Why Stay? Because L.A. Is One of a Kind

I am a second-generation native Angeleno who remembers being able to leave the doors unlocked, knowing our neighbors well, children being able to walk to and from school without fear, clean streets (unfortunately the air has always been dirty), no graffiti, traffic at a minimum, no homeless sleeping on the sidewalk and panhandling, people being courteous on the road, being able to understand the language spoken around you, little crime or violence.

Then we became overrun, first by the East Coast refugees seeking stardom and better weather, all the while complaining that L.A. had no culture. Now we are being overrun by immigrants from foreign countries bringing with them a host of problems.

California, especially L.A., is rapidly becoming a Third World country with all the Third World problems. The only people who seem to like it here are the very rich, the stage-struck, the very young and the foreigners.

MERYL COLLIER-RIZZOTTI

Beverly Hills