Anti-Californian Sentiment (Austin, Weir: university, living in, professionals)

[julian17033]

This is the exact thing that occurred in northwestern Montana.
I lived in Helena for 14 years and back in the nineties you would read and hear in the media how the population that was coming to California was buying large tracts of land and building large homes.
Generations of Montana citizens native to the Kalispell, Bigfork area were findng their property tax rates growing through the roof because of the influx of people who sold their 3 bedroom rancher in nameless suburb in X California city for 450,000 dollars and moving to northwestern Montana and buying land and houses that were far less than what they sold their house for.
The result was these multi generational citizens were forced to sell their houses and land resulting in them leaving the area.
It was a tremendous loss of what made that part of Montana special to indigenous residents and visitors alike.

This is why in the fourteen years of living in Helena I only went to that area of the state twice.

Who wants to see an area once uncrowded and unmolested filled with bistro's, BMW's and gated communities filled with outsiders.

Very depressing.

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Texans are scared, possibly with merit, that Californians will take all those $$$ they made in their San Jose tech firms and help drive up the costs of real estate locally.

There is also this impression, and its hard to word exactly, but something along the lines of Californians wanting to get the hell out of their state because of its perceived or real fiscal/social woes and move to a new state with a fresh slate. And given enough time will import those west coast problems here with their lack of discretion, responsibility, and understanding. That it is easy for them to leave their CA problems behind but they don't realize the impact of their masses flooding into our medium-size city. Ignorance of social norms and laws is another category. For example I bet not many new Californian transplants know that we have the Castle doctrine in this state or that their wife/gf will have to get a sonogram before terminating a pregnancy.

Me? I lived in the DC area but went to school in Virginia. Luckily I had enough exposure to folks that are culturally not far apart from Texans that the transition wasn't too much.

[G Grasshopper]

The problem of Californians coming to Texas with a million to drive up housing prices was probably true to some extent in the past, but I think it is a small minority at this point. Many Californians leave the state because they can't afford to buy a house in the first place, or their house has lost value, or they have lost their jobs, or it is just too expensive to live there, etc. Other than housing, I don't believe the cost of living is much lower in Austin, but the cost of housing can make a big difference to a family on the edge.

People are always looking for a simple explanation, and especially for someone to blame for their troubles. But most problems are a result of many factors. Demonizing people doesn't help anything. It just makes you angry and living in anger make life less enjoyable. We should look for solutions, not scapegoats.

[supernaut112]

Originally Posted by julian17033

The result was these multi generational citizens were forced to sell their houses and land resulting in them leaving the area. It was a tremendous loss of what made that part of Montana special to indigenous residents and visitors alike.

That's what happened to my neighborhood (Clarksville), too.

I sometimes catch a lot of flack for wanting to be in the "hipster" part of Austin. No. This is my home, and it was my family's home. Once upon a time, it was a low-income area. Doesn't meant that I love it any less because of its history.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

People are always looking for a simple explanation, and especially for someone to blame for their troubles. But most problems are a result of many factors. Demonizing people doesn't help anything. It just makes you angry and living in anger make life less enjoyable. We should look for solutions, not scapegoats.

Ah, so true. Too bad I have to "spread it around" before I can rep you again.

It's such unfortunate human nature to look for someone else to blame. If it isn't Texans blaming Californians, it's half the country blaming the other half because they are "liberal" or "conservative". Or people blaming the government, the city they live in, another age group, "hipsters", "yuppies", etc.

And to think that we live in one of the handful of countries on this planet where individuals truly have significant control over their own destinies... Yet the last person anyone ever chooses to put any blame on is themselves.

[verybadgnome]

Not sure we should be blaming new, out-of-state homeowners for jacking up the cost of housing when we are the ones who set up a revenue system that is so heavily skewed towards property taxes as the main source for public funding.

[Aquitaine]

Is Austin's housing market really that expensive compared to similar cities? I know people looking around Seattle and Portland (two places I hear compared to Austin) and Austin seems cheaper than they are, despite being a (somewhat) larger city.

I know Austin is expensive relative to the rest of Texas, and my view is skewed because my wife's family moved to Austin from Orange County while I'm familiar with the market in the NE. It may not be as cheap as it was but I still look at places like Circle C or the area up by Jollyville road and find what seem to me pretty good deals that are being snapped up.

[shmatbert]

I'm a native West Texan married to a guy from Northern California and I am admittedly a mild grumbler. I also travel around the country for work so I have a lot of experience with different cultures in the US. Here's my main complaint, though it's not directed solely at Californians and cetainly not at all transplants from any state.

In my opinion, Austin is just not as demonstatively friendly as it used to be. It feels like that genuine polite friendliness that you experience in Texas and some other states is being diluted. I was just thinking the other morning as I drove down MoPac that Texas needs to put up the old "Drive Friendly" signs you used to see everywhere.

It doesn't mean that newbies aren't nice. But being nice and being friendly are two different things. Austin feels less Texas-y if you will. I miss it. I grumble. It's unnecessary and childish and I can move if I don't like it because thank goodness, it's a free country!

[N. Olikee]

Here's the deal about "Californians,"............natives or not............

(I lived there for three years........back in the Good Old Days!........SoCal........much fun.) I think you get an "attitude." It's a "why don't you do things this way like in CA?" kind of attitude. Not really a superiority thing, just a way of life / mindset thing.

I had that attitude when I made the move from San Diego to Louisville KY. THAT was one hard move.

When I lived in Dallas, I'll never forget an article (lovefest) in the Dallas Morning News about Texas and California and how much they had in common.......that was back in the early '80s.....and at the time, it was very true.

Growing up in Houston during the '60s and '70s, it was all about those "Yankees" moving in.........those "Yankees" driving up our real estate prices............bringin' their way of life......accents......you name it! Those Dam* Yankees!!

When I lived in CA............about 2% of the people I knew were natives. "Everybody" was from somewhere else..........lots of former Michiganders.

This is what I find here...........not a lot of Native Californians...........people who may have lived there for years, yes. I think they realize there is Life Beyond California. Some return, some stay.

Yes, some drove up real estate prices maybe......just like those "Yankees" in the '70s in Houston, and the '80s in Dallas.

I embrace them.......

[SmartGXL]

Originally Posted by bigpapasmurf76

My comment was tongue-in-cheek :P Was still surprised to see the sheer numbers, though. They lost an immense amount of people in 2010 (still some weird goings-on with Phoenix, even with the housing crisis in full swing...for instance, almost 2,000 people left Chicago FOR Phoenix in 2010...what's up with that? Also, tons of people from Washington, California, Oregon, and strangely enough, the entire Northeast are still moving there...how bizarre!)

Chicagoans seems to like to retire to Arizona, for some reason. It is sort of like how Ohioans dream of moving to Florida...Chicagoans tend to dream about moving to Arizona.

[bigpapasmurf76]

Originally Posted by SmartGXL

Chicagoans seems to like to retire to Arizona, for some reason. It is sort of like how Ohioans dream of moving to Florida...Chicagoans tend to dream about moving to Arizona.

Very interesting!