anywhere or go out at night, and the traffic is so impossible you can't visit any places fun, schools are disastrous, etc. I've lived in many cities/states, even choosing to change careers or make sacrifices with salary to move. Given how expensive Cali is, any other location is relatively "cheap" so cost of living shouldn't be an issue. I'm just honestly perplexed about this inability to leave a city that is causing such misery.

Aha. Here is an issue that is close to my heart and relatively easy to answer. The high cost of living here keeps people locked into their current situation longer than they would like because it is often difficult to save money for a move across the country when you are barely making ends meet here. Yes, a bus ticket on Greyhound might cost only two hundred dollars, but that would mean that the person would have to sell/give away, the few possessions that he/she was able to amass while here, and well, most people aren't willing to leave by Greyhound. Most will want to drive someplace else or at least fly. The cost of using a moving company or Uhaul to haul the furniture to a new home is usually well over two thousand dollars. Then, there is the cost of buying a new home or finding one to rent in the new location. Of course, with any move, the person's primary concern is with being able to earn a living in the new community. Larger communities have more crime. Smaller communities are more insular and often less inclined to hire outsiders for the better paying jobs. All of these concerns tend to keep people here longer than they would like it to take to move.

And, of course, by dragging our feet, we get to spend more time in paradise and one less winter freezing our toes off. Yippee!!!.

[black_j79]

Well put. I have lived in Los Angeles for about a year and cannot wait to find an alternative. I'm originally from Chicago and work as a motion picture camera assistant, unfortunately L.A is the center of the entertainment industry. I dislike this city so much that I have strongly considered a career change so I'm not stuck here. Too bad there's not an "industry" in the bay area.

[Mandingo]

LA is like being with an abusive spouse. You hate the bumper-to-bumper traffic on surface streets at 1pm on a SUNDAY! You get sick of the fact that, even though you may make six figures a year, you can't even afford a condo in Compton. You hate the fact that every weekend you sit around trying to think of something to do that doesn't involve going to a shopping center. The most annoying part of all?...the people who move here from (insert any Midwest town with a popultion of less than 1 million) and think they have to act like an a-hole, drive a car worth more than their yearly income, buy a stupid lap dog and act like Paris Hilton " because that's how people in la are". Right when you're ready to pick up and leave you realize that for your line of work (tv) there really isn't anywhere else to live besides ny and that's the same old story but la has much better surf. I love/hate you LA!

[CAgoingtoCO]

My family has lived in SoCal for generations dating back to the original settlers. I cannot tell you how disappointing this state has become. Most recently in the past 10 years I feel that things have changed dramatically. I am currently thinking of moving out of the state because of all the problems that CA is going to have to deal with in the future (traffic, imigration, cost of living, etc.). The middle class is definitely being pushed out. They might not realize it but it will be for their own good if they go now.