What will the San Fernando Valley look like in 10 years? (city hall, renters)

[jessemh431]

Originally Posted by jc76

So where are those who are fed up with CA planning on moving to give their kids the perfect environment?

Denver and Colorado in general are receiving many Californians. Many moved to Phoenix and Vegas before the large influx of illegal immigrants there too. That is why Vegas and Phoenix are basically just LA reinvented all over again: materialism, car-based, suburban, and large Hispanic populations. Vegas and Phoenix experienced several decades of LA's history in about one or two.

I know for me, I plan on living in either SF, NYC, Boston, Seattle, or Upstate NY like Syracuse and Rochester. I have different reasons for all, but mainly I believe a classic city structure makes cities function better. Dense, urban downtowns where the center of life is and where young singles live and mingle. Then there are the safe suburbs for families around the downtown. I feel that living in LA never gives you the true feeling of city life. It's an overgrown suburb with small to medium sized pockets of business (a few main destinations do exist though).

Our neighbors moved from Tehran during the revolution. The husband had visited LA before and decided to move here with his wife. When they got here and lived in SaMo, she asked where LA was because she just saw suburbs everywhere, but knew LA was a big city.

Also, people here are fake and that gets old. Children that aren't perfectly beautiful and athletic will not succeed in society. Recently, a girl who I though was my friend told me I am rude and annoying and kicked me out of her car. She has bleach blonde hair, blue colored contacts, and wears a 1 inch thick layer of makeup. This is a common thing in my neighborhood, but my friends in other neighborhoods say that is not common at all to have girls that act like blonde bimbos. And honestly, if people think I'm rude, they will never survive in any large city besides LA where it is ok to be fake to someone and talk behind their back. My mom is a NYer and I take after her--I am honest and am not fake at all. That translates into rudeness to these little fake blonde princesses of LA.

Back on topic, all of LA is going to go downhill. Mexicans will take over all they can, but the blonde bimbos like that girl will rule the only white areas left. Neither is an environment suitable for raising children in. I hope that after this recession things will change and then maybe our lower real estate will attract normal middle-class people who previously couldn't afford to live here. This will hopefully bring gentrification to some areas.

[jessemh431]

Originally Posted by Winston Smith

What I disliked about the Valley then is what I dislike about it now. The place is in so many ways punishing with heat, aggressive car traffic, ugly architecture, car-culture mentality.... I could go on. Scapegoating immigrants for these characteristics is a distraction.

Some people like the heat...like me. Some people enjoy the bland 50s and 60s and 70s style homes...not me. It is very car-based, but areas near urban centers of Ventura Blvd. can be walkable.

That said, there are things about the Valley I find nice: Hiking in Chatsworth Park and Lake Chatsworth area. Lake Balboa, Franlkin Canyon. Beautiful winter days after the rain when the air is clear and the mountain views cut like a razor.

Winter in the valley is amazing. The air actually feels clean and clear, much more so than the basin.

IMO, the best thing the Valley could do for itself is regroup around multiple centers. Create spaces where you can walk -- and I mean really walk -- on wide sidewalks, among interesting city scapes, free from automobile harassment, or get to express transit and trains easily. Do these things and the Valley will start to reach its potential as a nice place to be.

A subway down Ventura Blvd should be built from the Red Line west into Woodland Hills with at least one or two north and south lines along the way. Maybe from Devonshire to Ventura and one down Devonshire. This would increase density. Already urban areas of Sherman oaks along Ventura between Sepulveda and Van Nuys should get more mixed use development and highrises, along with more modern businesses to create a true downtown.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by jessemh431

A subway down Ventura Blvd should be built from the Red Line west into Woodland Hills with at least one or two north and south lines along the way. Maybe from Devonshire to Ventura and one down Devonshire. This would increase density. Already urban areas of Sherman oaks along Ventura between Sepulveda and Van Nuys should get more mixed use development and highrises, along with more modern businesses to create a true downtown.

I agree here, particularly mixed-uses. But even if it's not feasible to extend the subway -- that is a major undertaking -- there are far less heroic things that can be done. Increase Metro Rapids, for instance. I've used them on Van Nuys and Ventura Boulevards and think they work great. It's such a contrast, though. You can take Amtrak to Van Nuys, walk to the driveway of the train station and get a Metro Rapid every 10 minutes or so. Try that in Chatsworth and you'll be sorely disappointed as the De Soto and Topanga Metro *Locals* only run every 30 or 40 minutes. I applaud the transit efforts in the SFV over the past 10 - 15 years, but there is still a lot lacking. Part of what's lacking is what seems like L.A.'s continued mindset to put automobile convenience ahead of everything else -- walking, bicycle networks, transit and safety for anything but driving a car. To me what's ruining the Valley is the whole car thing.

