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Yet some of the most desirable areas in San Diego are ones that are walkable, and not dependent on some G-d forsaken rolling prison of glass and steel to so much as buy t.p. to wipe your bottom. Funny that wealthier people in the US tend to shy away from cage-dependent neighborhoods. Why else would Manhattan, Brooklyn, Cambridge, waterfront Chicago, San Francisco, etc be so desirable, as reflected in their sale prices?

FlyerInHI: San Diego has a more pleasant climate six months out of the year. Less hot, humid, and rainy in summer. The great benefit is that the A/C is natural. If it had winters that weren’t only fit for weaklings, I’d consider moving there.

flu: Define “lesser values”, please. Is working for some big-pig firm like Qualcomm, coming in to work every morning wanting to smack your boss, staying there for 10-11 hours a day, and getting fired at 40 because you’re “out of date” really the pinnacle of achievement? At least most of the blue-collar folks I know who started their own small businesses are still working past 40 and doing decently well.

Frankly, I’d rather see my kids end up as plumbers or electrical contractors than as some mid-level schnook working for Qualcomm or even Google. At least they’re more likely to own a business that way and not be beholden to some shitheel manager.

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NJ top schools are more diverse than equivalent top schools in the San Diego area. No crapola like Mello Roos, where a newly-built community can buy itself its own gated school.

I went to a highly-rated high school in NJ, but shared a school with children of immigrants who barely spoke English, children of blue-collar workers, as well as children of wealthier families. Not all families places as high of a value on education, but the diversity was actually a good experience in and of itself.

There isn’t as much economic self-segregation in NJ as there is in San Diego. Thankfully!

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FlyerInHI: do you realize that a lot of people who live in NJ commute more locally, not always into the city?

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Cheap NJ with decent schools can be closer than the North County suburbs are to San Diego. As far as knowing that old money has money, you don’t know, unless you know them 🙂 But they’re often the people living in the same house they bought 30 years ago, driving an older car that they bought for cash. Not so different from bearishgurl’s friends in Chula Vista.

The stress survey you posted is pretty suspect, BTW. It ranks NYC near the top, but its nearby suburban counties near the bottom. I think New Yorkers complain more, but people from the area aren’t actually all that stressed.

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Ah. Mendham. Not one of the finest parts of NJ. Fake-rural, full of richy-rich snobs, without having particularly easy access to NYC or really being walkable. Not to mention being a big speed trap. Beware. The 25 mph sign around a bend on Rte. 24 usually has a cop about six inches from the other side of it, waiting eagerly…

Yeah, I can see how you hated life in NJ!

As far as the people, the only difference is that when people from the Northeast are annoyed at something, they vent. Loudly. They don’t pretend to make nice while getting ready to backstab you as much. I find the honesty refreashing.

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It’s not a question of objectivity. It’s a question of fact. There are very few places in the US where kids are given the level of freedom that they have in the rest of the world. NJ comes pretty close, with local (decentralized) schools and a high foreign population (less paranoia due to being brainwashed by the American media from birth). There’s also a lot of old money that’s down-to-earth rather than being flashy and in your face like in CA (or even NYC).

Little of the Californian BS about schools, either. If you move into a well-run town, you’ll have good schools, and you can generally rent something OK for cheaper than in San Diego. It doesn’t matter where you live in town — there’s generally one high school and one district only, though grade schools might be different.

Foreign immigration to the East Coast is still pretty big as well. So people do come there as well as the West Coast to remake themselves. If anything, a mixture of different nationalities is more interesting than Midwestern transplants. (And yes, I know that California has a lot of diversity, but at this point, I’m taking the piss.)

There’s plenty of low-class to go around on the West Coast as well. Come to think of it, your home base of Vegas seems to have thrived on lack of class and turned it into a profit center.

Don’t get me wrong: I love both coasts. But I can understand the people who are happiest near where they grew up and don’t want to end up in some Rust Belt rathole for years on end.

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I have to say your negative attitude is a bit of a downer.

Thing is, I actually like NJ. Grew up there, and the state is quite a bit of fun. Interesting people, lots of diversity in food and culture, close to the best city in the US. Good beaches, hiking in the northwestern part. In many ways, it’s like a small California, and sorry you didn’t appreciate it. If you lived in the right town, your kids actually might have been happier than in California. Much less paranoia, no busing in some towns, so kids get to walk to school and hang out after hours rather than being tied to a rigid, car-based schedule.

