Irvine might be the worst place in the country for weird authoritarian bullshit. I'm not super well traveled, but it's the creepiest place I've ever been. You can't go anywhere without being reminded that it belongs to the Irvine Company or that you're subject to weirdly particular HOA rules.
My favorite is learning that literally any parking lot or shopping center that has that dark green paint between spaces means it's property owned by the Irvine Co.
Supposedly scumbag ceo doesn't like seeing white lines from his helicopter (shitbag's probably fine with them on his tabletop)
On the one hand, this place probably used to have kids playing things like stick baseball in the street back in the 70s, with nobody batting an eyelid about it, before some poor kid got run over by a car going over the speed limit and/or the kid chasing a ball into the street while the driver wasn't paying attention.
Maybe it happened more than once. It is more than plausible to imagine this happening several times over the course of a couple of decades. Then one evening- all it takes is just one evening HOA meeting - the residents had a motion carried and voted on, probably right after one of these accidents.
On the other hand, Irvine is kind of like the land of ordinances that require one to put up a sign that says - WARNING: THIS SIGN HAS SHARP EDGES.
Ngl, if some HOA weirdo was getting on my case for existing in a way they didn't I'd just box them in the face. Like seriously, I can't believe the way that people let those HOA people act.
It has relatively cheap real estate for all the trouble they seem to be going through to maintain “standards”. For example this house in any given Blue state would be 1.5M+ https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/604-S-Durango-Cir_Irving_TX_75062_M81329-18653?from=srp-list-card
Edit bc I looked at the wrong place 🤪
Seems rankings of Irvine CA are okay, but top 30 isn’t exactly that interesting a place in CA, https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/search/best-places-to-live/s/california/. Median home value is 1.1M+ for Irvine in CA, compared to Solana Beach (ranked at 57 overall in CA) which has a median home value of 1.6M+. The fuss over Irvine being a good place to live seems arbitrary and cultural, and not based on any merit per my estimation. OC seems like a pretty generic and bland beach place to live relative to San Diego etc.
The US hates kids and gets angry at parents for having the audacity to let them be seen or heard in public.
To be fair, letting your 4-year-old belt out some fucked up version of twinkle twinkle little star at the top of their lunges in a restaurant is also common.
Sees one post generalize conclusion for an entire population.
What makes you think I’ve only seen one post relevant to my point?
Sees one comment assume entire basis for someone’s opinion.
The US hates kids ...
Yes on just that phrase alone.
Edited to add there's good reading on the phrase at search engines.
It's so nice to be overseas and be able to take my daughter places where people actually enjoy her being around. She's a year old and of course she screams, she cries, but she has to be able to be out in society because how else is she supposed to learn social norms and interactions?
People in the US are just always annoyed that a kid made any noise at all.
Edit: how do I get downvoted for the exact same sentiment as the comment above?
Yeah my understanding is places like France in particular have a very high tolerance for infants in public spaces, which leads to kids going to restaurants and such at a younger age, which means they get socialized and learn how to behave at a younger age as well.
Ugh, of course it's shitass Irvine. Fuck Irvine.
fuckin irvine what did you expect
Ah, I had to live there for a bit before moving back to LA. I once got stopped by police for simply existing, ask where I was going and where I was coming from, just cause I looked a bit different.
Btw, they also like to pick up homeless and drop them off in Santa Ana. I saw them harassing a dude once and just take him away, again for existing whist homeless. Left all his belongings behind too, was complete BS. I fucking hate Irvine.
The banning of kids play in the street sounds unconstitutional, illegal and unenforcable, unless it's a private road on private property.
The sign below it does say private property
It still needs location context. There are lots of places in Irvine that are not central to what people think about as being Irvine. I can think of some areas where kids playing in the street could be particularly dangerous. The private patrol rent a cop nonsense is ridiculous. There are places where event parking is driving the "private property - no parking" thing. Like many neighborhoods are short on parking already, some event happens a few times a year, and people flood the place with cars. There are even people stupid enough to park in your driveway of your house or block it entirely. That is one of the reasons I started riding a bicycle everywhere. Where I live, there is no parking for a few months a year because of people going to the beach and party culture nearby.
