Why did you...or why do you want to move out of California? (Riverside: transplants, public school)

[caligurl86]

I left to find a better life, SD seemed to offer a better life for my daughter but, although after reserching my move for 2 an a half years it was only until I moved here I "read the fine print" of liveing here. Everyone is an alchoholic, which I am not. The houses are cheap because the location of them are extremely far from anything, and i'm not a city girl i've always lived 35 miles from town but in the winter time there is no getting out. But i left thinking Ca had too many drugs, too high taxes, ect. but to be honest there's nowhere in the country that's perfect anymore and the grass isn't always greener. althugh I know for some there are some exeptions.

[frankrj]

Earthquakes, Fires, Bad Traffic, child abductions - CA - it is just non-stop I am gone for 6 months in Florida and return to SoCal to pick up some more things, the same thing is on the news.

East coast or Texas - tornadoes, hurricanes and some lightning strikes...Guys the humidity is exaggerated. SoCal now has humidity too.

When do you recall sudden rainstorms in the summer 15,20 30 years ago..Never!! the climate has changed. It used to only be hot and dry..

OK Seriously, at 90 to 95 with air pollution in SoCal vs. 94 and 70% humidity in the Fl summer. As a Cali native, I can say it was better in FL.

And the scenery is butt ugly to see miles of brown grass, or hay, (and now dirt) on the freeway sides in SoCal vs. the greenery on the east coast, the pure air, the rain that comes and washes away pollution.
(NorCal is a different story, it's just beautiful up in Humboldt county)
So, I'd say my reason for leaving:
deteriorating budget crisis and
too immigration friendly; (free should not be the norm when it comes to medical help fi you are not paying and never have paid taxes.)
non-business friendly,
crime
sky high property values
Yeah, I'd have to make $150k each year to own a decent home.

What I liked about CA:
abundance of diverse foods, restaurants (Asian,Latin,European,African,Caribbean)
fitness friendly
weather not much of a factor. b/c 5 to 6 months in SoCal is just too hot.

After all , 90% of the US population is not in CA and doing OK.

[melora1812]

Actually, I think about leaving California a lot. I’m a lifelong CA resident, the child of two native CA residents, one of whom was a child of a native CA resident. We’ve been here a long time. My husband and I are 10 -15 years away from retirement, but with him having been self-employed for over 30 years and me being a stay-at-home parent for a couple of decades, we won’t have nice pensions in our later years. We may have to leave CA and go somewhere with a lower cost of living to survive as retirees.

Retirement aside, though, we want a couple of acres to plant a small orchard, grow a vegetable garden and raise some small livestock (poultry & goats). We live in the San Joaquin Valley of CA where the summers are remarkably hot, rainfall is minimal and rural land is costly. We’d like to live where the summers are bearable and where there’s sufficient rain. Near us, a couple of acres with a small, older stucco house can range from $300,000 to half a million dollars. That’s far too rich for our budget.

My family isn’t sold on leaving. My daughters love their state and would miss the place they’ve always lived. I’m up for an adventure and I’m doing my best to talk them into considering a move. Not sure how that’s going to play out, but I keep trying.

[xcalgal]

We would have stayed in LA if it didn't take 3 hours to get out of it, lines for everything, too much sun (yep, skin cancer), and taxes, taxes, taxes.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Donna7

I think you have good points on poor land planning issues and the subsequent "overcrowding."

On the other hand, I think that SOME (relocated) critics are basically whining pains in the patootey who even though they've moved away to somewhere they consider "so awesome and better than CA", they're still on the CA board every day focusing on and bashing a state in which they live no longer. How does this even make sense? Does the lady protest too much, ya think?

I can guarantee that when I leave the state I currently in, I will NOT be coming back to my state's forum to bash it and the people who wish to possibly relocate to it. I simply CANNOT believe the amount of energy some ex-Californians give to a state that supposedly s*cks so bad. Too many ex-Californians who can't stop looking back...if you ask me. Yeah, that speaks volumes too. They try to convince others that it s*cks so bad because they're still trying to convince themselves.

I concede your point. I think it's often because they're bitter because they've been forced out financially from a state they liked living in. It speaks to the frustration they're experiencing. They'd like to live in CA, but they've been priced out. But they see that it could have been different if the voters and politicians of CA had made different decisions.

