If the worldwide desire to live here over recent decades is any indication — and people do vote with their feet — then Los Angeles County is nothing but a success story.
In 1950, 4 million people lived in the county. Now, 10 million do. It’s not by accident that we live in the largest county in the nation. The attractions have been obvious: The weather. The beaches and mountains. Great residential neighborhoods. Good places to work. The entertainment capital of the world.
So, what happened? Because the worst part of it, our former enveloping layers of smog, has improved remarkably over the years even as more people came.
But a malaise, a kind of pollution of its own, has settled in over Angelenos, according to a new survey of county residents about different aspects of life here, including the cost of living, education, environment and public safety. The poll is part of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, which has measured Los Angeles County residents’ quality of life satisfaction since 2016.
As our staffer Olga Grigoryants reports, the survey shows that eight years on, “satisfaction is the lowest ever for residents across Los Angeles County … On the issue of the cost of living, the overall rating countywide in 2016 was 50. This year it had tumbled down to 38.”
One of the great experts ever on everything Los Angeles County, longtime former county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the study at UCLA, says: “The thing that is driving the cost of living rating is the cost of housing … the No. 1 issue.”
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On perceptions of public safety, relationships between people, the economy, transit and traffic, health care, the environment and education, all the numbers were down or flat over last year. One telling fact: the one area where respondents expressed the most satisfaction, the only uptick, was “Your neighborhood,” which 69% of Angelenos are happy with.
Read the numbers and get a clue, local politicians. Make it easier to build new housing. Stop throwing money at homelessness and fix it. Crack down on crime on Metro. Cut red tape for businesses. Increase choice in public education. Stop grandstanding and get to work.