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IMHO, I have made the following observations of Californians (but I'd never stereotype!)
Why Californians like diversity: it allows them to buy more types of fruits in the grocery store, seasonings in the spice aisle and eat at many different types of restaurants. Make their neighborhood or their SCHOOL diverse and that's NOT such a happy event.
Definition of "East": Any U.S. State on "the other side" of the Sierras. Don't ask them questions about geography because they couldn't tell you if Georgia is on the Atlantic or if Daytona Beach is on the Gulf. After a business trip, a colleague who looked at some photos asked "Is that a fake palm tree in South Carolina because isn't it too cold there for Palm trees?" I'm talking Berkeley-educated adults!
Places with natural disasters: basically everywhere else but California (Californians have selective memory when it comes to earthquakes and some even think that the Midwest is prone to hurricanes. Many don't know the difference between hurricanes and tornadoes) I'm just telling you what some of this area's "finest" have expressed.
Best weather: the selective memory comes out again. It's easy to forget the helicopters dropping water buckets on your neighborhood when there's a grass fire because it has been 100 degrees for 11 days in a row or the roads being closed for 1/2 a year because heavy rains created a mud/rock slide or that the sun hasn't shone in 3 weeks of January.
That Californians are less prejudiced than anyone else - I swear, I won't curse here, but this could not be further from the truth. Californians absolutely "rate you" on your address. Why do so many of them tell lies when they tell others where they live? "Oakland Hills" not Oakland; Concord, not Pittsburg; "Piedmont" not Oakland. Sure, other cities might be guilty of this too but they don't profess to lack prejudice. I've seen people tell apologetic stories of WHY they're Raiders fans instead of 49'ers fans! Oh, someone else told me they could never live in the South because they thought everyone with a southern accent was stupid. How sensitive!
Smell the coffee, Californians! I hate to break the news that you're as "average" as the rest of the country - no better, no worse! In my advanced age I've come to realize that when a culture A puts down culture B it's because culture A feels threatened. You should know I have spent my life studying cultures across the country and not just "spending time in" but living in (being gainfully employed, being a homeowner, etc) all parts of this great land, so I feel pretty qualified to put in my 2 cents.
IMHO, I have made the following observations of Californians (but I'd never stereotype!)
Why Californians like diversity: it allows them to buy more types of fruits in the grocery store, seasonings in the spice aisle and eat at many different types of restaurants. Make their neighborhood or their SCHOOL diverse and that's NOT such a happy event.
Definition of "East": Any U.S. State on "the other side" of the Sierras. Don't ask them questions about geography because they couldn't tell you if Georgia is on the Atlantic or if Daytona Beach is on the Gulf. After a business trip, a colleague who looked at some photos asked "Is that a fake palm tree in South Carolina because isn't it too cold there for Palm trees?" I'm talking Berkeley-educated adults!
Places with natural disasters: basically everywhere else but California (Californians have selective memory when it comes to earthquakes and some even think that the Midwest is prone to hurricanes. Many don't know the difference between hurricanes and tornadoes) I'm just telling you what some of this area's "finest" have expressed.
Best weather: the selective memory comes out again. It's easy to forget the helicopters dropping water buckets on your neighborhood when there's a grass fire because it has been 100 degrees for 11 days in a row or the roads being closed for 1/2 a year because heavy rains created a mud/rock slide or that the sun hasn't shone in 3 weeks of January.
That Californians are less prejudiced than anyone else - I swear, I won't curse here, but this could not be further from the truth. Californians absolutely "rate you" on your address. Why do so many of them tell lies when they tell others where they live? "Oakland Hills" not Oakland; Concord, not Pittsburg; "Piedmont" not Oakland. Sure, other cities might be guilty of this too but they don't profess to lack prejudice. I've seen people tell apologetic stories of WHY they're Raiders fans instead of 49'ers fans! Oh, someone else told me they could never live in the South because they thought everyone with a southern accent was stupid. How sensitive!
