6 ms·

The state has gone downhill on every metric possible. People can't name even 5 things that have improved over the past decade. Taxes, infrastructure, homeless,

The state has gone downhill on every metric possible. People can't name even 5 things that have improved over the past decade. Taxes, infrastructure, homeless, rent/housing, cost of living, gas, traffic, smog and pollution, crime, illegal immigration, gangs, fires, droughts, private property issues, local govt gridlock and deficiency, and now the weather isn't great either. Unfortunately many of those leaving don't realize the policies they voted for are the main cause of this mess and might repeat the same thing in the new areas.

tabtab 6y ago
> The state has gone downhill on every metric possible. Mostly because it got more crowded. As a CA resident, if you don't like CA, please DO move out. It will help traffic, for one. If ALL you care about is a big house and taxes, then CA is probably not for you. As soon as you walk outside your TX McMansion, you may realize why CA is so crowded.
- manigandham 6y ago
  > "Mostly because it got more crowded." So what? That means more people and tax revenue to solve problems. There are plenty of very dense areas around the world run just fine. This is a failure of policy not population. If people are such a problem then maybe tax-paying law-abiding citizens should be prioritized over illegal immigration. > "If ALL you care about is a big house and taxes, then CA is probably not for you... you may realize why CA is so crowded." Who said that? Your dismissive and defensive attitude along with blaming completely irrelevant details like population is the reason why CA and its voting populace is in the state that it's in. Please list what has gotten better in CA over the last 10 years or I'll assume you have no argument.
  - nomel 6y ago
    > So what? That means more people and tax revenue to solve problems. I'm not the state government though, I'm an individual with a life outside of my house. When the majority of the time for any activity outside of my house is sitting in traffic or waiting in lines, it's difficult to enjoy the area you live in. For this reason, I find myself heading further and further out of town to find areas or activities that aren't completely congested. Tax revenue won't make the lines shorter or traffic less. To do either would require bulldozing all of the housing and building up, at least where I am. Unfortunately, whenever this is done, luxury condos or apartments are the result, with rent that's higher than a mortgage, even for around here.
    - tabtab 6y ago
      The flip side is that specialty services and shops are more likely to be available. This includes medical services. One may have to drive for a day or use airlines to reach the equivalent leaving from an isolated area.
- fumar 6y ago
  I was very close to moving to Austin this winter. I decided to double down in SoCal instead and buy property. I've spent a decent amount of time in Austin for work and have family nearby, but the weather and cultural opportunities won me over in California. I like that I can go to running on beach path, cycle in the mountains, carve canyons on a motorcycle, eat stellar sushi, sit in traffic :(, and walk down any downtown all in one day. I've been very grateful to have non-extreme weather throughout the year. I am looking outside at a sunny sky right now and I will go walking on a path shortly to clear my mind. For someone with high allergies, I found that I am not allergic to trees, pollen, and grass in LA. I've had several nasal surgeries in the past to fix issues from allergies. I didn't want to risk it in Austin with different plant landscape.
  - betwixthewires 6y ago
    If you have severe allergies, there's nowhere in Texas that you'll be safe except for the far west desert.
    - mariojv 6y ago
      I'm a fan of Texas, but this is unfortunately quite true. Even in West Texas, a lot of folks have trouble with the dust.
- betwixthewires 6y ago
  You make a good point, California is beautiful. Texas isn't really all that beautiful. There are pretty areas, and there's some beauty in any natural landscape. Still, why can't there be a beautiful place with lower taxes? If taxes are enough to drive people away from a breathtaking place, maybe they're too high.
- phobosanomaly 6y ago
  Yup. If you don't spend your weekends fly-fishing Big Pine Creek, 4x4ing the Mojave Road, climbing at Joshua Tree, grabbing burritos and craft beer at Grand Central Market, and swimming out to the mile-buoys at La Jolla Cove, why stay? If your eyes don't light up when you hear 'Clifton's Cafeteria,' or 'Pappy and Harriet's,' or 'half-day boat' what on earth are you doing here? This state is one of the most unique and incredible places in the country. I can drive from the lowest point in the continental United States (Badwater) to the foot of the highest point (Whitney) in a couple of hours. That's absolutely magical. I love this state with a deep passion, and I know many of its nooks and crannies (still exploring and learning). That's why I will never leave. If you don't do any of that stuff and you just sit in a bubble writing code all day why on earth would you stay? Just takes parking away from the people that actually enjoy California for the magical place that it is. I'm happy to pay higher taxes. It helps keep this state humming along as the 5th largest economy on the planet.
