Reviews & Comments
Texas, TX
Red State/Blue State Crap -
3/18/2007I wish people would get away from these false labels of Republican and Democrat. I know many fiscally conservative Democrats and the current Republican administration is a fiscal disaster. The military generally does better under a democratic administration,ask the service people at Walter Reed! Most people are in the great center. I have liberal Republican friends and conservative Democratic friends. These labels are false. If you take a Republican from Hawaii,Rhode Island, or California chances are they are going to be more liberal than a Democrat from Idaho or Utah. So instead of these labels why not talk about true quality of life issues like crime, pollution, traffic, and cost of living. We are all Americans and for those of you that take the trouble to vote, Republican or Democrat, at least you care enough to get involve in the process. (I think both parties have been bought out by special interest PACS, and it is time for more choice).
Portland, OR
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly -
6/21/2006I lived in Portland for 7 years, and then returned home to California. There are many great things about Portland. They really lead the pack when it comes to urban planning, transit, and the environment. I found the economy there a inch deep and a mile wide. You better come with some cash because the home prices are more like California, but without the high salaries. In Portland we, my partner and I, were able to have a wonderful lifestyle because we bought a fourplex with our California equity and lived below our means. But I can see with the low salaries there that buying a place would be tough. I couldn't believe how bad the salaries were until I actually saw that fast food places were paying more than most office jobs, and you got a uniform and free french fries. The only reason we returned to California was the recession down there...home prices were actually cheaper than Oregon. We bought a home in Palm Desert, with a guest house, huge swimming pool, half acre in a classy neighborhood for $174k in 1997 after selling our place in Portland for $600k. But now the prices here have gone nuts, so we will stay here and enjoy our debt free lifestyle and we made almost $150k last year and get have three months off in the summer, try doing that in the restaurant business in Oregon. As for all the anti outsider business, I would lavish love on all the outsiders when I worked in Portland restaurants because they wouldn't order a glass of water with lemon and leave a 10% tip. The weather does suck there but we just went with it and hiked or went skiing, and if the fog was laying in the valley you can go to the coast and get some sun. No place is perfect and if you are not a happy person inside chances are wherever you go you will focus on the negative things in life. Like here in the desert it is 108 degrees but since we don't have to work in the summer we head to the mountains which are only 20 minutes away and or to the airport and go to our white trash villa with wheels in the South of France....
San Diego, CA
One of the Lowest Quality of Living in the United -
6/20/2006San Diego has polluted air, water, and more trash than a third world city. Drive along any major artery here and you will see so much trash that you will think you are in a third world country. They still dump raw sewage into the ocean four miles off Point Loma, most cities do a three step process to treat sewage and San Diego only does one...it removes solid waste and dumps the rest in the ocean. They have invested so little in the infrastructure that traffic is a nightmare. And the best part is you get to pay some of the highest prices for housing in the United States. The city is the fifth largest in the country with a terrible mass transit system. I grew up here and left in 1978 after college because I saw the writing on the wall. What do you expect when developers control city government. Instead of planning for growth they packed more people in without decent infrastructure. But yes the weather is beautiful, but mankind has trashed the area and continues to do so. The next time you are there look east to the mountains and see the thick brown layer of smog or go to the beach and enjoy the "Do Not Swim" polluted waters. Or see how they solve traffic gridlock, by building more lanes on the already wide freeways only to have a bottleneck somewhere else down the road.Right after the big Cedar fire the city voted down providing funds to improve fire protection services, which is typical of the Republican mantra of low taxes at any price, even though the problems just grow and you end up spending more in the future for a problems that has grown out of control.To me San Diego is a view into the future and the results of wasteful living and lack of planning for the future. Do you really think we can all get into a gas guzzling SUV and drive to work without any reprecussions?
Palm Desert, CA
It's A Dry Heat Except in August! -
6/20/2006We have 360 days of sunshine a year and for 9 months the weather is perfect. In June and July we have hot and dry conditions. In August we have monsoons that come up from the Gulf of Mexico. For example today, June 20th, we will have a high of 106 with humidity at 4%. So you have wonderful 80 temps until noon and then you go in and take a siesta and then when the sunsets you head to the pool. The nice thing about living here is you never have to leave Palm Desert for anything, they have every service, store, or restaurant you can think of. Also the city always runs a surplus and ends up putting millions away for a reserve. This is due to the fact that all the shopping for the valley is here in Palm Desert, plus the large hotels, and we get a share of the sales tax.