Not Wanting Newcomers (Great Falls, Three Forks, Power: home, buyer, gated)

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by romath

A local grades 3-6 private school with some 70 students on the west side of Bozeman just got the city commission to make the street in front a dead end, so to cut down on through traffic and people having to park on neighboring lots to pick up their kids. Neighbors agreed to go along. But now there's step two, the part they hadn't talked about openly: they're lobbying the state to cut the speed limit and put up a traffic light down on the main drag west (65 mph) from Bozeman to Gallatin Gateway (and on west to Norris or south to West Yellowstone). Bit by bit the trip out of here is seeing obstacles accumulate. Blame it on transplanted Californians? How about the greasy pole dynamics of capital?

A good example of how a very vocal but very small group can nonetheless impose its will on the majority.

This is a lot of what I was talking about re standing up for ourselves. If you don't like what someone else is lobbying for, SAY so, to the officials who have the power to change the regulations YOU will have to live with. Otherwise, you're going to wind up under the thumbs of that vocal minority, and your local officials will have NO idea that anyone else was unhappy about it. Rinse and repeat until your lives have changed beyond recognition.

[Senor Boogie Woogie]

I don't really understand the complaints from the "native" Montanans. I would think that an influx of people would be good for the cities and good for the tax base. If you have a government that is strict on illegals and welfare, what is wrong with skilled workers

Montana is the fourth largest state in the country with less than 1 million people.

I can understand the frustrations of penises like Ted Turner who buy a ranch the size of El Salvador or that a bunch of Californians who don't know the true price of real estate.

Even then, most of the people are going to live in the western part of the state. I doubt for the next, at least 50 years that eastern Montana is going to be heavily settled. I don't know what people do out there besides farm, smoke meth, shoot their guns and have lots of sex.

[MSPLove]

Why are these anti-newcomer threads always permeating the front page?
Just curious..

I mean there's like three threads... ya know?

One isn't enough?

No offense but I think at this point you guys should just sticky one anti-newcomer thread to the top of the page. I'm not being faceteous, it really might just make things easier. lol

[Mt-7]

Thanks for stopping by.
Old threads die hard
Hope they just starve to death, welcome and feel free to stop by the lets visit thread and introduce yourself.

[BickleTravis]

Originally Posted by Reziac

LOL!! Oh man, you nailed it. Culture isn't elitism. It's whatever local people regularly DO, even if that's "just" rodeo and square dancing. -- Funny thing, the big-city culture bigots would be praising it for "cultural preservation" if it was a wild west Indian show and a rain dance.

And just as big city "elitists" are culture bigots, some folks in small towns are just plain bigots.
It all evens out.

[Dino1]

I think Montana is great but it is horrible in the winter and the job market in non-existant.

[31st State]

Cumminszhere says, So let me get this straight. You move in next to a school, them complain about the associated traffic? I'd like to B-slap every one of those people.

Unbelievable.

This is in California not Montana, btw.

It is? I've never seen this and I'm a native Californian? Can you cite a specific example where this has happened in California? Actually, California is bigger than Montana so maybe you should cite two incidents.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by 31st State

Cumminszhere says, So let me get this straight. You move in next to a school, them complain about the associated traffic? I'd like to B-slap every one of those people.

Unbelievable.

This is in California not Montana, btw.

It is? I've never seen this and I'm a native Californian? Can you cite a specific example where this has happened in California? Actually, California is bigger than Montana so maybe you should cite two incidents.

I can cite several.

San Diego. People on Point Loma filed a law suit against the Airport. Lindberg Field because of the noise and traffic. Lindberg Field became the Municiple Airport in 1909. The houses in Point Loma were built after 1920.

San Diego. Miramar Naval Air Station. Now a Marine Base. People filed suit against the military because of the low flying planes causing noise. Base was built in the 1940's. Houses were built in the 1970's.

San Diego. Again, Point Loma. Naval Training Center was built around 1920. Point Loma housing grew up around it. When the base closed, the nice people of Point Loma didn't want the city to turn it into a college campus. It would down grade the neighborhood. So instead, the Navy turned it over to the Police and Sheriff's department to become a training center for them. People in Point Loma didn't like that either. They wanted the entire base torn down and become a park.

North Island. North Island was hauled in by truck. It didn't exist prior to the 1909 worlds fair. They hauled all the dirt in and leveled it to become the Worlds Fair. When the fair was done, the US Navy took it for an Air Base. They had Lindberg Field prior to that. They gave Lindberg to the City and took North Island so their noise would not be a factor. At that time, there were about a dozen houses on Coronado Island. Had to ferry to get there. Now, the people on Coronado have filed suit against the Military because of noise and traffic on the bridge. Even though the bridge has been paid off for years, they don't mind collecting the Millions of dollars Toll from the traffic.

How about the 110 car pile up during a dust storm on 5, just north of the GrapeVine. Visibility dropped to nothing in about 2 minutes because of a micro burst. 110 cars piled up. Those people sue'd the state and won. Reason? The Highway patrol should have closed the road. If they had closed the road, the same people would have sue'd for being late for their important vacation.

That is exactly the crap and attitude that Montana doesn't need.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by Senor Boogie Woogie

I don't really understand the complaints from the "native" Montanans. I would think that an influx of people would be good for the cities and good for the tax base. If you have a government that is strict on illegals and welfare, what is wrong with skilled workers

If there are already skilled workers out of work in Montana (which there are), explain to me the benefit of bringing in still more skilled workers?? How does this benefit either of them??

Also, when you run the numbers, turns out that more people and "larger tax base" actually is a net loss to cities, because the total cost of enlarging the infrastructure (including the increased cost to run/maintain it over time) is actually higher on a per capita basis. So taxes have to go up just to stay even. This ultimately is a cost to everyone, and drives business out, jobs in tow.

[cumminszhere]

Originally Posted by 31st State

Cumminszhere says, So let me get this straight. You move in next to a school, them complain about the associated traffic? I'd like to B-slap every one of those people.

Unbelievable.

This is in California not Montana, btw.

It is? I've never seen this and I'm a native Californian? Can you cite a specific example where this has happened in California? Actually, California is bigger than Montana so maybe you should cite two incidents.

Why, I think my credibility may be in question here.

Here is an article from last year.

Los Altos Town Crier - Blach school traffic spurs calming plan