[quote=no_such_reality]You realize it takes close to an hour to cross Irvine at rush hour? That the 405 and 5 southbound traffic out of southbay and east LA is heavier than the traffic going into LA?

A job in downtown LA will take me about an hour to commute to. A job in the UCI/Newport area will take close to the same. One iis easily less than half the distance of the other.

Apparently the trivial solution is to sell my hell suburban place and move to Corona del Mar or Westside. Although coworkers from the west side have told me plenty of horror stories about taking an hour to get five miles. CDM is great, takes a half an hour to get out of it though so hopefully I work in about a three mile radius.

But let’s not let the reality of 18 million people wanting lives intrude on our anti development rants.[/quote]

Well, I’ve been busy on and off reading over (and investigating) Shoveler’s links of new development and proposed new development in the Southland and my first reaction was, “OMG, delusion reigns!”

I agree with everything you’re saying, NSR. On Friday afternoon, June 30, it took me 5.5 hours to go 166 miles across the southland to get home. That’s a record for me. I totally agree about the gridlock in the OC, both in the east and west side. This is all the more reason that a LA/OC worker bee shouldn’t be freeway dependent if at all possible. Or have multiple alternate routes scoped out. It also helps to live less than 15 miles from work (<=8 is much more doable on a daily basis. I'm not the only one opposed to any more growth. Most CA city/county officials (the ones that cast their votes on zoning, permit requests and proposed subdivision development) have learned their lessons the hard way and are now opposed to new subdivision development as well. Every single extra police and fire personnel that has to be hired for new, exurban police/fire stations has to be paid for periodic overtime and budgeted for pension contributions. Mello-Roos bonds only cover the cost of building the public infrastructure itself. It does NOT cover the compensation of the humans who will be stationed inside it. These extra salaries and pension contributions caused massive layoffs in all city/county depts in recent years when their property tax proceeds dwindled. This was just 1-3 years after hiring hundreds of new workers in jurisdictions where too many subdivision permits were approved during the "boom times." This happened in Chula Vista and many other cities in CA and heavily contributed to the City of San Bernardino's BK filing. Cities/counties must be assured of being able to pay new employees going forward to adequately staff services for the proposed new population before they will commit to new (outlying) subdivision permits (assuming there is any land left for subdivisions).