Colorado transplants what is your opinion (Denver, Colorado Springs: day care, to buy, living)

[jazzlover]

Just maybe a lot of the disdain for the transplant influx that native (and long-time) Coloradans have can be attributed to the fact that Colorado actually has some really nice natural and historical heritage worth saving--and, unlike a lot of other states, has not (yet) seen it completely destroyed by "progress."

As to the comment about Wyoming--having lived there several years--there is an absolute prejudice among many there against "greenies"--as Wyomingites call Coloradans because of Colorado's license plates. That is, as 55Spud correctly notes, because the majority of Coloradans that descend on Wyoming every year as tourists are mostly from the urbanized Front Range--and many of them have the "this is my private park" attitude that they display toward the locals. One can see that same attitude from a lot of Front Range urbanites directed toward those of us who live in rural Colorado, too. When I was in Wyoming, I would get some of the unfriendly "vibe" from native Wyomingites when I told them that I was from Colorado. When I would tell them that I have spent most of my life in rural Colorado--not the metroplexes--they would say, "Oh, that's different." We would get along just fine after that.

[formercalifornian]

Jazz, I'm getting the message here that you believe that anyone who lives in the urban/suburban corridor is unworthy of Colorado's natural beauty. Surely, you can't really believe that someone is incapable of appreciating Colorado by virtue of his mailing address! Maybe you just enjoy ruffling feathers?

Regardless, your posts seems to have adopted a theme of denigrating others who don't share your rural upbringing rather than inspiring those of us who haven't been as fortunate. I used to enjoy your posts. Now, I just find them disturbingly divisive. "We can" is one of our language's most important phrases. You seem to be incapable of using it, and that's a tragedy.

[CosmicWizard]

Taking jazzlovers logic to an extreme, a long as you live in a rural area, you can ride your ATV anywhere you damn well please, and litter beer bottles along the way and you are automatically more worthy of living in Colorado than a city dweller who rides public transit, recycles, and lives in a 1500 sf, energy efficient home.

[formercalifornian]

I'm getting tired of the us vs. them mentality that permeates his posts. We are all responsible for being good stewards of Colorado's resources, native and transplant alike.

[treedonkey]

Has anyone else noticed how our much brand newbie, Spud55, sounds remarkably similar to Jazz in both message and tone? Or is that just me being overly suspicious?

[formercalifornian]

I doubt it's the same person. Despite my issues with Jazzlover's posts, he's always struck me as a pretty straight shooter. He doesn't seem the type to play games with multiple user names.

[treedonkey]

Originally Posted by formercalifornian

I doubt it's the same person. Despite my issues with Jazzlover's posts, he's always struck me as a pretty straight shooter. He doesn't seem the type to play games with multiple user names.

I agree, Jazz is pretty much 1 of a kind. I was thinking more of a copycat.

[wanneroo]

I have definitely noticed a change from my childhood spending time with family in Denver in the 1980's to now.

Denver used to be a bit friendlier and had a more small city feel. You even noticed the difference on the highway. It's now just one anonymous metropolitan area and once the Californians started to come in in the 80's it all went downhill. Californians are the worst thing that has ever happened to Colorado next to illegal aliens.

It's a shame but no use in complaining really as life moves on and the world changes.

[jazzlover]

I am a straight shooter and I don't "play games." Too old and too curmudgeonly for that BS.

Unfortunately, especially for those of us who live in rural Colorado, the "us vs. them" thing is very real. We in the rural parts of this state are under continual assault from urban Colorado--we have had to fight to try to keep our water, we constantly get "big city" mandates jammed down our throats that really don't apply to us, we get priced out of our own real estate markets by outsiders, we have lots of urban Coloradans who treat the rural parts of the state as their private park--even when that means harassing and chasing out some basic industries that actually produce things and employ people here, and we have the ugly side of the "tyranny of the majority" that makes sure that governmental funding priorities are skewed in favor of the metro areas. So, we do start to "take things personal." I have a lot of friends over on the Front Range--I have lots of friends all over the state, for that matter, but that doesn't change what urban Coloradans en masse are doing that rankles rural Coloradans. Adding a population to mostly the urban Front Range equivalent to the size of Greeley every year (think about that for a minute) does nothing to make us any better off, either.

[formercalifornian]

I've said this before, but if you want somebody to blame, I think you need to look a little closer to home. The Californians* bought what was already for sale. Capiche?

*Just a note to remind you that California has about as many natives as Colorado. My best guess is that most of the WASPy transplants you're complaining about were actually born in the midwest. As a matter of fact, while I go by the username Formercalifornian, I grew up in Ohio, and I've also lived in the mid-Atlantic. My spouse was a military brat. He was born overseas and has lived in over a dozen different U.S. states and three different countries. Guess that makes us a triple threat, huh?.