[quote=FlyerInHi]BG, compare Atlantic City to Vegas.
Compare California Beaches to the Jersey Shore.
Compare the lower tier cites in CA (like San Bernardo) to the same in Jersey.
The riff-raffs are all over in Jersey. Vegetation is overgrown, trash everywhere. Potholes… Maybe the sucky weather contributes to “the Jersey look”. But Jersey is not attractive.
I reside in Vegas for tax reasons and for investment reasons. Cap rates are better than CA. Thankfully, I can come and go anytime I want. I’m not bound to Vegas like all the miserable ex-Californians (lots of them in Vegas).[/quote]
Based upon your posts, I know you’re relatively mobile, brian. I’ve never been to NJ and I don’t watch TV … at all. I stopped watching it prior to when all these reality shows hit the airwaves (my kids watched them, though). So I haven’t seen any of that “Jersey Shore” stuff.
The cigarette smoke everywhere in Vegas alone would kill me off, quick. If I get out of my car at all there, it is to pull up into a gas bay of a service stn (where smoking is not allowed), put my credit card in, pump gas and promptly leave. My past experience inside truck stops and casinos in LV and also walking on the strip and dtn is the memory of cigarette and cigar smoke everywhere and people sitting on stools for hours upon hours smoking, drinking and playing slots at all hours of the day and night. This looks to be a pretty dejected existence for the downtrodden. The billboards in LV almost everywhere (banned in almost all CA coastal cities except for a very few fwy exits) are garish and disgusting looking as are the ticky-tacky flickering marquees on everything from the corner mom-and-pop store to the biggest “grandest” casinos in the country.
You also stated here that SoCal is “clean” in comparison to NJ and PA. Uhh, in my opinion, dtn SD is embarassing to me since it is touted as “America’s Finest City.” Nearly all zip codes in the City of SD (incl dtn 92101) are not only full of potholes but many of its residential streets are actually crumbling. Even in $1M++ neighborhoods! Some streets have sunk so low in dtn SD that a pedestrian walking off a curb could have to step down up to 18″ in some corners to cross the street. The storm drains have sunk perilously and I have sprained my ankle TWICE walking on sidewalks in dtn SD which were lifted due to tree roots (one patched with crumbling asphalt). Some sidewalk tree grates are full of holes and it is easy to get the heel of your dress shoe stuck in them, trip and fall and at the very least, break your shoe. If that’s all that happens, you’re lucky. The 90+ yo sidewalks in front of some of the biggest tourist draws and landmarks in dtn SD have so much gum stuck on them, you can hardly see the concrete. Many CA cities (and SD, in particular) have so much deferred maintenance to their infrastructure that in SD, the City Street Division just seems to move from one highest-priority issue to another (sinkholes/burst pipes resulting in street closure and sites which are currently the subject of City claims/injury lawsuits). That is about all they can do.
In addition, the freeways running through parts of LA, Orange, RIV and SB counties are severely “overtrucked” with bumpy, noisy pavement and road signs so full of soot that a motorist can’t even read them. There’s no way CalTRANS can keep up with it all! A lot of these SoCal areas with sh!tty, severely crowded freeways aren’t cheap to live in and so again, these road conditions are embarrassing for a state which presumably has the biggest budget in the nation! The “general appearance” of SoCal (to a visitor) undoubtedly leaves something to be desired, imo.
The infrastructure in Northern Cali is all fine. SF is ALWAYS a “work in progress” seven days per week … somewhere. The new bay bridge is magnificent! Even Smokestacked and Grain Elevatored Stockton has been significantly cleaned up over the past decade.
Yes, Nevada does have good roads and clean, new sidewalks (in most areas) but the general populace who reside there leave a lot to be desired, imho. Especially the ingrates who chose to “retire” there (for all I know, they could have lived their whole lives there). I couldn’t imagine a daily existence like the one they have. Never ever. Not in a million years. The typical “lifestyle” of LV residents has to be the most unhealthy lifestyle on the planet. And that’s without even taking into account the oppressive heat there 8+ months per year!
