46%

As I am sitting here this morning, enjoying my cup of Nescafe Suave, listening to KFI am streaming on my ipod and go groove, i am shocked to hear that they are reporting that 46% of Californians are contemplating leaving California! I, currently live in Florida. I uprooted my family in November, 2006, after having visited Walt Disney World in August of 2004; the one week when they didn't have a hurricane. Florida was hammered that summer.
My god-daughter, Ashley and I came down for eight days and we had a blast. It was one of the most fun times I have ever had.
I had been working for a longtime, in an incredibly stressful job in Southern California.
I was the type to really enjoy theme parks. I was forever at Disneyland and Universal Studios, Hollywood. I used to spend a great deal of time at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but as I matured, I became more obese and couldn't ride the fun rides anymore.
I could still ride everything at Disneyland and Universal, so I dropped the Magic Mountain season pass and kept the other two.
I had reached about 400 pounds in that part of my life. It was rough, but not for me. I didn't notice it. Though I guess I did get more winded at times.
Other than that, I felt great.
Seven years later, I find myself in Florida, having lost about 160 pounds and being much more active. Leaving California, was an extremely life changing event for me.
I no longer eat out 21 times A WEEK, nor do I just sit around all day. I am on my feet all day long, I walk Chico several times a day and try to move around more. I frequently have dance parties of one in my bedroom. I ride my XOOTR whenever I get the chance, and still plan on having my Schwinn Sidewinder fixed when I can find the money.
In Los Angeles, one never really leaves their car. I would ride my Schwinn back home and be ridiculed for not having a car, or so people thought. Actually, I had several cars.
I remember one afternoon, I was riding to Hollywood Video on Sepulveda and Devonshire, when a car full of girls passed me up and shouted, "get a car!" I thought that this was funny. But that is the mentality of people in Southern California.
The traffic was dangerous. Crime was very high in my area of residence. Drug dealers, drive-by shootings were a frequent occurrence. To me it was just safer to get home from work and stay there.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t help one live the healthiest of lives. I have to admit, even though I was gaining about 10 pounds a year, you get to a point when it is too late.
A time when your clothes don’t fit you and you have to order everything online; from big and tall stores. I am now happy to say that I can now shop off the rack. Of course, I still buy clothes from LL Bean and a few other places. I still wear all of my BIG clothes, and am shocked at how BIG they are on me. I feel like I’ve wasted away to nothing. Of course, my doctor(a quack), still calls me obese. My comment to him is usually, “You should’ve seen me when…”.
Anyway, with extremely heavy traffic, pollution, gangs, graffiti, congestion on the streets, the cost of living; I can see why so many people are considering leaving California.
I loved being a Valleyite, an Angeleno, a southern Californian. I never thought I’d leave my home state. In retrospect; it has been far from perfect and ideal; and yes, there have been some very, very tough moments; I still think that my move from California, has been a great thing.
California, is still worth saving. Costs of education, property, fuel, electricity, water and other needs, can be brought down. I think that so much of California, especially in Los Angeles County, where most services are paid by taxes, to city/county workers, monies can be saved by competition. Let the private sector bid on landscaping, sanitation and other services that don’t need to be provided by high-paid city workers. It’s just a thought. I don’t know if it will work; but why not look into it?
I heard that if a half cent sales tax isn’t put into effect, LAPD will have to lay off 500 police officers. Knowing LAPD, I think that this is a good thing. I believe that the LAPD is amongst the most corrupt police departments in the nation.
Why not let the more cities incorporate? I know that The San Fernando Valley is chomping at the bit to secede from the City of Los Angeles. The City of San Fernando Valley could let the LAPD go and let the county Sheriffs do the law enforcement. Other than the North Valley, crime is relatively low in the valley. LADWP may be a bit of a problem because there are shared power stations and water reservoirs scattered throughout the county/city. They would just have to learn to compromise on this.
The same could be said about other areas of the city. Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Encino and Studio City could all be part of the City of San Fernando Valley. Van Nuys could be the city government center. This would help the rest of Los Angeles as well; more ability to focus on the schools in the inner cities, on services in the inner cities. More police to be deployed to the inner cities. This is necessary; trust me on that. I understand that somewhere on the books, there is a plan to cut the state of California in half! There would be a north and south, California. This could be cool too. I don’t know if this would ever happen. But with the financial ruination that California is facing; something has to be done and soon.
If it is indeed true, that 46% of Californians are thinking of leaving the state, California is going to become a ghost town of sorts. The economy may suffer a bit; or maybe not. I think we are all going to see what happens in the future. I know for me and my family, Florida is an attractive locale. Good schools, no pollution, light traffic (comparatively) and some fun occasionally. I like it here; though one doesn't make so much money around here. That’s okay though. We’ll see what comes around.