Excellent Cultural and Recreational Opportunities - 12/20/2006

Santa Monica has it all--temperate temperatures, sun, excellent shopping, beaches, restaurants, but it also has huge opportunities for many cultural experiences of all kinds and excellent outdoor recreation. You name it hiking, roller blading, volleyball, cycling, jogging, weightlifting, walking. It is all available year round. 365 days of the best weather in which to enjoy it all culture and recreation. You can also do so many things all in one day. A huge variety and easy access!

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Ocean Park neighborhood south of Pico becoming muc - 9/5/2006

After selling a huge old home near downtown Portland, Oregon, three years ago and purchasing a small condo in the Ocean Park area of Santa Monica, every day is a reminder how much I love the glorious sunshine and blue sky, the tropical plants and colorful flowers in bloom all year round and especially the closeness to miles of beautiful beaches. The Ocean Park area has been beautified a lot in the past three years and with it's easy access (by a short walk) to the beach, many popular coffee shops, one of a kind boutiques and restaurants.... it is in many ways now considered more desirable than the area north of Wilshire (which doesn't have walking access to the beach because of the PCH highway and Palisades cliffs preventing direct access). My only complaint is: not enough is being done to take care of the homeless problem throughout all of Santa Monica. The city is always working on the issue but not quickly enough. Since it is so easy to live outside all year around, it's understandable why there are so many homeless. I think they should be picked up and taken to a community set up in an area that is much less populated, east or north of here. They could be given counseling and art therapy to help them with the emotional problems which are the cause their inability to cope in this fast-paced world which judges people mainly by their ability to earn lots of money. They could be expected then to help in the running of their own community....learning to grow, prepare, serve food....keep their living spaces clean and maintained....and eventually...through their own artistic expression, even beautified. This would provide these pour wounded souls with a sense of pride and dignity. Cottage industries could be started where they could use skills to make things that could be sold to make an income. Why do we send so much money to other countries when people right under our noses need our help so much? Instead of looking away and hiding in big McMansions with gated protection and sending money to other parts of the world, I have used my artistic/organizational skills to turn a small condo into a very attractive livable space which I can afford as a self-employed artist while being able to enjoy my short walk to a beautiful beach and to take advantage of the fun dining and shopping here.

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I love LA - 2/26/2006

I love LA, except for the cost. I am a single mom raising a teenage daughter, on an income that barely covers our needs. I am a professional and love what I do. However, in this economy I see my city's infrastructure spiraling down. We have expensive new developments for the wealthy, ($250,000 income a year and up to the billions)but for the rest of us our homes are shrinking and harder to keep up. That said, I love the weather, the people, the diversity of geography and cultures. I don't want to leave. But as I age, I need to think about the best place to retire.

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Beautiful - if they'd do something about the homel - 1/30/2006

I lived here for two years. The place is an absolute paradise except for two things (a) homeless everywhere, peeing on everything and constantly begging for money and (b) there are NO cheap stores. No Wal-Mart, Target, anything reasonable. There is one dollar store in the bad part of town and that's it. If you're going to live there, you want to be north of Wilshire - and plan on heading into the Valley to do your shopping if you don't want to pay an arm and two legs for things like toilet paper. Other than that, the climate is perfect, the north end of the city is beyond beautiful and safe and the public schools are so good even the celebrities' kids go there. Plenty of good jobs. High rent, but that's SoCal.

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