  - rcpt 6y ago
    I enjoy the outdoors here more than most but the taxes are bullshit. Tens of thousands per year in state income tax. The nation's highest sales tax on top of that and we barely even afford school buses for my kids. Why? Because all that tax revenue is going into my landlords already fat pockets. Prop 13 is over $30B per year -- that's 4x the size of the NSF and $7B larger than NASA. That stupid law ruined the state and I don't fault anyone for leaving. I'm trying to figure a way out to.
    - phobosanomaly 6y ago
      Fair enough. I totally respect that perspective, and no hard feelings. Prop 13 is pretty controversial, and considering it bullshit it not something I would consider unreasonable. I wish you the best wherever life takes you.
  - claydavisss 6y ago
    "5th largest economy" has really only been a benefit to the 1%. For you it just means higher rent
ddoolin 6y ago
Crime in almost every category has gone down over the last decade. You have to be crazy to think gang activity has gotten worse over the same time period. Immigration is not the domain of the state. I'd argue that given the number of people here, the traffic could be a lot worse. I've personally seen worse gridlock on worse infrastructure in other states with less people. Even if you account for the days that fires affect a significant amount of people's weather experience, we still have great weather for the vast majority of the year. It's not perfect by any means but you could easily draw up a similar list for any state. A state is a big area and it's probably more useful to talk about most of these kinds of things at a local level.
- manigandham 6y ago
  Crime and gang activity is increasing, especially in prisons where every yard is now active. Local street gangs sets have multiplied with the influx of people (many homeless), drugs, welfare and larger organized crime operations. Also recent policies decriminalized many acts and have led to rampant street crime in areas like SF and LA. CA provides sanctuary status for illegal immigrants, along with driver licenses, free healthcare and other benefits paid for by tax-paying citizens. Traffic is terrible because of a lack of any other alternatives that are routinely defunded, destroyed and dismissed from high-speed rail to bus lines to ridesharing. CA is now worse than before. It's also worse than many other places. Just because 1 facet is better than somewhere else doesn't impact the objective collective decline. Again, please name 10 things that have gotten better in CA over the last decade if you can.
  - fataliss 6y ago
    Do you have any source on these claims? Cause these are typically hard to measure and I get suspicious when I read "Also recent policies decriminalized many acts and have led to rampant street crime" and other welfare correlation with crime. Happy to learn new things tho :)
    - manigandham 6y ago
      https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/An-explosion-of-California-property-crimes-6922062.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/An-exp... https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-prop-47-shoplifting-theft-crime-statewide https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-prop-47-shoplifting-th... https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/05/14/shoplifting-california-prop-47-reduced-penalties/ https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/05/14/shoplifting-cal... Why are you suspicious? When you stop arresting people for crimes and allow criminal behavior then you get more crime. This is so correlated as to be mathematical fact. This is no different to NY removing bail and then being surprised that criminals walk right out of the courthouse and back to their operations the same day while being further emboldened by these policies. Many think there isn't much crime because they're usually sheltered from it by distance and police activity. It only takes a small gap to notice how bad conditions can get, and how quickly they deteriorate.
deeeeplearning 6y ago
bbbbut theres more Unicorn Startups!!
southeastern 6y ago
The tech industry? It's funny that HN is forgetting about that. Don't forget that many Texans would hate these "silicon valley tech nerds that love to censor trump". Not my words but the words of huge swaths of America. If the doubt that just ask thedonald.win. They want your money but not your opinions
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
rcpt 6y ago
Prop 13 was more than 10 years ago. California problems aren't the fault of newcomers

