Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
programs were cut, and state-funded drug treatment programs were dropped in the 1980s,
leaving many Californians with mental illnesses and substance-abuse problems no place to
go.
Also standing in line at homeless shelters are the working poor, unable to afford to rent
even a small apartment on minimum-wage salaries. Rather than addressing the underlying
causes of homelessness, some California cities have criminalized loitering, panhandling,
even sitting on sidewalks. More than three out of every 1000 Californians already sit in the
state's notoriously overcrowded jails, mostly for drug-related crimes.
Mike Davis'
City of Quartz
(1990) is an excoriating history of LA and a glimpse into its
possible future. Davis and collaborators examine San Diego's underbelly in
Under the
Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See
(2003).
Population
Immigration
With more than 38 million residents, California is the most populous US state: one in
every nine Americans lives here. It's also one of the fastest-growing states, with three of
America's 10 biggest cities (Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose) and over 300,000 new-
comers every year. You still don't believe it's crowded here? California's population dens-
ity is 239 people per sq mile - almost triple the national average.
If you were the average Californian, statistically you'd likely be Latina, aged about 35,
living in densely populated LA, Orange or San Diego Counties, and you'd speak more
than one language. There's a one in four chance you were born outside the US, and if you
were born in the US, the odds are almost 50/50 that you moved here recently from another
state.
One of every four immigrants to the US lands in California, with the largest segment
coming from Mexico. Most legal immigrants are sponsored by family members who
already live here. In addition, an estimated two million undocumented immigrants cur-
rently live in California. But this is not a radical new development: before California be-
came a US state in 1850 it was a territory of Mexico and Spain, and historically most of
the state's growth has come from immigration.