Smell the coffee, Californians! I hate to break the news that you're as "average" as the rest of the country - no better, no worse! In my advanced age I've come to realize that when a culture A puts down culture B it's because culture A feels threatened. You should know I have spent my life studying cultures across the country and not just "spending time in" but living in (being gainfully employed, being a homeowner, etc) all parts of this great land, so I feel pretty qualified to put in my 2 cents.
Yeah -- BUT.... you can say the exact same thing about other places. When I lived in PA, I thought Marin was a suburb of LA... I was shocked when I found out where it was. Thanks to TV's Falcon Crest, I thought Napa was 10 minutes out from San Francisco till I movd here. This isn't anything confined to Californians
Blame it on the single mindedness of people. People everywhere all over the world are living their lives. Some will actually think about what's outside their little boundaries, what ever that is -- but most will only think about their own little world and what fits into it. It's sad but true.
Yeah -- BUT.... you can say the exact same thing about other places. When I lived in PA, I thought Marin was a suburb of LA... I was shocked when I found out where it was. Thanks to TV's Falcon Crest, I thought Napa was 10 minutes out from San Francisco till I movd here. This isn't anything confined to Californians
Blame it on the single mindedness of people. People everywhere all over the world are living their lives. Some will actually think about what's outside their little boundaries, what ever that is -- but most will only think about their own little world and what fits into it. It's sad but true.
Good point! Can't tell you how many times I've heard phrases like the following, when I say I live in San Francisco (to someone outside of Calif.)...
"Do you see movie stars every day?"
"Can I stay in Hollywood while I'm visiting San Francisco?" (Sure, if you wanna drive 6-8 hours back & forth to the hotel!)
"Do you know my friend so-and-so? He lives in Los Angeles."
"Do they get earthquakes every day, and are there cracks in the sidewalks?" (yes, we do get a lot, but you don't feel 99.9% of them - so much for "selective memory" )
"Does it ever rain/get cold/snow/etc. in California?" (Yup, all of the above!!)
And so on....
Can't deny that some of what "SmelltheCoffee" said was true, but like you said, it can be true about any state! Sorry, but we're no better or worse than the average American, imo.
Back to the original question - Marin is so expensive that most people opt to live elsewhere. There are plenty of rich non-whites in SF and various other areas nearby. It's not a racist decision to live here, it's economic for the most part.
I think much of it is based on history. Minorities move into places that historically are populated by people who share a common background. Marin has historically been a white county. Also there is limited mass transit in Marin which limits minorities who can not drive.
Newportbeachsmostwanted,
Your comments are based upon a couple of unspoken, and highly dubious, theories. First, you assume that ethnic diversity and liberalism are interdependent. Second, you assume that affordable housing leads to ethnic diversification. Both of these theories are quite unsubstantiated.
In short, some of the most liberal parts of the country often tend toward mono-ethnicity. For example, many traditionally black communities which lack a similar ethnic diversity like Marin, tend to be highly liberal as well. It seems odd that you think there is some sort of correlation between a community's liberalness and it's ethnic diversity.
Second, past affordable housing projects in Marin (the redevelopment of Hamilton AFB back in the 1980's comes to mind as one of the biggest) were quickly populated, predominently, by white families -- and still remains ethnically challenged today. Providing affordable housing programs only service the immediate community. If the immediate community is predominently white -- like Marin -- why would ethnic diversity result from affordable housing here? Poor whites, by percentage of their cultural identity, might seem rarer than the poor among other ethnic groups, but by shear numbers, the majority of the poor and lower class in the US (and in California and, most likely, also in Marin) still remain white people. It seems to me to assume affordable housing would attract ethnic diversity, especially in an already predominently white community, is contrary to common sense as well as the historical record. Affordable housing in Marin has and will continue to attract primarily white families when, and if, it is built simply because this is a predominently white comunity.
As a life-long Marinite myself, my experience with the opposition to affordable housing here has nothing to do with ethnicity, but has everything to do with the irrational fear the wealthy people have of the poor. There is plenty of statistical support that links impoverished communities to increased criminal activity. Rich people, by extention (and a blinding ignorance of what such a statistic really means), often infer that affordable housing will create impoverished points in their community, and thus, will contribute to rising crime rates. Start a conversation involving child molesters and section-8 housing (often wrongly associated with affordable housing), and, often, the most rational, highly educated liberal white Marinite will become an ignamous in the time it takes to pour him a glass of wine.
