What the heck is wrong with CA?

[nofearfactor]

I can sit and read more of the California bashing and then either join in or defend the place. I'm some where in the middle of that. Truth is, I'm torn up about California and its problems are getting worse and Im worried. 4 months out of the year I still live in northern California. I spent the first 31 years of my life in California- 18 in southern Cali,13 years in the bay area,central valley, and up north in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Now I live part time up in the mountains where Ive owned my small cabin home in Bear Valley for the last 15 years along with other property I bought. I also help manage and maintain substantial family property that my grandfather bought up in the 20s,30s.

Me and my ex moved out east 10 years ago to get away from the rat race of San Francisco during the DotCom bust to start a business some where other than in California. We sold our businesses but I kept my house and properties up north and we chose Des Moines Iowa to move to get started. We established our business and built a house there. Then we ended up divorcing. After visits to visit family in Oklahoma I met someone from Tulsa and eventually migrated down to Oklahoma after remarrying. My mother and stepfather are snowbirds- they live in San Francisco and the bay area part of the year during winters and then come back to Oklahoma part time in the summers. Theyre both retired from long years in Oklahoma jobs,my mom a banker and my stepdad a former country school superintendant,and theyre also both hardcore Republicans both born and raised in rural Oklahoma. My mother moved to California as a kid while my grandfather acted in western movies and then met my father,also born and raised in Oklahoma,while he was there in the Marines in the San Diego area. I just happened to be born and raised in Oceanside while my dad was a Marine,but have been going back and forth between Oklahoma and California my whole life because our relatives are in Oklahoma,Texas,Louisianna,etc. My mother left us when I was 10 and went back to Oklahoma and when my dad retired from the Marine Corps he headed for home too. My older brother,sisters,and me though we were all born in California and have all made homes our there. You cant help where you were born,you didnt really have a say in the matter. I love both places.

The demographics in California are all over the place,but up north where I live where its all mountains and rural life its about as conservative there as it is here where I live in Oklahoma. Still. I dont ever plan on selling my place there as I love the mountains and the life I have there as much as I love my life in Oklahoma. Im not ever going to apologize for loving the place because its where I was born. Its some times hard to read some of the stuff said about the place but most of it is true,and my older brother and sisters represent the liberal upwardly mobile azzholes most often joked about. Some of it though is so far off its not even funny. Its like the jokes people make about toothless,dumb,redneck Okies and about how they sleep with their sisters. If you live in Oklahoma you know thats pretty far from the truth. And if you live in California or are from there you know the truth about that place too. Beautiful place to live,but a ****ed up infrastructure and a system on the verge of complete breakdown. I just hope that when the **** hits the fan there Im here and not there.

 

[vvvvvvv]

Masochism.

 

[sanjuro893]

I read a USA Today? article weeks ago that said some 20,000 Californians have moved to here, Texas and other "fly-over country" states in the past year. I can't find the link to the article, but it said something to the effect that most were seeking better economy and jobs but other deciding factors were state politics and the "Hollyweird" mindset.

 

[flatwins]

California is an absolute lost cause. They're bankrupt morally, socially and economically. What's worse is that they're a conduit for lawlessness into the rest of the country. I predict calamity of epic proportions in the next decade for them.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[inactive]

I can sit and read more of the California bashing and then either join in or defend the place. I'm some where in the middle of that.

<snip>

Beautiful place to live,but a ****ed up infrastructure and a system on the verge of complete breakdown. I just hope that when the **** hits the fan there Im here and not there.

NFF, I always look forward to your posts as a Californian. I have visited there and understand your sentiments about the goodness of the people and beauty of the place. I also also see a lot of the general weirdness and questionable decision-making that leads to much of the conceived notions about the place. Let's face it, The Bay and LA are the majority of the population, even though they are not a majority of the area, and those populations are where much of the stereotypical thought of Californians comes from. Isn't the LA Metro about 17 million of the 36 million of the people in the state

I always try to be judicious when commenting on the the place, if for no other reason that I never wanted to paint all people there with the same brush. You commentary about the infrastructure and leadership though seems spot on - it appears the systems in place for the last few decades are showing their insustainability and it is much harder to "undo" those things than having just not started them in the first place.

