There will be hope when those Californians who do not live in LA, San Francisco, etc. take back their state gummint from the entitlement crowd. IOW - they are screwed.
It takes some serious thought and reflection to understand how such a great state, literally, blessed by nature could end up so screwed up and still survive this long.
Much of California is blessed with mild temperate climate, in addition to the thousand-mile coast, to high deserts and snow-covered mountains.
On the negative side, it developed areas of very high business concentrations, mostly small, but many very large, generating enormous amounts of tax revenue. Up to now these large corporations and other businesses, simply ignored whatever tax rates the had to pay, with the simple expedient of passing it on to their clients. San Francisco and Los Angeles were accidentally the first such concentrations, and, to a lesser extent, the Sacramento area. But this historical accident has its limit too. Imagine the Bank of America and the Transamerica pyramid, with "for lease" signs all over them. It's just a matter of time.
In the meantime, the millions in suburbia dependent on these businesses enjoy the fallout of benefits.
The charities in San Francisco can't spend their share of taxes fast enough. Shower buses for the homeless and the palaces that the SPCA has built for itself are just the most egregious examples. But there are many more. In Los Angeles, multiculturalism and egalitarianism play the major role; the parasite cultures.
Meanwhile, the remainder of the state is literally falling apart, both physically and economically. The central Valleys, once producing 80% of all the fresh vegetables consumed in the entire country has largely reverted to desert, all to protect a pretty useless fish. Dams, which made the valleys bloom, and developed over a hundred years by rational people with a view of the future (no longer considered 'hip') have been destroyed as sacrifices to environmental gods, with a relatively small human price.
National and state environmental laws were created at an age when "people," human beings, was their most essential consideration. Over the years, this fundamental goal was perverted, and people became the least important consideration of all. We are surrounded by the results. Astronomical unemployment, choked highways, uncertain water supplies to deal with survival and health (yes sewage treatment is an essential human need, too.)
All to allow the least rational and creative in the local society to enjoy their supply of drugs, their sexual perversities and the protection of their pot farms. Marin County, once the richest county in the U.S., is essentially dope county today, mostly the western part, where other people (outsiders) and legal businesses may no longer enter, or continue existing, without fear. They have had a strangle hold on the state's economy for almost three generations, now. And the slide continues.
A hundred years ago, human beings in California were one community, thoughtful, responsible and took the future seriously. Today multiculturalism, excess and indolence has been the new California "normal" for much too long now. A testament to the underlying physical resiliency of the state.
Is there Hope for California?
An excellent question!