As a white man privy to private white people conversations, Marin liberal whites, generally, have little, if any, tolerance for bigotry and voiced distrust based on race or ethnic biases. I have no doubt racism does exist among some Marin white liberals, but in the relative scale of racial tensions among communities in the Bay Area, I think such racism here is quite minute. It is ridiculous to focus such attention on Marin county and try to imply this county as having a racial relations issue simply because it is predominently white. Such an argument actually trivializes the topic, and detracts from the very real issues that exist in, say, Berkeley/Oakland area or in South San Francisco, where the political elite truly and inadequately address issues of race and ethnic equality habitually.
Newportbeachsmostwanted,
Your comments are based upon a couple of unspoken, and highly dubious, theories. First, you assume that ethnic diversity and liberalism are interdependent. Second, you assume that affordable housing leads to ethnic diversification. Both of these theories are quite unsubstantiated.
In short, some of the most liberal parts of the country often tend toward mono-ethnicity. For example, many traditionally black communities which lack a similar ethnic diversity like Marin, tend to be highly liberal as well. It seems odd that you think there is some sort of correlation between a community's liberalness and it's ethnic diversity.
Second, past affordable housing projects in Marin (the redevelopment of Hamilton AFB back in the 1980's comes to mind as one of the biggest) were quickly populated, predominently, by white families -- and still remains ethnically challenged today. Providing affordable housing programs only service the immediate community. If the immediate community is predominently white -- like Marin -- why would ethnic diversity result from affordable housing here? Poor whites, by percentage of their cultural identity, might seem rarer than the poor among other ethnic groups, but by shear numbers, the majority of the poor and lower class in the US (and in California and, most likely, also in Marin) still remain white people. It seems to me to assume affordable housing would attract ethnic diversity, especially in an already predominently white community, is contrary to common sense as well as the historical record. Affordable housing in Marin has and will continue to attract primarily white families when, and if, it is built simply because this is a predominently white comunity.
As a life-long Marinite myself, my experience with the opposition to affordable housing here has nothing to do with ethnicity, but has everything to do with the irrational fear the wealthy people have of the poor. There is plenty of statistical support that links impoverished communities to increased criminal activity. Rich people, by extention (and a blinding ignorance of what such a statistic really means), often infer that affordable housing will create impoverished points in their community, and thus, will contribute to rising crime rates. Start a conversation involving child molesters and section-8 housing (often wrongly associated with affordable housing), and, often, the most rational, highly educated liberal white Marinite will become an ignamous in the time it takes to pour him a glass of wine.
As a white man privy to private white people conversations, Marin liberal whites, generally, have little, if any, tolerance for bigotry and voiced distrust based on race or ethnic biases. I have no doubt racism does exist among some Marin white liberals, but in the relative scale of racial tensions among communities in the Bay Area, I think such racism here is quite minute. It is ridiculous to focus such attention on Marin county and try to imply this county as having a racial relations issue simply because it is predominently white. Such an argument actually trivializes the topic, and detracts from the very real issues that exist in, say, Berkeley/Oakland area or in South San Francisco, where the political elite truly and inadequately address issues of race and ethnic equality habitually.
I appreciate hearing the perspective from an established Marinite. I support your correlation between the rich and educated angst towards Section 8. On a similar note, I was reading a story, in The Marin Independant Journal, about the recent ICE raids on San Rafael's Canal District. My perception became that many white residents were just as outraged as the Hispanics themselves. So I am not arguing that Marin is NOT liberal. I am infact arguing against the claims made by radio show gurus(such as, Michael Savage) and authors calling Marin County the most liberal county in America. (Is it really?)
Based on vote plurality, or donations..(maybe) based on extremely liberal views... (no).
Would Marin be so liberal if, as you say, they are preventing these projects for a reason such as crime?
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