[Oerdin]

Originally Posted by frankrj

Earthquakes, Fires, Bad Traffic, child abductions

I've never had any damage from an Earthquake even though I've lived here 34 years. Yeah, there is a fire season, so what? Traffic does suck but by using mass transit or changing your work schedule you can avoid 90% of it and as for child abductions () you're more likely to get hit by lightening while doing a hand stand on top of the Eiffel Tower then ever experience a child abduction. They almost never happen but some folks seem to worry themselves ragged over nearly impossible "could happens" that they ignore the mathematically more likely stuff (like getting into a car accident in your new Florida neighborhood).

[Oerdin]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

I concede your point. I think it's often because they're bitter because they've been forced out financially from a state they liked living in. It speaks to the frustration they're experiencing. They'd like to live in CA, but they've been priced out. But they see that it could have been different if the voters and politicians of CA had made different decisions.

I agree they're likely frustrated but I don't think anyone has been forced out against their will. If they wanted to those folks could have gone back to school and qualified themselves for a better paying job but instead they chose the lazy way and now whine about how they've been "forced out". It was their choice to take the lazy way and not put in the effort to do what it takes.

[Soccersupporter]

Originally Posted by Donna7

I think you have good points on poor land planning issues and the subsequent "overcrowding."

On the other hand, I think that SOME (relocated) critics are basically whining pains in the patootey who even though they've moved away to somewhere they consider "so awesome and better than CA", they're still on the CA board every day focusing on and bashing a state in which they live no longer. How does this even make sense? Does the lady protest too much, ya think?

I can guarantee that when I leave the state I currently in, I will NOT be coming back to my state's forum to bash it and the people who wish to possibly relocate to it. I simply CANNOT believe the amount of energy some ex-Californians give to a state that supposedly s*cks so bad. Too many ex-Californians who can't stop looking back...if you ask me. Yeah, that speaks volumes too. They try to convince others that it s*cks so bad because they're still trying to convince themselves.

Not everyone leaves the state with angry motives. We left because our daughter got married and decided to start a family. It was important to us to be there and we are so glad we did. We love being grandparents and wouldn't trade it in for anything CA has to offer. My wife happens to be in CA now visiting her parents in Temecula. We like CA but there are definitely things that made it an easier decision to leave when we explored the option. There is no state that does not have its own set of problems. CA is in a bad state right now. There is no way it will ever be what it was in the glory days of CA but it will always be a nice place to visit and for some a place to fantasize about. CA will always be where I grew up, where we started our family but the reality is that home is where your heart is and TX is that place now.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

I concede your point. I think it's often because they're bitter because they've been forced out financially from a state they liked living in. It speaks to the frustration they're experiencing. They'd like to live in CA, but they've been priced out. But they see that it could have been different if the voters and politicians of CA had made different decisions.

I respectfully disagree. If you live in a place for all your life you don't just simply stop thinking about it. Even if its not the place you remember and not where you want to be. When people express their view of what California has become its THEIR view. It doesn't mean someone else is required to agree. If someone asks what a place is like and you lived there for thirty years, you still have that thirty years of experience.

And instead of ONLY those who love California as it is now there needs to be balance. If someone asks how bad the pollution in Riverside is, then honesty should happen. Honesy is that its awful. And you are damaging your childrens lungs when they breath it. This isn't bashing, its truth. And what is so wrong with truth.

And for those who do not like what it is now but did before, what's wrong with saying its changed and is now this way. All points of view are welcome. It all depends on what you want and what you have. Yes, California has some beautiful places, but if you don't have the money to drive to them and pay the fee and for the motel, then does it impact your life? So if someone is looking but will not likely see it its not in the equation.

I will say I don't like what California has become. I will say it drove ME away. Its not bitterness. Its reality. I don't ask anyone to share the idea but if someone asks I'll tell if it answers their question. This site isn't a place for the state pr office. You get lots of views and take what you want of it. Best way to see reality.

[uptown_urbanist]

We left because of cost of living. We could do California when we didn't have a kid, but eventually the cost of living wore us down. And with the economy in California being particularly on the rocks it got stressful. I still love California (and maybe we'll return sometime at a different stage in life), but I also love Minneapolis. I also love that in Minneapolis we can afford a better quality of life. We'll even have more free money to travel, and I look forward to visiting more of the parts of CA that we were never able to fully explore when we were living there and pumping so much of our income into rent!