Sep
2

The Problem With Los Angeles

Filed Under: Observations Author: Bryan

I was having this conversation earlier with a coworker who’s trying to find a new apartment somewhere in Los Angeles. We talked about the differences of other cities compared to L.A., and it appears based on our own comparisons that L.A. falls short on many issues.

First off is the job market. L.A. has the potential to offer lots of jobs due to it’s size and surrounding town accessibility. When you do end up in L.A., perhaps getting your foot in the door in your life career, paying 1200-1400 a month for a one-bedroom apartment doesn’t seem all that worth it. If you don’t want to live in a shit hole and pay rent to a slumlord then 1600 a month should do it. It’s very difficult for someone new to the city to get ahead financially where that person has no personal or family investment in property. And it’s not like you’re in New York getting paid 100k a year for the same job only to fork over 40k a year on an apartment, did I mention that it’s difficult to get anywhere in L.A. without a car? Ah, yes.

Traffic and mass transit. Unlike most East coast cities that were founded in the 18th and 19th century, L.A. boomed during the early 1900s when Ford looked like he would rule the world. It was all about the automobile, and what a great personal transportation machine that doesn’t run on a timed schedule, it runs when you decide to turn a key - another invention that furthered the separation of a potential social community in my opinion. That poorly thought out decision not to expand on a mass transit situation for such a booming, orange grove and farm driven area of California is stupid at best. I guess there was no thought that there would be 11 million people eventually? Traffic on the freeways has gotten incredibly bad over the last 10 years. In the highest gas taxed state where people rely primarily on cars to get around, how much wider can they make the freeways in the midst of a budget crisis? Traffic will only get worse as people come flooding in to this crowded city, and the metro rail will only get you so far.

Taxes. We’re the most taxed state. A 7.3% sales tax is the highest for a state, followed by a 7% in 3 other states. Gas tax is the highest at $0.43. So where does the money go? We’re in a state budget crisis too? Now Arnold is proposing a 1 cent sales tax increase for 3 years, making us far superior in sucking the hardest. Good game, California, good game.

Neighbors. I don’t know my neighbors, and they seem like they don’t want to know me. Sound familiar? It might if you’re in Los Angeles. I remember growing up in my parents place in the 1980s on a nice section of the San Fernando Valley south of Ventura Blvd. in the hills. Everyone on our stretch of street knew each other. The neighborhood kids all played with each other, everyone knew the family’s names in the houses. Then in the 90’s, some people moved out of the houses, other unfamiliar faces moved in, didn’t say a word to anyone and became mentally grayed out like Paperboy. The sense of any community was lost in the 90’s for whatever reason, and will never be regained with the L.A. mentality.

The people. No one in L.A. raves about how awesome the general population is. It’s very diverse and very crowded, and you’ll run into all types which might distract you long enough from the stench of douchebags. The wanna-be rockstars and gangsters on Sunset, the high-brow d-list actors and actresses in Hollywood, the stuck-up hipster snobs in Silverlake, the suburban porn stars in the San Fernando Valley… I am still amazed at how many tourists want to visit Hollywood and Highland. I lived here all my life and have only been to my Dad’s star on the walk of fame 2 maybe 3 times.

The music scene. What music scene. Exactly. The only thing L.A. is good for in my opinion is when big acts come rolling through, a venue is only an hour away at most. If you’re an upcoming band you missed your chance in the 1970s and 80’s with the Doors/glam rock/GnR movement that rocked Sunset Strip up until Nirvana crushed your lipstick rocker dreams. If you want to play anywhere cool you better be prepared to sell tickets cause there’s a line of bands forming behind you wanting to play the same place cause they think they’re better than you. If you want to catch a show and don’t have a hookup, that’ll be $20 for parking, $10 for drinks, and don’t forget about the $4/gallon money wasted on gas sitting in that traffic into Hollywood. Oh and the bars close at 2am, but that’s no excuse for a good ol’ drunk driving arrest right?

Separation of class. The rich get richer and the poor… well, who cares about the poor right? The new middle class is slowly becoming the new poor, pushed out of neighborhoods as land value increases faster than the minimum wage, where republicans and old money horde their assets behind large gates on acres of land which separate their house from the sidewalk. It’s easy to disappear in L.A. where everyone is looking out for themselves. I often wonder why the weather is such a factor for people coming to live here. What’s so bad about San Diego?

Parks. Where’s all the fucking parks in L.A.? Parks are being traded for office buildings and housing developments, preservation of community is on the bottom everyone’s list in office.

Anyways, these are only a few of the points we talked about this morning. It’s enough to make me want to keep driving north on my way home and escape this sinking state.