Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
First of all, let me state up front I am retired Law Enforcement, and I am a CA transplant. I have been here now for almost 4 years (CDA Area). I state that because I will probably sound a tad Hypocritical in this post.
Reason, why my wife and I moved here was its small town feel, reputation, cost of living, and the people. We new way ahead of time not to bring our CA baggage with us, in fact one of the big reasons we left CA in the first place was the People and cost of living. Now, when I say "People", I am referring to the typical douche bag Californian, most of you know exactly what I meant. I am trying not to rant, but open a discussion of how you guys are perceiving the last year or so.
In the short time we have lived here the cost of living has gone up, and it seems the overall quality of people is starting to change. I have made several new friends here, and we have become close. I come from a strong Republican background, and enjoy being around liked minded individuals. 5 of our friends are actually leaving The Hayden area, and are looking to move to Montana, or possibly another state (two of them going to Texas). 2 of the couples are Idaho natives and have been here their whole lives, the others are transplants as well, come CA some east coast. The overall narrative of why they are leaving is due to the amount of CA's moving up here. 4 of the couples are leaving due to the neighbors that bought homes right next door, the a typical Californians I was referring too. All of the couples are fed up with the rising prices and the general attitudes of people they encounter everyday.
Now, I know for you natives, its been going on like this for quite awhile, but is it getting progressively worse? I am surprised how obvious it is to me, just in the short time I have lived here. My wife, works at a title company, and she says 95% of all the property sales are from Californians. She was the one scared to leave CA originally, cause thats all she knew, but now she's the one continuously bringing up the topic of us Possibly leaving now.
The cost of living has risen just in the short time we have lived here, prices to build per sq ft, the house market in general, etc.... Even going to CDA Costco, we have run into several of the people we specifically moved up here to get way from, it seem way more prevalent now that it did before.
So, what do you guys think? am I just starting to see how it really is now its been almost 4 years, or is there really a change?
Kootenai county's population (almost) doubled between 1990 and 2010. 25 years ago there were less than 70k people in the county. Now it's 150k. The CDA metro just recently overtook the Idaho Falls MSA for the 2nd largest in the state. People aren't moving to CDA because it's some kind of economic mecca full of high wage jobs - it's absolutely full of people who relocated there from somewhere else - usually from higher priced markets like California. With the home equity and pensions many transplants were able to bring with them, they could survive on lower wages or retire altogether while still living a great quality of life, so the area continues to grow. It's still very affordable and still offers a great quality of life. You're just noticing the impact that people in similar positions as yourself have been having on the area for the past several decades. There were people like your neighbors and friends who decided to move out of CDA in the 90s "because of all the Californians" and there will probably be people (maybe yourselves included?) who decide to move out in the teens and 20s "because of all the Californians".
To be candid, it sounds like you didn't do enough research before moving. Coeur d'Alene has been a resort town with high population growth for a long time. It's well marketed and fairly well known - especially targeted by retirees. Definitely not some place to choose if your priorities are a permanently low cost of living and a small town atmosphere. You might be happier in some other lesser known towns without a history of strong immigration from other states.
What you are noticing, Barefoot, is not just happening in the panhandle. It's going on all over the state.
I tend to think some of what you are seeing is due to the relative size of the panhandle in comparison to the rest of Idaho. The panhandle is the smallest geographic region, and is full of mountains and other areas that make living difficult, so the growing population is more concentrated there into the areas where it's easier to live.
And since most of California is much more urban and suburban than Idaho, natrually, the newcomers will seek out a lifestyle that is familiar to them. Relatively few are going to move to a remote small town out in the boonies, where the nearest Costco is over 200 miles away.
No matter what anyone says, they always bring what their life was like with them when they move here more than they realize. A native Californian has a lifetime's worth of expectations that they won't necessarily find here, so from the very first, they try to change the place they move to so those expectations can be met.
Any place that has a lot of natural beauty, especially if it's alpine, changes the most. I bummed around my state and a lot of the west for a long time, and I watched Bozeman, Telluride, Jackson Hole, Logan, Cheyenne, Ketchum, and a bunch of others all drastically change. In all, the real estate prices went through the roof, the divisions between rich and poor grow much more divided, and watched the old-timers sell out and move on.
All the things that created those towns changed once outsiders began to arrive en masse. That's what happens in places where there are lots of mountains, lakes, and wonderful scenery.
