Not being sure of your age, I have no idea if you recall the once-Golden State of the 50s and 60s. In any case, when did you start noticing the changes for the worse? Was it gradual (like the frog being slowly boiled in water) or was there a time period you can point to when the influx began?
The big ramp up started becoming pretty obvious about circa 1975 and never subsided and only escalated.