CA-LA: People leaving county in droves (Largest population shift in US History)

Los Angeles Daily News ^ | 4/15/05 | Beth Barrett

[John Valentine]

(Largest population shift in US History)

The article doesn't say that, and even if this is large, it can't compare in pecentage terms to the settling of the West back in the 19th century.

What the article actually says is that this is the largest population shift in the country, implying that they are talking about population shifts going on right now.

Not to nitpick... The article is interesting and the comments germane....

[Mr. Mojo]

I lived in L.A. for around 35 years, but the only times I went to Riverside (other than driving through to get to Palm Desert) was to go to the old (and long gone) Riverside Raceway to see the great Can-Am races in the early 70s. ....and my lungs burned for about two days after the fact.

[Misterioso]

Beverly Hills and West Hollywood are incorporated cities, not part of Los Angeles.

[Mr. Mojo]

lol.....thanks for the reminder (as if I needed one ;)

[hookman]

[Arthalion]

Zoning laws prohibiting additional construction to preserve open space is a big reason people are moving further from the core in many cities. Is this also the case in LA?

Green belts? In LA? That's funny. The problem with LA is that it's simply out of room. They built over the entire basin, they built over the nearby surrounding valleys, they built up every canyon and on every ridge they could get a road to the top of.

The only places for them to build now are out in the Mojave desert and across the Grapevine into the southern Central Valley. If you go with the Mojave developments, you're paying $500K+ for an 1000 square foot cookie cutter with no yards (literally...they aren't allowed enough water for yards) in an area where 120 degree summer days are NORMAL. If you go with the Central Valley developments, you get a grueling two plus hour commute over a winding pass that regularly gets shut down due to weather...and that just gets you to the LA city limits. It may take another hour to get across town to your job.

There's just nowhere left to grow in LA, so the prices are skyrocketing as a result. The limitations are geographic (pesky mountain ranges), not political. The SF Bay Area has the same issue, by the way, which is why their market is so expensive as well.

[BurbankKarl]

They only gave me one .223 rd....I better make it count...

[BurbankKarl]

Open Ahmanson Ranch

>>>They built over the entire basin, they built over the nearby surrounding valleys,

[lainie]

I suppose it is the largest shift in Mexican history too! 190,000 immigrants into LA County IN ONE YEAR!

BUMP

I would not be surprised to hear the high desert (north county) communities start talk of secession from L.A. County again. It comes up every so often, but this time, there's an actual influx of commerce and people to support it. The housing costs are still rising up here. Gangs are coming up, too, though.

[lainie]

That is quite a collection of pictures!

[Polyxene]

About $50,000 in DFW area.

Same here in Cincinnati -- maybe less.

[BurbankKarl]

Edward Song Lee, front, died at the scene, and three of his friends are being interviewed by Los Angeles Police officers near the intersection of 3rd and Hobart Streets on the second night of the 1992 Los Angeles Riot. The youths had been pulled out of their vehicle after it came under fire upon approaching the intersection. The youths were responding to a plea of approaching looters call on the Radio Korea at the Kang-Suh Myon-Oak noodle shop restaurant.

[Arthalion]

Ahmanson Ranch isn't a valley, it's a canyon system and there's very little flat land to build on. It may be a huge chunk of land, but from what I saw the best designs that the developers could come up with only put 3000 homes on the entire property...a tiny drop in the bucket when weighed against southern Californias needs. Eliminating a park just to add a few thousand more houses to the fire and mudslide prone Santa Monica mountains just doesn't seem like a wise choice.

Maybe I should rephrase my original statement...Southern California is out of practical, useable land. It's technically possible to start building houses on piers out over the ocean too, but that doesn't make it safe or a wise investment.

[Southack]

"the 800 pound guerrilla sitting in the middle of the room that nobody talks about is ILLEGAl IMMIGRATION"

You've got to be kidding. For many posters on FR, that's the *only* thing being talked about.

[AmishDude]

Maybe the LAT is trying to explain away the drop in their circulation.

[BurbankKarl]

Lainie, these are the images that you didn't get on CNN during the riots....I remember listening to the whole thing start on the scanner from work...

California Market owner Richard Rhee returns fire at looters approaching his market in Koreatown, Los Angeles on the second day of the Los Angeles Riots.

This Korean-American volunteer showed up to help protect Korean-American owned businesses from the rioters.

[Scythian]

Californian's, coming to ruin a county near you ...

[missyme]

VENICE BEACH 2005 VENICE BEACH 1970

[BurbankKarl]

That is 3000 more houses than before....plus they just turned down that development on the north end of the SFV....

Thats okay, the CA taxpayers paid for Ahmanson's Ranch, part of the Gray Davis deficit.

[Southack]

"Young people can't afford to live anywhere anymore where they are most likely to find jobs."

What, you think that the rest of America is unemployed except for LA?! There are jobs all over, you just don't want to live anywhere else (and that's OK; it's a free country, after all).

And a lot of people agree with you, and are willing to compete with your wallet for where they all live.

The West Coast *is* a great place to live. Heck, it's got resort weather and vistas.

So it shouldn't surprise you that it's got resort housing prices and stratified living between the people who can afford to live large in resort areas from those who work to serve them.

Same thing happened to Cancun, too.