tabtab 6y ago

> The state has gone downhill on every metric possible. Mostly because it got more crowded. As a CA resident, if you don't like CA, please DO move out. It will help traffic, for one. If ALL you care about is a big house and taxes, then CA is probably not for you. As soon as you walk outside your TX McMansion, you may realize why CA is so crowded.

manigandham 6y ago
> "Mostly because it got more crowded." So what? That means more people and tax revenue to solve problems. There are plenty of very dense areas around the world run just fine. This is a failure of policy not population. If people are such a problem then maybe tax-paying law-abiding citizens should be prioritized over illegal immigration. > "If ALL you care about is a big house and taxes, then CA is probably not for you... you may realize why CA is so crowded." Who said that? Your dismissive and defensive attitude along with blaming completely irrelevant details like population is the reason why CA and its voting populace is in the state that it's in. Please list what has gotten better in CA over the last 10 years or I'll assume you have no argument.
- nomel 6y ago
  > So what? That means more people and tax revenue to solve problems. I'm not the state government though, I'm an individual with a life outside of my house. When the majority of the time for any activity outside of my house is sitting in traffic or waiting in lines, it's difficult to enjoy the area you live in. For this reason, I find myself heading further and further out of town to find areas or activities that aren't completely congested. Tax revenue won't make the lines shorter or traffic less. To do either would require bulldozing all of the housing and building up, at least where I am. Unfortunately, whenever this is done, luxury condos or apartments are the result, with rent that's higher than a mortgage, even for around here.
  - tabtab 6y ago
    The flip side is that specialty services and shops are more likely to be available. This includes medical services. One may have to drive for a day or use airlines to reach the equivalent leaving from an isolated area.
fumar 6y ago
I was very close to moving to Austin this winter. I decided to double down in SoCal instead and buy property. I've spent a decent amount of time in Austin for work and have family nearby, but the weather and cultural opportunities won me over in California. I like that I can go to running on beach path, cycle in the mountains, carve canyons on a motorcycle, eat stellar sushi, sit in traffic :(, and walk down any downtown all in one day. I've been very grateful to have non-extreme weather throughout the year. I am looking outside at a sunny sky right now and I will go walking on a path shortly to clear my mind. For someone with high allergies, I found that I am not allergic to trees, pollen, and grass in LA. I've had several nasal surgeries in the past to fix issues from allergies. I didn't want to risk it in Austin with different plant landscape.
- betwixthewires 6y ago
  If you have severe allergies, there's nowhere in Texas that you'll be safe except for the far west desert.
  - mariojv 6y ago
    I'm a fan of Texas, but this is unfortunately quite true. Even in West Texas, a lot of folks have trouble with the dust.
betwixthewires 6y ago
You make a good point, California is beautiful. Texas isn't really all that beautiful. There are pretty areas, and there's some beauty in any natural landscape. Still, why can't there be a beautiful place with lower taxes? If taxes are enough to drive people away from a breathtaking place, maybe they're too high.
phobosanomaly 6y ago
Yup. If you don't spend your weekends fly-fishing Big Pine Creek, 4x4ing the Mojave Road, climbing at Joshua Tree, grabbing burritos and craft beer at Grand Central Market, and swimming out to the mile-buoys at La Jolla Cove, why stay? If your eyes don't light up when you hear 'Clifton's Cafeteria,' or 'Pappy and Harriet's,' or 'half-day boat' what on earth are you doing here? This state is one of the most unique and incredible places in the country. I can drive from the lowest point in the continental United States (Badwater) to the foot of the highest point (Whitney) in a couple of hours. That's absolutely magical. I love this state with a deep passion, and I know many of its nooks and crannies (still exploring and learning). That's why I will never leave. If you don't do any of that stuff and you just sit in a bubble writing code all day why on earth would you stay? Just takes parking away from the people that actually enjoy California for the magical place that it is. I'm happy to pay higher taxes. It helps keep this state humming along as the 5th largest economy on the planet.
- rcpt 6y ago
  I enjoy the outdoors here more than most but the taxes are bullshit. Tens of thousands per year in state income tax. The nation's highest sales tax on top of that and we barely even afford school buses for my kids. Why? Because all that tax revenue is going into my landlords already fat pockets. Prop 13 is over $30B per year -- that's 4x the size of the NSF and $7B larger than NASA. That stupid law ruined the state and I don't fault anyone for leaving. I'm trying to figure a way out to.
  - phobosanomaly 6y ago
    Fair enough. I totally respect that perspective, and no hard feelings. Prop 13 is pretty controversial, and considering it bullshit it not something I would consider unreasonable. I wish you the best wherever life takes you.
- claydavisss 6y ago
  "5th largest economy" has really only been a benefit to the 1%. For you it just means higher rent