Idaho's cheap housing and costs of living are giving the panhandle a double whammy, though. While we have had a huge influx of Californians here in Idaho Falls, Bonneville County has plenty of room left, as does all the counties down here that have also gotten their share of folks from California.
But down here, where the economy is both much larger and more diverse, the newcomers are more easily absorbed. They find their own niches that are similar to what they left, and are living in a much older and more settled social culture. All this makes big differences when it comes to getting along with each other.
But that's not to say that we aren't seeing the same changes you are. They are happening down here, too, but less dramatically. Mostly because our changes have been going on for a much longer time, and all the other factors mentioned above.
Your Coeur d'Alene, the one that existed when you arrived 4 years ago, is completely different than the Coeur d'Alene I first knew when I was a student at the U of I and began gong to CDA in the early 60s.
That CDA was a town of around 28,000 people, almost all lower middle class working folks. Logging was what kept that CDA going. At the same time, the Idaho Falls of my youth was also completely different, too. It was about the same size of CDA, and was also a lower middle class town. The only big difference was it was farming here, not logging.
Sure- the changes you've seen are real enough. You can't even imagine what the CDA of 50 years ago looked like or was. In 10 years, if you stay, the CDA you knew when you moved will be massively different than it is now. The folks like you, who have only been living for a relatively short time, have now become a majority of the residents. It's a brand-new civilization because most folks were all seeking exactly the same things you were. You brought your life expectations with you, and were a part of it.
California has changed even faster because it already had a lot more people there, and people are still moving there. You found what you expected to find in Idaho, and the guy who moved up yesterday did too. His CDA is just as beautiful to his eyes as yours was 4 years ago.
When big numbers of immigrants arrive, many things change forever. If you're disturbed at what you see, you should have seen how fast Bozeman changed. The Gallatin Valley quadrupled in size in a decade, and the changes had already begun big-time when I moved there in 1989 from what Bozeman had been in the 60s, when I first went there. By 2001, when I moved back again, there was almost nothing left of the old Bozeman I knew 10 years earlier.
And Bozeman's problems are just as bad as CDA's. Worse, if anything, because now, the average immigrant leaves after 18 months because the economy is so bad. Boze is now in perpetual instability in everything you can think of, and folks are still arriving every day, all coming for the natural beauty, in an area less than half the size of CDA's, and is even more constricted by all those pretty mountains.
The panhandle is attracting retirees. Bozeman is exactly the same in this regard, but it also attracted hordes of young people, who moved for all the outdoor activities and outdoor sports.
Retirees move and pass away. The young come, struggle with low paying jobs, and move out.
Both have many needs that a community must fill out of necessity, but while the elderly are looking for a better hospital, the young are looking for a better school for their little kids. When there's only enough funding for one, not both, big expectation problems arise.
Bozeman is now too large to ever go back to what it was, and too small to accommodate everyone who wants a life there. That doesn't stop the folks from coming, though.
Last edited by banjomike; 11-28-2015 at 01:16 PM..
Kootenai county's population (almost) doubled between 1990 and 2010. 25 years ago there were less than 70k people in the county. Now it's 150k. The CDA metro just recently overtook the Idaho Falls MSA for the 2nd largest in the state. People aren't moving to CDA because it's some kind of economic mecca full of high wage jobs - it's absolutely full of people who relocated there from somewhere else - usually from higher priced markets like California. With the home equity and pensions many transplants were able to bring with them, they could survive on lower wages or retire altogether while still living a great quality of life, so the area continues to grow. It's still very affordable and still offers a great quality of life. You're just noticing the impact that people in similar positions as yourself have been having on the area for the past several decades. There were people like your neighbors and friends who decided to move out of CDA in the 90s "because of all the Californians" and there will probably be people (maybe yourselves included?) who decide to move out in the teens and 20s "because of all the Californians".
To be candid, it sounds like you didn't do enough research before moving. Coeur d'Alene has been a resort town with high population growth for a long time. It's well marketed and fairly well known - especially targeted by retirees. Definitely not some place to choose if your priorities are a permanently low cost of living and a small town atmosphere. You might be happier in some other lesser known towns without a history of strong immigration from other states.