 

[Old Fart]

One thing I've noticed over the years is Kalifornia does it's own thing then hopes the rest of the country bales them out.

This being said there are a lot of really good folks out there.
Just because someone lives there doesn't mean they agree with all that happens there.

 

[Keyser328]

Im not ever going to apologize for loving the place because its where I was born.

Here here brother. I'm a northern Cali native, and yes, I agree it's tough to see the hateful comments against the whole state versus just the visible parts of the state.

My family still lives there, or at least part of them. Some of more yuppie than I'd like to admit, but they're still family.

Cali is one of the most beautiful places, in truth. The geography, the ocean, etc. al. It really is just breath taking.

That said, it saddens me to see them spiraling into a hell hole. It saddens me more to see people so blatantly condemn everyone there as an immoral reject.

 

[nofearfactor]

When me and my 2nd wife left San Francisco for Des Moines in 00-01',things then were hitting the fan,for us anyways. The brownouts were getting so frequent they would pass out flyers when you would lose your electricity on what day and time. Restaurants were closing because of it. We had 2 tattoo shops and couldnt operate without power. When we lived in Sunnyvale the property value on a house her mother had given us was so high we couldnt afford the taxes or the insurance and it forced us to sell and move to my place up north of San Fran. I know people who worked at HP,etc who couldnt even afford to live in the town because rents were crazy and housing prices were out of their league and they made 6 figures. Some of them slept in their offices during the week. It was just way too many struggles to try and survive so we looked for a place to go to that was affordable,and moved to Iowa and started over.

My grandfather bought property pretty cheap up north in the 49r area in the 20s&30s, and we rent it all out and I do what I can to go up there and maintain it for some pretty good income that we all split. I do the work and the southern Cali richyrich lazy ***** split the profits,as usual. Some day it will be passed down to our kids hopefully,if the state stays together that long. My greedy assed siblings though would sell it all in a heart beat,they dont see the beauty in the mountains or have any sort of nostalgia about the place. But I happen to love the area so theyre stuck with me taking care of it,at least while Im alive. My little cabin/house is easy to maintain. I close it up when gone and when I go back every quarter I stay about a month while working on the rental stuff. My sister lives in Huntington Beach/LA area,older brother is in Monterey,and my mom and stepdad are in San Francisco. I dont envy them at all,and I rarely visit them. I like staying in my little mountain cabin 7700 ft up in the mountains. My neighbors all look out for each other. Our little town is less than a few thousand people. Very quiet,great view of the Sierras. Yosemite is close. Tahoe is close. Fishing and boating at New Melones resevoir,skiing at Bear Valley resort,original 49r area is down the road from me,Snowshoe brewery/pub is down the road. I keep my 4x4 in my younger brothers garage in Woodland,I fly in to Sacremento from Tulsa,drive up to my place on Hwy 4. Time to go home, I drive back down to Woodland,stash the 4x4 in brothers garage,he takes me to airport in Sacremento, and I fly home to Tulsa where either my wife picks me up or I leave my Blazer.

 

[Keyser328]

Yessir, you are definitely making me a bit sappy. I miss the Sierras more than anything. When I was young, a few of us would get up at 5 or 6 in the morning, drive to Sugar Bowl, ski all day, then drive home at dark. We were beat ass tired, but man did we have fun.

You know the other thing I really miss? The classic car culture. I miss seeing hot rods all over the place. It takes some serious time and effort to restore an old rod, and I have some serious respect for the work and the beauty of it.

 

[nofearfactor]

The other thing I really miss? The classic car culture. I miss seeing hot rods all over the place. It takes some serious time and effort to restore an old rod, and I have some serious respect for the work and the beauty of it.

Haa,yaa. And rat rods. Here all I ever see are hot rods. I love me some rat rods.

My dad and uncle ran a body shop on the side and they were into building hotrods so I got to experience them first hand. My little brother runs my dads shop now and he's into them.

I remember when there was only one Sonic Drive-in in the entire state of California,in Orange County,and they had a hot rod night. We used to drive hours to get there just to see all of the badassed cars.