Significant Changes in Quality of Life
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12/2/2013
I have lived in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area for almost 38 years. Now I am an aging baby-boomer and have experienced a serious deterioration in the quality of life here over the last several years. Recently this area has experienced another critical mass which has had serious consequences.
Most seriously, this area has had a steady increase in both violent and property crime due to the effects of a two year long prison release program, imposed by the State Legislature on the entire state (AB109), one-third of whom have been released to Los Angeles County alone. This increase may not as yet be reflected in the latest crime statistics.
Los Angeles is suffering, in large part, from the effects of the Law of Diminishing Returns. This is due to the dramatic increase in population of both the city and county of Los Angeles, along with the sheer geographical size and distances one encounters in living in Southern California; torturous commutes along gridlocked freeways and surface streets, along with an increasing population density, resulting in discontinuation of once pleasurable activities.
Other contributing factors are an aging and deteriorating infrastructure, resulting in increasingly frequent power blackouts, poor and deteriorating streets, underground pipes bursting with significant water damage to streets and buildings: all areas which the city and county governments seem unwilling or powerless to adequately address.
Finally, social relationships have deteriorated as the resident population seems increasingly angry and unfriendly, and uninterested in forming and maintaining new relationships. This has resulted in a sense of increasing isolation and alienation among many social groups; especially those who are single (of any age group), the divorced, the widowed, senior citizens (who are effectively rendered invisible), and those who are among the Lesbian and gay population (from adolescents to seniors).
In reviewing your list of the most stressful cities to live in, I believe it would be helpful to add a column of the measure of use of other drugs (e.g. marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, designer drugs) which may be obtained from CDC or SAMSHA, as well as a column measuring overall broad measures of general physical health, community spirit, and a column measuring one's sense of belonging.
I believe the above are all indices that will affect the level of stress an individual will experience in any city.
Thank you for the opportunity to present these comments.
GWB7 | Los Angeles, CA