Signs On The Dotted Line

This week's addition to the Signs on the Dotted Line gallery.

Intersection suggestions welcome.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

Say Goodbye To California

Interesting numbers piece about outward migration on today's front page of the Daily Breeze. The subhead hints at the reason people want to leave: "Housing costs have become too rich for many…"

The nation's most populous state, a traditional magnet for throngs of daring, ambitious people seeking everything from gold nuggets and great weather to good jobs and Hollywood glamour, now carries an unflattering designation.

The Golden State is No. 1 in outward migration of residents to other states, according to the most recent figures provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.

From July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005, the net flow of residents from California to other states -- those moving to the state minus those leaving -- was negative 239,000 people. That's higher than any other state in the union.

California even edged out former No. 1 New York by 7,000 people.

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As of last year, the state's outflow was at its highest point since the mid-1990s, when a severe recession and aerospace industry slump drove engineers and other professionals out of California in search of work.

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Random Photo

I was downtown this weekend to do some research at the library. I took the camera with me on Sunday and, as there was a race going on, I decided to shoot for a few minutes.

This one was taken outside the Walt Disney Concert Hall


— TJ Sullivan in LA

Sssssssshhhhhhhhh!

They don't put pay phones in the stacks at public libraries.

The phone at right, for example, is in the parking garage beneath the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles. Talk as loud as you want on this one, nobody in the genealogy, or economics sections is going to hear you.

Put a phone like this between the library stacks, however, and you can imagine the complaints. Editorials would ridicule such a move as patently lunatic, reminding all readers that library silence is a rule at least as old as "cover your mouth when you yawn."

And yet, few of my fellow library patrons seemed surprised Sunday when a woman began to carry on a cell phone conversation at full cell-yell volume in the literature and fiction section on the third floor of the Central Library. Although the woman spoke for more than five minutes at this audible level, not a single "sssshhh" was uttered by those around me. Most people just ducked their heads deeper into their books.

The prevalence of rudeness in our society is nothing new. Stories and studies about it have appeared in US newspapers with increasing frequency during the past few years. The results don't seem to change, but the reporting may be taking a turn.

More and more, stories about rudeness are addressing people's reluctance to confront it.

CBS News produced a hidden-camera report this past week that examined public reactions to rudeness. The gist of the video was that people often walk away rather than speak up. Some told CBS they were not willing to take the risk, although none explained what exactly they feared might happen as a result.

CNN did a story last year in which a theory about this was offered:

[Lew Friedland, a communications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison] … said the public has yet to reach its limit for tolerating cell phone abuse. He sees people more or less resigned to it.

"It's like swatting at mosquitoes essentially," he said. "You can get one or two, but if there's a swarm of them around you, you just kind of give up or get out of the way. I think cell phones' use in public spaces is partly having the same kind of effect."

Cell phones have been an issue for the LA city librarian since at least 2002 when, according to Board of Library Commissioners meeting minutes, she said she "wouldn’t want to place the staff in a position of confrontation with the public over the use of cell phones." (The matter has since been addressed in the library Rules of Conduct).

Some phone companies, including AT&T and Sprint, provide etiquette advice, but the suggestions are so obvious that they're on a par with reminding an adult not to chew with an open mouth in public. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere there's restaurant with that posted next to the "no smoking" sign.

— TJ Sullivan

The American Dream Within Reach In OC

So what if these condos are on the smallish side (between 650 and 1,000 square feet), they're new homes in Orange County for less than $500,000, and you can walk to the ballpark and Arrowhead Pond.

A firefighter quoted in today's Los Angeles Times says he got his place for $379,000:

The granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances and massive saltwater swimming pool had her intrigued. And when Judy Williams saw the $469,000 sales price and the convenience of being able to pop downstairs for a margarita or stroll across the street to an Angels' baseball game, city life started looking a lot better than suburbia.

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Anaheim firefighter Mike Houghton, 24, will be one of those twentysomethings. Houghton, who lives with his parents in Yorba Linda, bought a one-bedroom overlooking one of the complex's four courtyards for $379,000.

"I'll be able to jog to my fire station," he said.

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Signs on the Dotted Line

This week's addition to the Signs on the Dotted Line gallery.

— TJ Sullivan