Santa Barbara is a quaint place. But it has no major interstate, no large international airport, no big companies… a place where rich old people live. Boring!
Some people like to live in a place like that, though. Not everyone wants to live in NYC, London, or Singapore.
Nothing wrong with the lack of big companies — smaller companies and universities tend to be less horrible to work for anyway. I wouldn’t mind living in a Santa Cruz, S.L.O., or Santa Barbara honestly, but I wouldn’t want it to change to a megalopolis.
All of the master-planned communities that I’ve seen have ended up being poor simulacra of vibrant urban neighborhoods. Lots of ticky-tacky chain businesses on the ground floors, little that’s fun or interesting.
I’d sooner live somewhere like North Park, Golden Hill, the beach cities, or even SESD, all of which grew organically versus being built by the same Stepford developer.
