We give up...we're out.
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7/11/2006
My wife and I are born and raised in San Jose, but we just don't want to perpetually struggle like this any more. We're moving out of state. We both have pretty good jobs in terms of salary, but we still get our financial butts kicked here. We have trouble finding free time to enjoy the nice weather with the number of hours we put in at work to afford our shoebox of a condo that we own. San Jose has problems keeping infrastructure employed (teachers, police, etc.) because it's just too darn expensive. Despite what some may say, for the ninth most populated city in the US, public transportation is pathetic. It's disjointed (systems don't really work together), expensive, and not clean (graffitti riddled) or user-friendly. If you want diversity, SJ now has more diversity than you could ever hope for. All of our friends and most family have already left as has the sense of community here. Add in what is rapidly becoming urban sprawl the likes of Los Angeles in its heyday (city planning cannot refuse any building permits because they make so much $$$ on property taxes), and you have one VERY congested, insanely expensive, poorly managed city. Every inch of open space is being stuffed by the blight of dense development. From what I've seen at my job and from what I've heard from others, people have been leaving Silicon Valley for other states by the droves in the last year...if you're coming to SJ...good luck! Sorry.
Jason | San Jose, CA