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I'm curious about why some of you think that everyone who might want to move to Alaska is broke, probably on the run from the law and without job skills.
Some of them actually are, as we all know. Every state gets that.
It seems that as soon as someone posts about possibly moving to Alaska, some of you immediately fly in with "advice" on why they should stay put with inferences about how they must be broke and most likely on the lam from the law. If they mention that they have so much as a cat, here comes Stiffy squawking that the kitty should be taken to a shelter because they will never find a place to rent because Alaskan landlords don't like feline pee. Even posters who come here asking about seasonal work are told they'll never be able to make it because of the high cost of living.
Are some of you seeing an influx of broke people with criminal warrants and cars full of critters moving to your communities?
Well, internet forum regulars tend to be folks in a comfortable routine. I figure the thought of going out on a limb and doing something a little risky is just jarring for a lot of people. Whatever, the best memories are made when you're not quite sure how you're going to make it work. On the other hand, even if it is done with some unnecessary negativity, the hardships of living in a place with unusual challenges like AK need to be spelled out repeatedly on a relocation forum. It's better than the idealistic alternative. The folks who are confident and stubborn enough to make it work will come anyway. Might as well do like the climate and weed out the ones who don't specifically want to be here. I don't want them here either.
Thanks for the reply, Heathen; you make some great points. Yeah, I think that people often tend to superimpose their own subjective experience onto that of others. Hence, someone like Ray who is constantly scraping up couch cushion change to make his utility payments will feel that those who want to move up most likely can't afford to do so.
So many misconceptions abound on this forum, though, that I feel sorry for most people who land here seeking quality information. Just because Ray wrings his hands over winter utility bills doesn't mean that someone else is going to freeze and starve. Most people who move to Alaska manage to get by one way or another. And again, not everyone who wants to move up is in the throes of financial and personal despair.
Many of them specifically state they aren't doing very well and want a place to start over. I've never said anything about warrants or legal issues. I have personally experienced how hard Alaska can be on a college graduate with a professional background and years of experience, but with dependent children. I'm not the person you have suggested privately that I am. Why wouldn't I warn those who may need assistance with a safety net program that there isn't any to be found in Alaska, and how can you judge how difficult it is for Fairbanks and other interior communities to afford heating their homes? Some of us do not have family businesses or connections and I want new residents to succeed. I know of many people who have thrived in Alaska, but not without sacrifice. I think the members I am thinking of have embraced Alaska and love it. I grew up here and left for many years. Came back in 2005 and was surprised by how disproportionate housing and food costs are to income, compared to places I lived in the lower 48. I have encouraged plenty of people who haven't indicated that they were broke with kids or living on the financial edge.
Ray used to say that you could live on $10 an hour....maybe in Fairbanks only if you have plenty of free wood. When I used to use heating fuel in the Interior I went through 2.5 gallons a day. That is about $12 per day or $360 a month. My place was small, so if it were a house it might be at least $500 a month. Add on food, rent or mortgage, auto, clothing, insurance etc. Can someone making a few thousand a month afford that?
The tone of the people that post these questions also sets the response they get. It is clear that some are so full of themselves like the kid who was so hopped up on coming to Alaska flashing pictures of him and his 30-30, then yet another who was going to hike to the top of Mt. McKinley and so forth.
The ones that asks questions grounded in reality such as rent costs, good places in town, weather, types of jobs and other related questions, tend to get responses that are truly helpful. Someone wishing to come to Alaska to live in one of the homeless shelters, doesn't seem to be very sincere in finding real work. The question should have been where can one find work and a place to stay would get a much better response. When "where are the handouts" the first question asked, their thinking process isn't in the recovery mode, it is in freeloader mode. We have enough freeloaders here already.
I have responded very positively to most questions people ask, but I also have been very sour when I smell something that doesn't bode well. In town here, there are people that have moved here for the PFD and think they are going to retire on it, they end up on social programs and had no intention of finding real work.
We have people here that are on unemployment because they don't want to work and will ride that wagon until the wheels fall off it. There are jobs here to be had, but you need to be willing to start at the bottom if necessary to make it, so if people really want to come to Alaska to get a better life, then I'm all for it, I just expect them to pull their own weight in the process and not rely on the rest of us to pay for their new vacation home.
There is a lot of people that do in fact have an issue with the law and they are under the impression that they can come to Alaska and hide out. They don't realize that there isn't a real place to hide out when you are the new face in town and everyone knows everyone already. That is the biggest mistake they make and we get a higher crime rate because they don't change at all, they do what they did before, maybe worse.
Last edited by starlite9; 11-25-2012 at 04:53 AM..
Ray used to say that you could live on $10 an hour....maybe in Fairbanks only if you have plenty of free wood. When I used to use heating fuel in the Interior I went through 2.5 gallons a day. That is about $12 per day or $360 a month. My place was small, so if it were a house it might be at least $500 a month. Add on food, rent or mortgage, auto, clothing, insurance etc. Can someone making a few thousand a month afford that?
There is a lot of people that do live on cheap wages and a few thousand a month would do them very well, many college students live in "Dry" rentals around the UAF because they are cheap ($400 to $600 a month). Also many that do live in these places aren't going to school, and live there because they are inexpensive to stay in and have a different type of life styles to adapt to them.