ddoolin 6y ago

Crime in almost every category has gone down over the last decade. You have to be crazy to think gang activity has gotten worse over the same time period. Immigration is not the domain of the state. I'd argue that given the number of people here, the traffic could be a lot worse. I've personally seen worse gridlock on worse infrastructure in other states with less people. Even if you account for the days that fires affect a significant amount of people's weather experience, we still have great weather for the vast majority of the year. It's not perfect by any means but you could easily draw up a similar list for any state. A state is a big area and it's probably more useful to talk about most of these kinds of things at a local level.

manigandham 6y ago
Crime and gang activity is increasing, especially in prisons where every yard is now active. Local street gangs sets have multiplied with the influx of people (many homeless), drugs, welfare and larger organized crime operations. Also recent policies decriminalized many acts and have led to rampant street crime in areas like SF and LA. CA provides sanctuary status for illegal immigrants, along with driver licenses, free healthcare and other benefits paid for by tax-paying citizens. Traffic is terrible because of a lack of any other alternatives that are routinely defunded, destroyed and dismissed from high-speed rail to bus lines to ridesharing. CA is now worse than before. It's also worse than many other places. Just because 1 facet is better than somewhere else doesn't impact the objective collective decline. Again, please name 10 things that have gotten better in CA over the last decade if you can.
- fataliss 6y ago
  Do you have any source on these claims? Cause these are typically hard to measure and I get suspicious when I read "Also recent policies decriminalized many acts and have led to rampant street crime" and other welfare correlation with crime. Happy to learn new things tho :)
  - manigandham 6y ago
    https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/An-explosion-of-California-property-crimes-6922062.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/An-exp... https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-prop-47-shoplifting-theft-crime-statewide https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-prop-47-shoplifting-th... https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/05/14/shoplifting-california-prop-47-reduced-penalties/ https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/05/14/shoplifting-cal... Why are you suspicious? When you stop arresting people for crimes and allow criminal behavior then you get more crime. This is so correlated as to be mathematical fact. This is no different to NY removing bail and then being surprised that criminals walk right out of the courthouse and back to their operations the same day while being further emboldened by these policies. Many think there isn't much crime because they're usually sheltered from it by distance and police activity. It only takes a small gap to notice how bad conditions can get, and how quickly they deteriorate.

deeeeplearning 6y ago

bbbbut theres more Unicorn Startups!!

southeastern 6y ago

The tech industry? It's funny that HN is forgetting about that. Don't forget that many Texans would hate these "silicon valley tech nerds that love to censor trump". Not my words but the words of huge swaths of America. If the doubt that just ask thedonald.win. They want your money but not your opinions

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

rcpt 6y ago

Prop 13 was more than 10 years ago. California problems aren't the fault of newcomers