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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCalifornia: More Than One-Third of Bay Area Residents Ready to Leave
CA: More Than One-Third of Bay Area Residents Ready to Leave
George Avalos On May 3, 2016
Source: McClatchy
May 02--More than one-third of Bay Area residents say they are ready to leave in the next few years, citing high housing costs and traffic as the region's biggest problems, according to a poll released Monday.
Of the 1,000 people polled by the Bay Area Council, 34 percent said they are considering leaving. Those who have lived here five years or less are the most likely to want to leave.
"This is our canary in a coal mine," said Jim Wunderman, president of the Bay Area Council. "Residents are screaming for solutions."
In another grim result, the number of residents who believe the region is on the wrong track has increased sharply in the past year, the poll found.
This year's poll found that 40 percent of respondents felt the Bay Area was on the wrong track, while 40 percent felt it was headed in the right direction. Just one year ago, only 28 percent felt the Bay Area was on the wrong track, and 55 percent thought it was headed in the right direction. ................(more)
http://www.masstransitmag.com/news/12202538/one-third-of-bay-area-residents-hope-to-leave-soon-poll-finds
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)And I would think most folks feel they are not gettting their money's worth.
It's the same way in CT. It's so expensive, and folks are being taxed to death. CT is an economic mess.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)Real estate is cheap and the sky's the limit.
marmar
(77,109 posts)1939
(1,683 posts)Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)...and the goddamned governor's office just poisoned an entire city.
I've had the benefit of living in CT, CA, and MI. There are pros and cons to each state, and the cons are likely to drive you nuts no matter where you choose to live.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)And don't get me wrong, I do enjoy living in Michigan. But as someone actually did come to Michigan from California (and to California from the Connecticut), I merely think it important to note the price you might pay for the money you theoretically save. Lack of funding is a serious problem for the state's infrastructure, which might be problematic for people with kids, the elderly, or people used to having their streets plowed when it snows.
CentralCoaster
(1,163 posts)Housing costs and traffic: two symptoms of the same problem. If affordable housing was available, commuting would drop to an extent that traffic would be bearable.
Why can't some employers create jobs in the cities where housing is more affordable? Why do we continue to build freeways to support this madness called suburbia when the most livable cities have streetcars and mixed use zoning and walkable neighborhoods?
Another concept that the employers could try is to provide housing to employees on site or nearby.
In some cases, "campuses" could blend apartment life with amenities and the commute would be across the green, in other cases for more permanent housing, condominiums or townhomes adjacent to company sites could be owned and operated by the employer or employer consortium for sale (or rent) to employees.
Why are these things not done?
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)oddly enough, Mountain View is less than thrilled, perhaps because thanks to Prop 13, housing doesn't generate as much revenue as commercial property.
http://www.mv-voice.com/news/2012/07/06/council-may-kill-google-housing-in-general-plan-vote-tuesday
CentralCoaster
(1,163 posts)It must be killing developers that so much real estate is left to affordable housing occupied by people of color.
Sigh.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)One company, Equity, has bought up more than 80 percent of all the rental units in EPA.
Baobab
(4,667 posts)If so, lots of urban dwellers could be displaced. With nowhere for them to go. Many (most?) don't even drive.
1939
(1,683 posts)How did that work before?
CentralCoaster
(1,163 posts)I'm not concerned if they start providing a housing option.
And, as if indebtedness to mortgage lenders and the automobile and oil industry is freedom.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)but then they'd see what a congestion-free Bay Area would be like and come flooding back.
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)But you can buy a house for a price of a low-scale Mercedes. Even the suburbs are pretty affordable.
Oh, and we have killer restaurants. And a downtown that's coming back.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)Only undefeated team in the playoffs so far.
Browns and Indians . . . yep, always years away from contending.
StarTrombone
(188 posts)The Phoenix metro area had the sixth largest growth nationwide.
Tom Rex with Arizona State Universitys W.P. Carey School of Business said this population increase isnt as large as its been in the past. He says the key industries driving the states economy are different now than they were in the early 1990s.
Theres been some shift towards a broader dispersion of basic industries in particular service industries instead of the traditionally it was manufacturing, agriculture, mining, and tourism, Rex said.
The Census also reports the Tucson metro area has more than 1 million residents
http://kjzz.org/content/118622/census-maricopa-county-2nd-fastest-growing-county-us
I'll tell you where that wall needs to be built
maxsolomon
(33,449 posts)and oppressive heat, that's brilliant planning
StarTrombone
(188 posts)And those damned California cars keep showing up here.
