Attitudes Towards Californians

[S&AMOM]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

The problem isn't Californians (or Texans, or No. Virginians, or insert group here_____) in general-- it's the type of Californians (or Texans, or No. Virginians, or insert group here_____) that tend to move to states like Colorado. It's the sense of entitlement. I read it over and over again on this message board. It usually goes something like this (paraphrasing): "Yeah, I've lived in northern Virginia, commuting the last 20 years to DC, and I am SOOO done with the traffic, congestion, unfriendly attitudes, and high home prices here. I'm moving to Colorado, and I need to be within two hours of Denver-- but I don't want to live in the city, or even the suburbs-- been there, done that. I want acerage, and I want to get a house twice as big as what I'm living in now, for half the price. Oh yeah, and living on the plains-- that's not good enough for me. It has to be IN the mountains. And actually living IN a mountain valley town is below me-- I deserve to live ON the mountain right in the trees."

I can understand why Californians want to move out-- #1, the cost of living, and #2, the congestion, and all the urban problems. I respect middle-class Californians who move to Colorado so they can actually make ends meet and own a home for the first time and provide for their families. But rather than moving to Colorado, or Arizona, or even Texas, as a way to cut costs, save, and get ahead financially, a lot of Californians move to those states so they can become more materialistic than ever before! They take the equity out of their homes, which if they were lucky were bought a long time idea, and then buy a house two, three times as big, and more luxury cars. Native Californians in California, and those driven out by economic necessity are decent people, IMO. It's the 2nd type of California expats that create the bad reputation, ruining it for everyone else.

Well stated! I completely agree with you.

[Katiana]

I'll give vegaspilgrim some slack for being young. However, I don't think that's why most Californians come here, and I don't think we can even know why most of "them" come.

Yes, people come here with pre-conceived notions. I have read many a post about wanting to live in the mountains. . . an hour from Denver. Many people think Denver IS in the mountains. My parents, sort of country bumpkin types from Pennsylvania, thought that. I have complained too, about people who want to move here for the laid-back atmosphere. But these posters are not all from the east or the west coast. A lot of them are from the midwest! I'll even confess that when we first came here, we set our sights on Loveland or Colorado Springs, that is, until we found out most of the jobs were in Denver/Boulder, at least back in 1980.