It’s not some forsaken rust-belt town 200 miles from the nearest non-awful place.

As far as my attitude, it’s not negative. It’s anti-corporate and generally anti-authority. Some people accept the BS that “society” asks of them with a smile. I choose not to, or at least do so with a frown and a mouth full of spittle at the ready.

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What’s wrong with just living in an enjoyable environment instead of sacrificing for a “career” that mostly benefits those far above you in the corporate chain? Maybe they get it better than people who are willing to slave and live in forsaken pestholes in order to fluff their resume. Only to be let go with a week’s notice when the corporation restructures.

You’re only young once, and some rotting, has-been city in Ohio isn’t the place for it.

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Water that warm can be dangerous unless you add a lot of chlorine. If you want to be terrified, read about naegleria fowleri — it’s an ameoba that lives in warm, stagnant water and causes an incurable meningitis.

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For what it’s worth, DC Capitol cops are generally more professional and better-trained than the average city/town cop. (For one thing, they have to deal with tourists, so they need some level of public relations/social skill.)

There was a funny incident this winter. For some reason, someone decided to direct the Capitol Police to enforce an old ban on sledding down Capitol Hill. People came in protest and started sledding anyway. No one ended up being tased or beaten up, and now Congress is likely to lift the ban. Some people know how to pick their battles versus resorting to tasers, fists, and billy clubs within five minutes.

I suspect even NYPD wouldn’t resort to the kind of crazy violence observed in the incident in Santa Monica. Slap a parking ticket on the car (no ID needed, just a plate #) if it’s parked during “no parking” hours and move on.

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ltsdd — Hopefully, as more cops get prosecuted for their crimes and as bystanders’ mobile phone videos become more common, the bad cops will be given pause before violently enforcing chickenfeed laws and beating people for not showing enough “respect.” (I thought only the Mafia did that.)

It’s interesting — when I was in a former police state (Poland) a few years ago, I saw someone in an all out screaming match with a traffic cop. After a few minutes, everyone calmed down and went their own way. No one had their face broken or was taken for a “rough ride.” Why does violence and abuse have to be the first resort in this country, not the last? Is it part of the “Western hero” mentality — ride into town, guns out, to clean things up

I don’t dislike all cops. Far from it. But there’s no excuse for being given a public trust and using it as an excuse to hurt people or kill them.

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And slamming someone’s head against concrete for exercising his legal rights isn’t disgusting? The man could have been easily killed for charging his car during legal park hours and refusing to show papers. My family came to the US to escape a police state, not live in one. Forgive me for being a bit irate and wishing bad karma upon those who spread it.

I don’t see what the cop did as a valid law enforcement activity. That would have been “Park’s closing in ten minutes, sir.” Asking for ID and making him move BEFORE closing time, then resorting to violence when he didn’t immediately comply made the cop no better than a mugger or rapist. “Give me your wallet or I break your face.” Same mentality, except made worse since there’s public trust involved.

Note that the DA isn’t touching this one with a ten-foot pole. No charges are being filed against the victim:

http://smdp.com/charges-man-pepper-sprayed-park/147738

Apparently, there’s also a video of him being approached a full 30 minutes before closing time:

Man pepper-sprayed, arrested in Santa Monica park won’t face charges

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.

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scaredyclassic — I hope the Santa Monica “hero” gets hit by a bus and ends up a quadriplegic, sucking his supper through a straw. One less violent asshole on the streets, telling people what to do. And hope the victim ends up owning part of the city of Santa Monica, so to speak.

What likely happened was that he saw a Black guy (yep, victim was Black, big surprise) and ass-u-me-d that he was likely up to no good. The park closing in 5 min was just an excuse to check his papers and run him for warrants. If this is appropriate behavior, why don’t they just stop everyone and run them for warrants? That would get the violent felons off the street, per CAr’s line of thinking, so it must be a good idea. Right? Right.

Thing is, cop brutality is dependent on compliance of the public. If everyone refused to show ID to every truffle-sniffer who asked, they couldn’t beat everyone up. Fundamentally, what we need is a less law-abiding society who doesn’t see cops as post-9/11 heroes, just as government functionaries. No better or worse than armed DMV employees. The problem is that 95% of the public has been conditioned to see them as heroes, so they’ve become uppity. Spoiled and used to obsequious respect from the “law abiding” public.

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Not really — purpose of government is to work for the people, not be a money-making machine.

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