Posted on 03/17/2005 3:59:11 PM PST by BurbankKarl
The talk in Los Angeles is the talk of getting out In fact, a third of the residents surveyed said they want to move away, up more than 20 percent from 2003. The mood here in the South Bay, however, is slightly rosier.
Fed up with traffic, crime and skyrocketing housing prices, a growing number of Los Angeles County residents say they plan to move away within five years, according to a survey released Wednesday.
Although the mood in the South Bay area was slightly rosier, the report by the Public Policy Institute of California calls the county's 10 million residents "stunningly unhappy with some key indicators of quality of life and paints a picture of growing concern for any chance of long-term recovery."
"I spend all my money on rent," said San Pedro resident Janelle Anderson. "And now with gas prices going up, I'd love to find a cheaper place to live. But it's not that easy to leave your job and family."
The number of residents who plan to leave the county almost doubled in two years. A similar survey in 2003 found that 17 percent of residents did not see themselves staying in the county. The number is now 33 percent.
In fact, more people in the city of Los Angeles say they plan to leave than the 26 percent who voted in the recent mayoral election, said Mark Baldassare, the survey's director.
"It seems they plan to vote with their feet," he said.
For Torrance resident Gary Webb, it's the unrelenting traffic that makes him ponder leaving.
"It seems like I'm always in my car," he said. "And it keeps getting worse. I can't go anywhere without getting stuck in traffic."
The third annual survey found traffic, lack of affordable housing and low-performing public schools as reasons for the bleak outlook -- 74 percent of the 2,000 participants said congestion on freeways and main roads was a major problem. Another 64 percent said a lack of affordable housing was a big problem in the county. Both those figures have significantly increased from two years ago, when 67 percent cited traffic woes and 54 percent mentioned housing.
"So many dimensions of people are more negative today," Baldassare said. "The way they rate housing problems, the way they view race relations, and increasing negativity were certainly important things we noted."
In all, 58 percent believe race relations were not so good, compared to 53 percent in 2003. Different races also had varied outlooks. Only 21 percent of blacks -- compared to 50 percent of all residents -- say police in their community treat all racial and ethnic groups fairly most of the time.
But there were some silver linings in the survey. For instance, most residents expect race relations to improve.
"There are areas that have optimism," Baldassare said. "Most people believe race and ethnic relations will improve. And we're seeing improvements in the economy and the general belief that the quality of life is still good."
Dowell Myers, a professor of urban planning and demographics at USC, suggested that the survey include a question about whether people planned to move. He said he was a little surprised at the results, but he also cautioned about reading too much into them.
"It's a little higher than I would expect," he said. "It's not clear people are going to act different. People complain about traffic, but don't leave."
But if people do follow up on their plans to move, it could spell trouble in the future.
"The danger is people will still keep coming, but the ones you want to keep might go away because they've got other choices," he said. "You might be keeping the wrong kinds of people. Middle-class taxpayers might get up and go. That's the key. Who are the ones leaving?"
The survey divided the county into four parts. The area that includes the South Bay -- which stretches from Long Beach to Malibu -- was more optimistic about many trends. While generally unhappy with traffic, two-thirds of the area's residents said things were going well. They also gave the highest rating to the economy (40 percent) and expressed strong approval of local parks (68 percent).
"Some of the optimism in the region reflects the fact that people have good air quality, good job opportunities," Baldassare said. "Many people are in good economic shape compared to other parts of the county."
I know this may sound archaic, but I kinda prefer the "pay a significant, but not all consuming, chunk of your earnings for a place to live, pay it off in your early sixties and enjoy your 401k, pension, and whatever they can return to you from the SSI deduction stolen from you over 45-50 years, without having any housing expense" plan.
But I'm kinda of an old fashioned fuddy duddy.
bttt
BUMP
Getting out of Dodge bump.
Are you a realtor?
no...keep them there
I favor all of the Korean and Veitnamese ladies who are fleeing from Californa to move to Michigan.
Welcome, and enjoy (while you can.)
Please don't let any "guest workers" follow you here.
We should have left San Diego a year ago. We could have bought two new houses for the equity we have in our condo.
I'll try to keep my six clear. When your a guy in this state, you learn to not men get to close behind you...
;-)
i live in santa monica by the beac and i almost want to leave. its out of hand if ya ask me. except, living in the wealthier areas is nicer. but not as nice as most cities
I am right there with you, but nowadays, the chance you will be able to live in a house long enough to pay it off is almost zero. I can't tell you the number of threads I have read where the labor-supply-siders tell us to just pick up and move if you need a better job or even 'a' job. Of course this is all in line with family values and having mom at home raising the kids!? No problem there's always EBAY, so I'm sure we'll all be living the free trade dream soon, paying on a house we can't afford.
Yep, RE/Appraisal.
I've been presented some very convincing data by professionals that have made it their life to study decades of market trends in California.
Let's just say that whenever you see a trend of people living CA, you've got trouble.
Living = leaving....
LOL. You'd hate living in Michigan. We don't know what mass transit is.......
Been gone 10 years this very week. Yes it was my hometown (Granada Hills), but I am so happy to be able to raise my kids in conservative Northern California. I used to miss it but it didn't last long.
Finally broke free of the entire state in '92 and never looked back.
I can't imagine the hell pit-hole it is now, living there full time.
You forgot those #@!##!@% deer fly, horse flies, gnats, and black flies.
It already is...in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho....
LOL-BUMP
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