[jessemh431]

Gentrification always starts in urban neighborhoods that attract the gentrying yuppies. With no urban neighborhoods, I don't see any hope for the valley besides Sherman Oaks.

[CamaroGuy]

Originally Posted by jessemh431

Gentrification always starts in urban neighborhoods that attract the gentrying yuppies. With no urban neighborhoods, I don't see any hope for the valley besides Sherman Oaks.

Well NoHo is one place that has improved and of course Burbank is still pretty much like it was in the 70s and 80s.

[NYSD1995]

Here's what I find fascinating about Southern California.

Google 14946 Hamlin St, Los Angeles, CA. Click on Street View. You will see a gorgeous tree-lined block of well-kept homes on large, landscaped lots. You will also see a thugged out, shaved head guy walking his pit bull. A block away from that location, is literally a slum.

[Delron]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

Here's what I find fascinating about Southern California.

Google 15000 Hamlin Street, Van Nuys CA. You will see a gorgeous tree-lined block of well-kept homes on large, landscaped lots. You will also see a thugged out, shaved head guy walking his pit bull. A block away from that location, is literally a slum.

FLOL. I had to cruise down the street a bit to 14946 Hamlin St., but there he was, a walking stereotype. Looked like a Raiders jersey, too, but google blurred it out, along with his face. Either that or just a plain white T...either one the apparel of choice, along with the baggy shorts. Classic!

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by Delron

FLOL. I had to cruise down the street a bit to 14946 Hamlin St., but there he was, a walking stereotype. Looked like a Raiders jersey, too, but google blurred it out, along with his face. Either that or just a plain white T...either one the apparel of choice, along with the baggy shorts. Classic!

Why is it that those guys always look the same? Constipation with an attitude! Usually fat, too!

What I noticed right away -- no sidewalks, harking back to my previous comments about the Valley's car-centric environment, which is what makes the place unlivable for me.

[Delron]

Originally Posted by Winston Smith

Why is it that those guys always look the same? Constipation with an attitude! Usually fat, too!

What I noticed right away -- no sidewalks, harking back to my previous comments about the Valley's car-centric environment, which is what makes the place unlivable for me.

Fat? The guy looks rotund enough to be a planetoid. Is he walking the dog, or trying to catch it and make it his next meal?

But yeah, hence the "walking stereotype" comment. Tragic.

The Valley in 10 years? More of the same, and none of it good

[bn-lindsay1075]

First of all, a society will never improve by finding scapegoats for its problems. The city of LA is not a problem area because of the Hispanics, the Asians, or the Anglos. I recently moved for college, and my current location does not prove to be as cultural and open as LA proved to be.

I was born and raised in LA and honestly, its not as bad as some of you say it is. I’ve seen the good and the bad: the cultures, the spread of ideas, the violence, the drugs, and the gangs. I attended public school all my life and lived in different sections of SFV. Indeed, I did NOT take part in the drugs and violence that came along with the sketchier areas of the valley, but I saw through those conflicts concluded some causes to the violence.

However none of it included scapegoats such as Mexicans and other Hispanic Immigrants. These ghettos aren’t caused by a person’s race or where people come from, they are caused by a lack of funding and options for those who live there. You rarely see community centers and outreach programs for people living in Pacoima, but often see such things for people living in Sherman Oaks. When growing up in places like the barrios there aren’t many options and activities for a kid. Growing up with not much money, you can’t join a softball league or the Boy Scouts. Some people may not see it, but gangs portray that type of commradery to kids: they want respect and a place to fit in.

However, it does not help to say that the problems will fix once the immigrants “learn to assimilate to American culture”-especially when discussing a place like Los Angeles. The Hispanic people have been here longer than the Anglos! They date back to the times of the Spanish Missions. They worked in the fields, they lived in the missions, and they made up California before it was even admitted into the United States. Just look at the names around the state: Los Angeles, Calabasas, San Clemente- they are all Spanish names. The Anglo culture barely started taking hold of San Fernando back in the 1940s and 50s. However, nowadays the Anglos move farther away from the city into places like Lancaster and Simi Valley.

Obviously there are problems with SFV. It is an over-grown suburb that is becoming its own city. It was not designed to be a by-product of the overgrown Metropolitan area of LA. There is not an adequate subway system since it was first designed as a suburb. Right now it’s in this awkward transition between a suburb and urban neighborhood. Gentrification does help bring about more prosperous neighborhoods, but this is exactly what some of you complain about: a nice upper-class neighborhood blocks away from the hood.

Honestly there is no perfect solution to the conflicts of LA, but it doesn’t mean the city is in a downward spiral into oblivion. If you look back 20 years, those were not “the good old times” (well maybe if you were a well off Anglo living in Sherman Oaks) they were scary times full of riots and racial tensions. It still is scary times living in LA, but it definitely has improved overall in relation to racial tensions, police brutality, riots, and public transportation.