Earlier quoted context omitted.
The rampant homelessness and drug use for one, the putrid mess that is downtown SF for another.
San Francisco is one beautiful city with one very ugly downtown.
What's so bad about downtown San Francisco?
California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?
31–40 of 118 posts
Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?
#32I'll spare you the effort of going through this because I went through the methodology behind it:
Qualify of life is based on 7 factors:
Natural Environment (50%):
- Drinking Water Quality (13th)
- Low Industrial Toxins (20th)
- Low Pollution Health Risk (45th)
- Urban Air Quality (50th)
Social Involvement (50%):
- Community Engagement (44th)
- Social Support (38th)
- Voter participation (49th)
The whole Social Involvement section, which is 50% of QOL, is basically completely bunk. The first two are based off surveys that I'm sure have methodology issues, and who cares about voter participation? My quality of life isn't affected by whether or not my neighbor votes in the presidential election of which your vote in California has no impact. I also have no doubt if voter participation was adjusted for demographics, named age and race, California wouldn't do so badly.
The air quality stuff is fair game, but California is a big state and there are lots of places with better air, in addition to the fact that I can think of 50 things which impact my "qualify of life" more than the things listed: Traffic, Parks, Restaurants, Walkability, Bikability, etc.
Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?
#33If you are a tech person, I'd say you should seriously consider the Silicon Prairie. For example, it doesn't surprise me this article emphasizes Nebraska. Whereas this article mentions not owning a home in California, you can readily afford a home out in the Midwest. If you don't want that, grab a two-bedroom apartment that costs you less than a $9,00 per month. Insane commutes don't exist. Places like Kansas City ha…
Kansas is awful - don’t move there. Governor Brownback’s insane low-tax plan has starved government services and thoroughly ruined the state over the past decade.
Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
The rampant homelessness and drug use for one, the putrid mess that is downtown SF for another.
Also California is a huge place, not just SF and LA. We have as many national parks as Alaska, 100's of some of the most beautiful state parks and 100's of county parks. Many states have much worse drug problems per capita. Any country of 39M people and the economy we have is going to have upsides and downsides.
But the downsides are concentrated in the population centers where most people need to live.
Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?
#35I've mentioned this a few times here on HN, but I fled California (San Francisco) in January for Nashville, TN and couldn't be happier. I moved over my California LLC and businesses to a Tennessee LLC (no state income tax). People for the most part are super friendly (almost awkward friendly), and that southern hospitality is really a thing. Costs are out of control, lawmakers and California state laws are backwards…
Counterpoint: Tennessee is very religious and also backwards as hell[1], and if you aren’t white you will have a difficult time fitting in. [1]Just one recent example: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tennessee-lawmakers-pass-...
Counter-counter point: the valley is filled with over inflated egos and developers whose sole business model is stealing people’s private data to sell ads. They tend to think tech wouldn’t exist without them when in reality their only contribution to the world is a few crappy web frameworks.
Edit: looks like I struck a nerve with the valley script kiddies. Keep on downvoting. You’re the reason n-gate.com was created.
Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?
#36I've mentioned this a few times here on HN, but I fled California (San Francisco) in January for Nashville, TN and couldn't be happier. I moved over my California LLC and businesses to a Tennessee LLC (no state income tax). People for the most part are super friendly (almost awkward friendly), and that southern hospitality is really a thing. Costs are out of control, lawmakers and California state laws are backwards…
Counterpoint: Tennessee is very religious and also backwards as hell[1], and if you aren’t white you will have a difficult time fitting in. [1]Just one recent example: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tennessee-lawmakers-pass-...
Backwards is relative. Being religious, anti-globalization, or conservative doesn't make you a horrible person. The bay area is probably the most intolerant place I've ever been. I've personally seen people unfriend friends because of politics without even being able to have a thoughtful and educated discussion about the issues. The bay area is group thinking "madness of crowds" at its worse.
I encourage watching Peter Thiel explain why he left San Francisco (albeit for LA): https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=5V8YXmkBHok...
Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?
#37Don’t worry, the #1 quality-of-life state is North Dakota so clearly the methodology is wack. Have you ever heard someone say: “man, when I finish my internship, I hope I can go to North Dakota where there is lots of happiness?” No. Because it’s -40° there half the year.
>Have you ever heard someone say:
Public perception has jack to do with actual happiness. A bunch of college students wanting to go somewhere does not give it a good quality of life.
Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Counterpoint: Tennessee is very religious and also backwards as hell[1], and if you aren’t white you will have a difficult time fitting in. [1]Just one recent example: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tennessee-lawmakers-pass-...
Counter-counter point: the valley is filled with over inflated egos and developers whose sole business model is stealing people’s private data to sell ads. They tend to think tech wouldn’t exist without them when in reality their only contribution to the world is a few crappy web frameworks. Edit: looks like I struck a nerve with the valley script kiddies. Keep on downvoting. You’re the reason n-gate.com was created.
those things can both be true
Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Counterpoint: Tennessee is very religious and also backwards as hell[1], and if you aren’t white you will have a difficult time fitting in. [1]Just one recent example: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tennessee-lawmakers-pass-...
Backwards is relative. Being religious, anti-globalization, or conservative doesn't make you a horrible person. The bay area is probably the most intolerant place I've ever been. I've personally seen people unfriend friends because of politics without even being able to have a thoughtful and educated discussion about the issues. The bay area is group thinking "madness of crowds" at its worse. I encourage watching Pet…
Opinions contrary to the hackernews bubble are met with the same intolerance.
Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?
#40I left California last September. Moving someplace cheaper allowed me to get back into housing. That was all I expected to get out of it. Other than getting off the street, I didn't expect significant improvement in quality of life. I moved to a small town that did not have all the stuff I wanted. I expected to kind of put up with it in order to be able to afford housing.
But after getting here, our mantra has become "Thank god we have moved to civilization." There is no bag ban here. The library system here is better than anything I saw in California. Public transit is better. There are multiple things open 24 hours a day within a short walk from my rental.
Unemployment is high and there is a homeless problem, things I would like to try do something about. But homelessness was high all over California and I was one of the homeless there.
I really love the place I moved to and I am just jazzed to be here. At this point, I can't imagine going back to California.
The problems here look solvable to me. The problems in California look entrenched and like they can't be solved without some things changing in terms of state policies. That seems unlikely and it seems to me that even if someone can figure out how to fix it and somehow pull it off, the transition would be painful.
I really liked California for a lot of years. It saddens me to feel this way about the state.