Colorado Dreamin'
Let me say straight away that I love California. I have never been happier anywhere else, and I am just plain not leaving. The trend for Boalt grads seems to be to stick around as well, which people back east can never seem to understand. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "Well, you shouldn't go to Berkeley, because they don't put people anywhere besides California," when I was deciding whether to come out here. Berkeley always claimed that was simply because most of its grads liked it here. How gratifying it was to find out that was true.
It made me all the more sad, then, to read this article proclaiming the death of the California Dream. It seems people are leaving the state at a more rapid pace than people are entering it, thanks largely to failing schools, dilapidated urban centers, and high housing prices. (The article also cites high rates of immigration as a reason to leave, with which I strongly take issue.) I think the whole piece is a little overblown. Nonetheless, when we stand to lose a congressional seat over this, it definitely seems worth talking about. What do you guys think? Are you planning to leave? Why?
It made me all the more sad, then, to read this article proclaiming the death of the California Dream. It seems people are leaving the state at a more rapid pace than people are entering it, thanks largely to failing schools, dilapidated urban centers, and high housing prices. (The article also cites high rates of immigration as a reason to leave, with which I strongly take issue.) I think the whole piece is a little overblown. Nonetheless, when we stand to lose a congressional seat over this, it definitely seems worth talking about. What do you guys think? Are you planning to leave? Why?
posted by Dan at 10:10 AM
21 Comments:
Maybe if I had kids and needed to consider schools and housing costs right now. In the meantime, there's nothing that can tear me away from the laid back lifestyle, gorgeous terrain, and nice weather.
I'm leaving. Californians are weirdos.
I'm planning to leave after 5-7 years. California is a great place (just ask any Californian -- they'll love to fill you in) but it's not the greatest place.
I miss the motherland, bro!
I-Da-Ho?
While I have a torrid love affair with the serene beauty of Northern Idaho, I'm a Californian for life. Maybe if Idaho had no snow, more sun, and was coastally located with more progressive politics, I'd go back.
As far as the article goes... anytime an article is featured on drudge, it's worth ignoring.
Who Da Ho?
Never leaving because there is no state that is worth taking the bar exam again for.
You need to think of the exodus positively--you'll be able to afford a house here someday if enough people leave. Perhaps the suburban sprawl will stop. Perhaps traffic will get better... I know, I can dream.
Having elected to spend many years on the east coast before returning to the bay area, I have no intention of leaving again. Been there, done that.
I remember about 15 years ago, when I was in middle school, or maybe early high school, reading in school about how California was falling apart, and people were leaving in droves, and it was being taking over by illegal immigrants, and my young head hurt thinking about how terrible my home state would soon become.
Point being, people love to claim the sky is falling, and I doubt that is going to change anytime soon. Personally, I'll be watching it fall on the beach while drinking a daquiri.
I can't get out of this state fast enough.
In middle school, my midwestern geography teacher told me that California was going to fall into the ocean after the Big One hit. So no need to worry about this after all.
4:55, I think Kurt Russell predicted the same thing.
I'm leaving. There's better legal work elsewhere. California's a beautiful state, but I'm moving on for a bit. That said, I might come back if I don't find what I'm looking for.
4:46, you took the words out of my mouth. I am literally counting the days until I get out of here. Fortunately I'm a 3L, so it's not much longer.
Two words: Prop 13. CA has too many empty nesters who keep their houses, driving up the cost of living for young families and undermining property taxes for schools. SCOTUS did a real number on CA by not striking Prop 13 as unconstitutional.
Prop 13 also destroyed any hope for real property tax revisions. The people that buy houses have to pay extremely high rates to compensate for people that sit on their house (usually in a socially ineffcient location) for decades.
See, e.g., the house I'm currently in, which pays $600 in taxes per YEAR. It would jump to around 7k if the house were sold. Try making a state budget around that kind of freakish policy.
I've found that the living in Texas is good. No state income tax, friendly people, tons of legal work, no code pink. The list goes on. It's getting harder to envision coming back.
I really don't understand what people don't like about California. It has great weather, culture, abundant and diverse natural beauty, and friendly residents. Although the state government is going down the toilet, it really doesn't impact people's daily lives (unless you're looking for a good public school system or buying a house, and I doubt too many law students are thinking about that right now.) By contrast, most of the rest of the country has terrible weather (freezing winters and/or sweltering summers) and not nearly the same opportunities for doing outdoor stuff. Lots of places on the east coast have a frenetic pace of life and residents who range from surly (NYC) to downright unfriendly (DC). Most of the midwest is a cultural wasteland. The South is too conservative.
California seems to have it all. I love it here.
So the state is good "unless you're looking for a good public school system or buying a house." Gosh, while you're in your early 20's such things seem so bourgeois. But a lot of people have longer-term things in mind than nice weather and drinking on a beach. Also, Californians have plenty of their own neuroses which are hard to put up with, even if you agree on politics.
I think the state has to realize that it isn't actually paradise, and most of us know that--even those who genuinely like the place. The state just can't expect to continue to be a magnet for people, ideas and wealth if it remains so dysfunctional.
These themes are old. Maybe I'm the only Boaltie who loves Woody Guthrie but if you are interested, here is a Library of Congress recording of Woody describing the thoughts and dreams of who migrated to California during the dust bowl.
"It has great weather, culture, abundant and diverse natural beauty, and friendly residents."
These are all features of the state that most Californians do not get to enjoy because they have to work long hours to afford their dumpy housing. Lawyers certainly are no exception (except maybe their housing is a little better). California is best for the idle rich.
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