But they also don't plan on living there forever either, they view it as a stepping stone to a better place as they get out and meet more people and network into a better job.
Those that do stay on unemployment for up to two years, stand a lower chance of finding any job because they clearly will have a possible employer wondering why it took them so long to find employment when jobs are around, maybe not the big buck ones at first, but starter level at least. They wonder what they are missing that everyone else saw about that person asking for work.
If you don't have a skill, then that is your own fault. No place is it written the world owes you anything. Having said that, there are all sorts of social programs to get you trained in a skill if you really want to.
The guy who posted pictures of himself and his gun was just someone playing games. The one that wanted info about hiking to the top of Mt. McKinley seemed to understand pretty quickly that what he wanted to do couldn't be done the way that he wanted to do it. These aren't the kind of things I'm talking about at all.
Often, no "tone" is set by the OP at all yet some of you still flock in with screeching about how they can't afford to live in Alaska.
And gbrien, I'm hardly the person that you and your mangy little pack of facebook friends "suggest" that I am, either, but that's beside the point. Guess what. I've done my time in the interior AS a single parent and guess how I got by. Work, that's how. And I've paid enough interior heating bills to know something about it. You play the single parent card to the hilt while forgetting that others have had that experience as well. I hope you're still not living in a tiny camper in someone's back yard, by the way. I can't imagine subjecting my children to such living conditions, especially if I were throwing down money on cigs every day that could have been used to provide for my kids.
I've also been in situations where I've taken whatever job was available instead of milking system because nothing was available in my degree field.
If someone specifically mentions that they are curious about costs, ect., that's one thing, but some of you just assume that anyone who posts here is in dire straights. And guess what. Some people really do want to go to Alaska seasonally and take money back home with them. Big deal. The state doesn't have the population to support the need for seasonal employees.
As far as family businesses or connections, obrien, I don't have those either. I ran the family business when no one else could, that is all.
There. That should give you something to cry to your little online pack of mutts about.
The tone of the people that post these questions also sets the response they get.
That isn't the impression that I've gotten from most of the posts here. It seems like it doesn't matter what someone says before some people start forecasting gloom and doom in their future. Someone could post that they are thinking about looking for seasonal work in Alaska and suddenly the thread devolves into a screechfest about how they couldn't possibly live there because of the price of fuel.
Sorry about that, Obrien, but you were the one who chose to make it personal. Yeah, it's obvious that you've had a really hard time making it in Alaska, but I'm not convinced that that's because you're a single parent. That's difficult, of course, but plenty of people are making it work.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 11-25-2012 at 01:36 PM..
Thanks for the reply, Heathen; you make some great points. Yeah, I think that people often tend to superimpose their own subjective experience onto that of others. Hence, someone like Ray who is constantly scraping up couch cushion change to make his utility payments will feel that those who want to move up most likely can't afford to do so.
So many misconceptions abound on this forum, though, that I feel sorry for most people who land here seeking quality information. Just because Ray wrings his hands over winter utility bills doesn't mean that someone else is going to freeze and starve. Most people who move to Alaska manage to get by one way or another. And again, not everyone who wants to move up is in the throes of financial and personal despair.
OK, Met. I will take the bait in order to explain a few points.
a. I usually abstain from giving advise relating to relocation to any areas of Alaska I don't know about. In fact, while I lived in Anchorage years ago, I have no idea what living in Anchorage is-like these days, so again I stay out of those threads.
b. The interior of Alaska, around Fairbanks, is the area I know about, and the questions I respond to relate the cost of living: food, fuel (s), housing/maintenance, automobiles/maintenance, public transportation, taxes, and such. These are the areas I am familiar with, and my answers usually include factual data. Some of this data is open to the public at the Fairbanks North Star Borough offices and Web pages, and other data is published by the News Miner. The cost of living data is published by the Borough and mailed to me upon request, but anybody can read it at the Borough's Web page. Just search "Fairbanks North Start Borough Quarterly Report," and then click on the link that shows the most resent date.
I don't try to dissuade anybody from moving to Fairbanks and vicinity, but when they ask for numbers I provide them with factual data, and sometimes with numbers such as my own food receipts from local supermarkets, electric bills from a couple of houses I own, and so forth. By the way, I have been quite lucky to have retired at the age of 46 back in 1994, and to have landed quite a good-paying job in 1995 from which I will retire again in six year. I am not rich by any means, although have no choice but to be quite frugal because of the extremely high cost of living in the interior.
But see...most people in here aren't so lucky and spend a lot of time in the local shelters. I know people who are struggling to survive, barely making enough money while working two jobs. People who can't afford medical, dental, and other care, surviving from paycheck to paycheck. A lot of people get stuck in here, and can't return to the places they have left behind because there aren't jobs they can return to.
I provide the data, and they decide before arriving here. By the way, some other poster in here know as much (or more) as I do about the interior of Alaska, and can attest to the following: I present those who ask with the truth.
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That said, I have met the most wonderful and caring people I can think of in the interior of Alaska, and in the small towns and villages.
Last edited by RayinAK; 11-25-2012 at 03:01 PM..
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