Yes, a tragedy. I love CA but could no longer live there after 1994. Well,maybe in Mendocino, but that’s a difficult place for reasons other than illegals. Now stuck in the far less beautiful state of WA, relegated to dreaming of the “land I love.”
I feel lucky that I raised my kids in CA when it was beautiful, when their public high school was ranked 8th in the nation and when it was safe to let them go to the beach for bonfires with their friends after dark.. Most assuredly CA has lost it’s ranking, it’s safety factor, it’s thriving economy.
I remember that California well. I was born there in in '53 and only left in 2005. If it weren't for our children, my wife and I probably would have tried to hold on, but I felt we had no right to choose California's awful future for them.