And talk about obsequious, annoying and arrogant people,
If I hear "that's not how we did it in California" one more time I may go off on someone.
maxsolomon
(33,449 posts)hang in there
KansDem
(28,498 posts)Yet, we're selling huge tracts of land to the Saudis--
Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries are scooping up farmland in drought-afflicted regions of the U.S. Southwest, and that has some people in California and Arizona seeing red.
Saudi Arabia grows alfalfa hay in both states for shipment back to its domestic dairy herds. In another real-life example of the world's interconnected economy, the Saudis increasingly look to produce animal feed overseas in order to save water in their own territory, most of which is desert.
Privately held Fondomonte California on Sunday announced that it bought 1,790 acres of farmland in Blythe, California an agricultural town along the Colorado River for nearly $32 million. Two years ago, Fondomont's parent company, Saudi food giant Almarai, purchased another 10,000 acres of farmland about 50 miles away in Vicksburg, Arizona, for around $48 million.
But not everyone likes the trend. The alfalfa exports are tantamount to "exporting water," because in Saudi Arabia, "they have decided that it's better to bring feed in rather than to empty their water reserves," said Keith Murfield, CEO of United Dairymen of Arizona, a Tempe-based dairy cooperative whose members also buy alfalfa. "This will continue unless there's regulations put on it."
In a statement announcing the California farmland purchase, the Saudi company said the deal "forms part of Almarai's continuous efforts to improve and secure its supply of the highest quality alfalfa hay from outside the (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) to support its dairy business. It is also in line with the Saudi government direction toward conserving local resources."
--more--
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/15/saudi-arabia-buying-up-farmland-in-us-southwest.html
maxsolomon
(33,449 posts)Preznit Trump will fix that in a jiffy!
we're doomed...
safeinOhio
(32,744 posts)Not so much.
Lots of deals in Flint.
bluedigger
(17,088 posts)Put up or shut up.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Bye! I'm sure many of them are the reason for the wrong track in the first place.
clarice
(5,504 posts)RadiationTherapy
(5,818 posts)and flip these houses for a sweet margin! Then, after increasing the local housing market prices, I can return to my already insulated neighborhood!
Thanks for the heads up!
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)Crappy jobs, low pay, punishing rents, no end in sight for static traffic, wondrous property taxes (I have the cheapest in my hood -- $6,000+).
scscholar
(2,902 posts)to provide adequate services, of course people want to leave.
WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)We've been hemorrhaging residents for years and now the state of Illinois tops the country. Chicago is about to implode as its building bubble will burst soon or sooner. Every year we are adding luxury apartments at mind boggling rates, 2000 in 2014, 2500 in 2015 and close to 5000 in 2016. No one is talking about it, either. Every day there's a mass shooting and Rahm races to a camera to announce the next real estate deal he cut with his billionaire constituents.
Prism
(5,815 posts)I have never seen a system so ill-planned, pointless, and expensive.
If people want to know how Uber took off, just glance at San Francisco's transportation network. Bart does not go far enough, does not run often enough, and I still find no overnight service in a major American city absolutely boggling. Muni is awesome - if you want to spend 2 hours going anywhere at all on some days.
It's a total nonstarter, which is why I own a car (well, that and rainy season).
After the 1989 quake, they demolished major transportation arteries and never adequately replaced them.
And whenever they're asked about it, they always say, "Well, we don't want to encourage more driving!" Sigh, these people.
And that doesn't even get me started on who the fuck designed these roads?!
Driving around, it is absolutely baffling to me what the engineers were thinking. "Hey, what if we devised a system where people entering the freeway had to immediately and panickedly cross five lanes of traffic to get where they're going? Oh oh! And let's install this moronic fucking approach for the entire length of Oakland and San Francisco!"
And then they wonder why there's congestion. If someone sneezes on I-80, welp, there's a 45 min delay. One fender bender (and god help you if it's anywhere near the toll plaza) and you can kiss two hours of your life goodbye.
And that's not even addressing the constant Bart rate increases where the working classes who can't afford to live in the city are repeatedly kicked in the crotch for daring to have jobs across the Bay. The nerve of those plebs.
I could rant all day. Every time I go home to Chicago and need to drive, I just sigh happily. Even heavy traffic there is totally bearable.
alittlelark
(18,890 posts)Not looking back.
Initech
(100,129 posts)How are companies that are based in San Francisco going to survive if their employees can't pay their basic living expense