Why Santa Monica so Expensive (Santa Barbara, Brentwood: how much, houses, buy)

[montevista1]

Every time I go to Santa Monica I get angry.

Parking is insane and everywhere I go its " can you spare me a dime"?.

Smelly dirty homeless harrassing me like crazy. Thing is if you give them charity they keep coming back and they refuse to go to the shelters!

Why would anyone buy a house here in the millions when he walks out of his house and gets harrassed by homeless.

[Need_affordable_home]

Call the cops if any homeless people trespass by your property, they can have their "home" in jail

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by montevista1

Every time I go to Santa Monica I get angry.

Parking is insane and everywhere I go its " can you spare me a dime"?.

Smelly dirty homeless harrassing me like crazy. Thing is if you give them charity they keep coming back and they refuse to go to the shelters!

Why would anyone buy a house here in the millions when he walks out of his house and gets harrassed by homeless.

Ask the people in SF or NYC the same question.

[fairweathergolfer]

There is plenty of parking and even (after 6 PM, I think, maybe earlier) free (2 hour) parking in Santa Monica along 4th street and such, also there is free parking at Santa Monica Place and many of the stores such as Sears have their own parking. I have never lived in a city that has so many parking garages for free downtown. Street parking is a B-, but overall I think parking is not an annoying issue for me at all. I guess I have learned how to leave early in certain circumstances, learned where all the free parking is and when and try not to do business with businesses that don't make it easy for me. Of course sometimes it is horridly expensive, but I add this into my budget of things. I guess I have surrendered. I couldn't live here if I was poor or even barely making it. But I have lived in places where there weren't many options and offering free parking at a predictable point was unheard of, so I have no problem with their overall parking system.

The homeless in the business area, well some of them are downright scary, but as I have lived in cities for my whole adult life, one city in which I had been attacked once by a violent homeless person in a lot less people dense area, and twice I was chased and ran for my life to safety, by very scary men, when I was a pretty young thang. I am rarely cognizant of their begging--I just ignore them, unless I feel threatened. Instead I look into each of their eyes and say a pray for them an smile. Obviously the money one gives them isn't going to get them off the street, but will only reinforce that behavior. There are many shelters that can help them if needed. By the way, these organizations are where I do put some of my money, instead of giving directly to the homeless person.

The houses are not in the business district and and as someone said, if a homeless person is on someone's property etc, people will call the Santa Monica police. They are close by and deal with this all day long. The city I believe is reevaluating how they reinforce the homeless with their ocean side lunch feeding, so that gives me a sliver of hope. We'll see. I wish they would do more to get some of these people off the streets downtown though, as mentioned in a post awhile back, some of these people are down right scary and having been attacked before and chased and seen others attacked in another city, I expect and prepare for anything from these people.

Why is Santa Monica so expensive? The reasons are too numerous to mention, but here are some: pedestrian friendly downtown core that offers many cultural options, close to major universities (several), excellent shopping, good restaurants, sun, temperate climate, ocean, easy access to everything--including the sidewalks along the ocean, You can get anything you want--anything without having to go elsewhere, it is close to all the other great west LA towns, minutes away from the Santa Monica airport, minutes away from LAX. Many homes have Spanish architecture, many businesses that employ many workers, many creative film, music businesses, a self contained city within one of the largest metropolitan areas in the nation--with their own city services, great churches and a variety of them. Should I go on? Santa Monica is a one of a kind place. Yes, the homeless problem is ridiculous. This is why I live in Brentwood--parking here is really crazy on the street too!

They don't call it the People's Republic of Santa Monica for nothing though!

[montevista1]

You are right about Santa Monica, but still I would not want to pay millions for my house and then have to be harrassed by homeless.

I live in the Valley and I guess thats why I do not know the free parking spots.

Thanks for the tip.

[marilyn220]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

Ask the people in SF or NYC the same question.

The homeless stay in MANHATTAN where the money is. They know not to frequent the outer boroughs with that crap.

