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California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?

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Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?

#111

Post by calinet6 »

closeparen wrote: post #65
calinet6 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, it's absolutely not terrible or backward by any stretch. Please visit and see for yourself. Expensive, sure. But there's a reason (another word for price in a decent market is 'value'). And not every city in California is San Francisco in terms of cost of living.

Our most central and highly-trafficked sidewalks and public transit stations are de facto public restrooms and homeless shelters. The plaza around our government and cultural center is densely populated with open drug use and varying degrees of mental health crisis. Begging and tent encampments abound. The cyclist-advocacy and homeless-advocacy groups are at each other's throats over whether the takeover of bike lane…

The article is about California, the state. San Francisco is not California.

Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?

#112

Post by yellowapple »

Puntar wrote: post #82
sehugg wrote: post #25

Here are the criteria: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/quality-of-... Among the measures used to evaluate states' natural environments are drinking water quality, air quality and total toxic chemical pollution per square. The ranking also considers how much each state puts its citizens at risk for long-term, chronic health effects from pollution. Social environment, on the other hand, investigates ho…

It doesn't seem too unreasonable that states with lower populations would rank so favorably given the criteria described. Less people could mean less air pollution and fewer contaminants in municipal water supplies from runoff. This would theoretically decrease the occurrence of pollution related illness. I would imagine that fracking in ND, though a huge business, only occurs in a few key areas of the state, thus li…

I'd imagine those other factors you cited wouldn't favor California by all that much, entertainment being the exception (and one narrowly concentrated in certain metropolitan areas); in my experience and observation (having lived in California all my life up until about a year ago), employment, poverty levels, and prices are all dismal at best.

Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?

#113

Post by mattnewton »

DrScump wrote: post #103
mattnewton wrote: post #18

Came back from walking along the beautiful Santa Cruz coast this afternoon and read this. All I can think is this is a genius way to slow down the immigration rate until legislation and housing developments can catch up :)

I take it that you went nowhere near downtown Santa Cruz.

I like it weird. ‍️

Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?

#114

Post by tehlike »

mattnewton wrote: post #87
tehlike wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet there are plenty of coastal areas with similar effect. East coast was nice, for me, for example. If you like all seasons, they might be more interesting than cali.

I grew up on the East Coast actually. I vastly prefer the weather, the culture and the economic opportunity of the Bay Area. I know its got huge problems, and how people like me exacerbate them, and I can’t afford a house here, but there is no where I’d rather be right now.

I grew up in a foreign land, with four seasons, and i feel the same about Cali. This is probably the place i will grow old. But i also acknowledge not everyone is like me.

For many, Texas seems like a good place too.

Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?

#115

Post by closeparen »

chillacy wrote: post #59
ihsw2 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rampant homelessness and drug use for one, the putrid mess that is downtown SF for another.

What large US cities don't have these issues? People complain about the same things in Seattle, LA, NY, etc. In fact, it's not the worst based on the data: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/is-seattl...

Contemporary Manhattan and downtown Chicago, for one. These things exist, of course, but they aren’t in your face all the time on the major pedestrian corridors.

Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?

#116

Post by david38 »

fern12 wrote: post #97
sehugg wrote: post #25

Here are the criteria: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/quality-of-... Among the measures used to evaluate states' natural environments are drinking water quality, air quality and total toxic chemical pollution per square. The ranking also considers how much each state puts its citizens at risk for long-term, chronic health effects from pollution. Social environment, on the other hand, investigates ho…

That's an interesting point about social environment and engagement. As a native Californian, I struggled socially when I was living in the DC metro area for 5 years. Simply put, it was the weather. If there was rain (which was nothing like the light sprinkle I was used to) or a slight dusting of snow, I did not want to go out. I slipped on icy sidewalks (breaking my tailbone); got regularly drenched while walking to…

Wow, after a year you could have learned how to deal with the weather better. Better shoes, defensive driving classes, etc. All for less than the cost of one month's rent.

I live in California and love it, but bad weather is just something you need a few tools to deal with.

Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?

#117

Post by shafyy »

ars wrote: post #57
sehugg wrote: post #25

Here are the criteria: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/quality-of-... Among the measures used to evaluate states' natural environments are drinking water quality, air quality and total toxic chemical pollution per square. The ranking also considers how much each state puts its citizens at risk for long-term, chronic health effects from pollution. Social environment, on the other hand, investigates ho…

That says more about you than about the study. Have you ever lived in a place like that? With real community? Neighbors that care about you? Who know who you are? Who notice if you are having an issue? Who go out of their way to help you if you need it? Could you, right now, walk over to a neighbor and say "I need to go to xxx for reason xxx, could you watch my kids for 2 days?", and expect them to either say yes, or…

I think it's subjective if this adds or decreases life quality. For me, the anonymity in an urban area adds to life quality.

Re: California’s quality of life is the worst in the country?

#118

Post by reversecs »

enraged_camel wrote: post #30
nodesocket wrote: post #17

I'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-...

I know many in Seattle who draw an extreme image of the South and for the most part it feels highly political. In that case I remember that Intolerance of other points of view is the definition of bigotry. It's important to not color an entire state of people with specific moral values.
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