In my defense, we did a lot of research before making the move. We visited the are and stayed in each of the seasons, over a years time. We also visited other states when we had decided to leave CA. Yet you make some very valid points. I am just surprised on the rise in general rudeness, from the common passing person now. I love the geographical area, I love the seasonal changes. We are looking to build a home further out, ie... east athol spirit lake, rathdrum, etc...... We love those areas, but the prices are drastically going up steadily. The real estate agents we have spoken too all state the same thing, "We can't keep anything on the market, because everything is being bought up by out of staters."
This is def a different place then we once thought it was. I still love it here, like I stated, I find it ironic my wife is the one pushing to get away from the stupid people lol. I guess due to my Military service, and Law Enforcement years, I have grown to be less tolerate of most people. I have always been very old school, and have raised my children with traditional manners, and common respect for you fellow man. Simple things, like saying Thank you, and opening doors for strangers can go a long way to make someones day. I guess my true fear is that this area is getting away from what I perceived it to be, and that begs the question, "Am I willing to except the changes?"
Your kidding, right? You moved here from CA, now your complaining about people moving here from CA.
I knew this post would eventually happen. So to answer your question, Yes and also no. I am talking about a certain element of people. Not ALL people, if you had read my post I am thinking you would have understood that. But I do get the irony, and I am also not taking the bait you are luring in front of me.
Humans oppose changes not understood. Years ago, socialists referred to this natural opposition as The R C Factor. R C stood for Resistance to Change.
If you think about it, change is happening everywhere. Not just in the Panhandle, or the State of Idaho, or the United States of America, but in the World. Everywhere. Most of the changes are acceptable - even joyful - while others are downright troubling or even unacceptable.
Joyful changes can include your graduation, your marriage, the addition of children to your family, and so on. These are some changes that you create. Troubling changes usually impact you in a negative way and are beyond your control.
If you are in a good place - a desirable place - others will be attracted. It will change things. Costs will go up as demand increases. Taxes will go up as agencies require greater funding to maintain the infrastructure or the expansion of their departments. Those kind of changes are really out of our control.
For some reason, a few folks in Idaho are sure that negative changes here can be blamed on the influx of Californians. And worse, they think that added difficulties are sure to occur when additional relocating Californians show up. I don’t believe it.
I did meet a couple who moved here from California that I didn’t like. Then there was that miserable pair from Wisconsin, the terrible duo from Nevada, that awful twosome from Arkansas…well, you get the idea. Bad people can come from anywhere.
As a last resort, we could ask Donald Trump to get the Mexican government to build us a fence…
In my defense, we did a lot of research before making the move. We visited the are and stayed in each of the seasons, over a years time. We also visited other states when we had decided to leave CA. Yet you make some very valid points. I am just surprised on the rise in general rudeness, from the common passing person now. I love the geographical area, I love the seasonal changes. We are looking to build a home further out, ie... east athol spirit lake, rathdrum, etc...... We love those areas, but the prices are drastically going up steadily. The real estate agents we have spoken too all state the same thing, "We can't keep anything on the market, because everything is being bought up by out of staters."
This is def a different place then we once thought it was. I still love it here, like I stated, I find it ironic my wife is the one pushing to get away from the stupid people lol. I guess due to my Military service, and Law Enforcement years, I have grown to be less tolerate of most people. I have always been very old school, and have raised my children with traditional manners, and common respect for you fellow man. Simple things, like saying Thank you, and opening doors for strangers can go a long way to make someones day. I guess my true fear is that this area is getting away from what I perceived it to be, and that begs the question, "Am I willing to except the changes?"
I hear what you're saying. Only I thought exactly that about CDA back in 2006 when we were looking at moving here, thus our move to Sagle and our use of Sandpoint as our center of commerce/social life.
You probably would have been much better off moving to Bonners Ferry (or somewhere well outside of town)...sounds like that's more suited to your general outlook anyhow. I'm surprised you moved to CDA in the first place, to be frank.
You folks are correct about change. I grew up around the Honolulu area thru the 1960s. Needless to say one would not recognize the Oahu of then to what is there now. On a world wide scale, human population is approx. 7 billion. Two hundred years ago it was about 1 billion. I think that places an overall squeeze pretty much everywhere. Likewise 200 years ago the US population was about 5 million...now it is about 320 million. Reminds me of that old song... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABbc-O_3_Ac
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