[marilyn220]

Originally Posted by fairweathergolfer

There is plenty of parking and even (after 6 PM, I think, maybe earlier) free (2 hour) parking in Santa Monica along 4th street and such, also there is free parking at Santa Monica Place and many of the stores such as Sears have their own parking. I have never lived in a city that has so many parking garages for free downtown. Street parking is a B-, but overall I think parking is not an annoying issue for me at all. I guess I have learned how to leave early in certain circumstances, learned where all the free parking is and when and try not to do business with businesses that don't make it easy for me. Of course sometimes it is horridly expensive, but I add this into my budget of things. I guess I have surrendered. I couldn't live here if I was poor or even barely making it. But I have lived in places where there weren't many options and offering free parking at a predictable point was unheard of, so I have no problem with their overall parking system.

The homeless in the business area, well some of them are downright scary, but as I have lived in cities for my whole adult life, one city in which I had been attacked once by a violent homeless person in a lot less people dense area, and twice I was chased and ran for my life to safety, by very scary men, when I was a pretty young thang. I am rarely cognizant of their begging--I just ignore them, unless I feel threatened. Instead I look into each of their eyes and say a pray for them an smile. Obviously the money one gives them isn't going to get them off the street, but will only reinforce that behavior. There are many shelters that can help them if needed. By the way, these organizations are where I do put some of my money, instead of giving directly to the homeless person.

The houses are not in the business district and and as someone said, if a homeless person is on someone's property etc, people will call the Santa Monica police. They are close by and deal with this all day long. The city I believe is reevaluating how they reinforce the homeless with their ocean side lunch feeding, so that gives me a sliver of hope. We'll see. I wish they would do more to get some of these people off the streets downtown though, as mentioned in a post awhile back, some of these people are down right scary and having been attacked before and chased and seen others attacked in another city, I expect and prepare for anything from these people.

Why is Santa Monica so expensive? The reasons are too numerous to mention, but here are some: pedestrian friendly downtown core that offers many cultural options, close to major universities (several), excellent shopping, good restaurants, sun, temperate climate, ocean, easy access to everything--including the sidewalks along the ocean, You can get anything you want--anything without having to go elsewhere, it is close to all the other great west LA towns, minutes away from the Santa Monica airport, minutes away from LAX. Many homes have Spanish architecture, many businesses that employ many workers, many creative film, music businesses, a self contained city within one of the largest metropolitan areas in the nation--with their own city services, great churches and a variety of them. Should I go on? Santa Monica is a one of a kind place. Yes, the homeless problem is ridiculous. This is why I live in Brentwood--parking here is really crazy on the street too!

They don't call it the People's Republic of Santa Monica for nothing though!

I agree Santa Monica is a very pretty city.

[fairweathergolfer]

Hey montevista1, I hear you. By the way here is a specific site that is very cool. It first shows all the parking garages and their locations near the Promenade and their up to date capacity. Now this is JUST the city garages, as I said there is the free parking at SMP and Sears, if you were to shop there. Further east, there are no free options or many lots to my recollection (most are under the buildings they serve or valet and are pricey.

Here are the specifics on the city garages I spoke of earlier. Until 6PM it is first 2 hours free then $1 every half hour, not greater then $7, this is mostly because a lot of businesses are in that area and they are trying to dissuade the workers overall to not park there and leave it open for patrons. After 6PM it is a flat rate of $3. Which is good, I think considering.

I know there is some parking down by the beaches, but I can't remember if it costs or not or how much. I just know in this town it is helpful to plan well.
Anyway here is the site I hope this is helpful, next time you come in.

http://parkingspacenow.smgov.net/

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by marilyn220

The homeless stay in MANHATTAN where the money is. They know not to frequent the outer boroughs with that crap.

And the money isn't in Santa Monica? LOL!

[Kathleenh54]

Homeless people are in many cities. In little old Ashland, Oregon, pop. about 20k, there is a large contingent of them. The benches on the plaza have been removed because they attracted too many panhandlers, or 'transients' as they are politely known. Santa Barbara, CA has a ton of them too. We visited Vancouver, B.C. last summer and the numbers were huge.

Homeless people are everywhere.