What's Missoula like? (Billings, Great Falls, Bozeman: for sale, how much, home)

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by backdrifter

You can pay for those groceries. You already do actually! It's called "food stamps."

Yep... because if you keep people on the dole, they'll vote for whoever legislates to more easily keep them on the dole. Much better for politicians than when people take responsibility for themselves and subsequently discover that those politicians are robbing them to give to others, often better able to do for themselves than those who had to pay up.

"He who robs Peter to pay Paul is assured of Paul's vote."

"The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else." -- Adrian Rogers (1931)

[tisesdr]

Originally Posted by montanahogrider

Missoula is a medium sized city, but very large for Montana standards. It has a great downtown core of quaint shops and coffee houses and places where the students of the great University of Montana hang out. It is a growing city planted in the center of the beautiful Bitterroot Valley. Its a trucking transportation hub for Montana and as such has many trucking companies calling it home. Skiing, hiking, snowmobiling, fishing, flying, backpacking, swimming, hot springs, hunting, boating, rafting, rock climbing, grizzly bear and nature watching are all just minutes away. Plentiful jobs for the professional and blue collar workers abound. Missoula has a fairly low crime rate for cities its size but still has some serious offenses happen. Land values are high in the Bitterroot but bargains can still be had. Montanans have a fierce pride in our state and we like or politics local. Visit here first and be prepared for the friendliness that most other states find peculiar.

this sounds like what i want to come and see. been wanting to visit montana for yrs.

[Ribtek]

I will be moving to Missoula after finishing college here in Ohio. I am a white, married Conservative Christian male. I am also a former Marine, and enjoy Bowhunting with my Longbow and Fishing. It's really sad to here that the Liberal hoard or is it (Progressives) have taken over such a beautiful western town as Missoula. I live near Antioch College which is in the Liberal town of Yellow Springs. Liberals are walking contradictions and if left unchecked they will spread like cockroaches. They oppose the military, yet they love the freedom that comes from having a strong military. They tell you that they love life and everyone should be equal and have a chance at life, yet most are Pro-Choice and think that abortion is just another form of contraception instead of murder. They hate capitalism, yet they love YOUR money and expect you to give it to them for doing nothing to earn it. They hate the oil companies, but I have yet to see any of them ride through town on a horse. Stop shopping in their crappy stores and vote them out of the Government positions that they occupy.

[MrBoz]

Missoula is an insular, progressive and unduly narcissistic enclave with a wealth of outdoor beauty at its doorstep.

The good: A true sense of community born from the fact that all folks are connected by one-degree of separation - that is, any two people have a common acquaintance; any time you step out, you are likely to run into someone you know. For a town its size, Missoula has a very vibrant cultural community with galleries, performing arts, craft fairs. The Montana Grizzlies are among the elite franchises in 1AA football and attract 25,000-30,000 fans for every home game. The University of Montana is a well regarded academic institution with stellar programs in creative writing, business, forestry, pharmacy and journalism. The outdoors and all its splendor is literally at your doorstep: fishing, hiking, camping, rafting; In the summer, the northern latitude and proximity just east of the pacific time zone create long days that end after 10pm - providing ample time to enjoy the outdoors. A vigorous downtown district with a full plate of festivals, outdoor markets, concerts and events. There are a number of excellent restaurants and cafes to suit your pallette. No sales tax. Great local beer.

The Bad: Long winters with little sunshine and predominantly gray days. A depressed economy with few employment opportunities: Missoula has a high ratio of bartenders and service people with advanced degrees. High cost of living as a result of transplanted money and anti-growth policies that keep the supply down and the demand high. A lack of diversity (92% white). High drug use, especially methanphetimine and the crime that comes with it. Expensive and difficult to get anywhere - flights are expensive and the distance to any metropolitan area (Seattle, Denver ... even Spokane) is a long drive. Icy winter roads and high incidence of car-animal encounters. Activity options run out quickly if you are not an outdoor enthusiast.

The ugly: Intolerant progressive community. A political disposition that suffers the ideology of the transient and liberal college community (students that are around a few years, vote, and move) and well funded transplants from the eastern and western coastal cities. Brain drain - an economic condition that causes the best and brightest to seek opportunity elsewhere. Run down trailer parks. A main strip through town that is highlighted by shuttered businesses, old strip malls, liquor stores, aluminum buildings and adult shops. Nickle and dime casino's all over the city - I've seen mothers in smoke-filled rooms feeding their welfare checks into keno machines while their babies sit in car seats next to them at 9am on a weekday morning.

In short Missoula can be summed up as a diversly homogenous community (All Caucasion: punks, rednecks, white trash, hippies, cowboys, college professors, lawyers, blue collars, nature lovers ...) who all enjoy poverty with a view. Heaven in the summer and hell froze over in the winter.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by MrBoz

Missoula is an insular, progressive and unduly narcissistic enclave with a wealth of outdoor beauty at its doorstep.

No wonder I could never tell Missoula from San Francisco

Oh, and you forgot the aging hippies

[Threerun]

Originally Posted by MrBoz

Missoula is an insular, progressive and unduly narcissistic enclave with a wealth of outdoor beauty at its doorstep.

The good: A true sense of community born from the fact that all folks are connected by one-degree of separation - that is, any two people have a common acquaintance; any time you step out, you are likely to run into someone you know. For a town its size, Missoula has a very vibrant cultural community with galleries, performing arts, craft fairs. The Montana Grizzlies are among the elite franchises in 1AA football and attract 25,000-30,000 fans for every home game. The University of Montana is a well regarded academic institution with stellar programs in creative writing, business, forestry, pharmacy and journalism. The outdoors and all its splendor is literally at your doorstep: fishing, hiking, camping, rafting; In the summer, the northern latitude and proximity just east of the pacific time zone create long days that end after 10pm - providing ample time to enjoy the outdoors. A vigorous downtown district with a full plate of festivals, outdoor markets, concerts and events. There are a number of excellent restaurants and cafes to suit your pallette. No sales tax. Great local beer.

The Bad: Long winters with little sunshine and predominantly gray days. A depressed economy with few employment opportunities: Missoula has a high ratio of bartenders and service people with advanced degrees. High cost of living as a result of transplanted money and anti-growth policies that keep the supply down and the demand high. A lack of diversity (92% white). High drug use, especially methanphetimine and the crime that comes with it. Expensive and difficult to get anywhere - flights are expensive and the distance to any metropolitan area (Seattle, Denver ... even Spokane) is a long drive. Icy winter roads and high incidence of car-animal encounters. Activity options run out quickly if you are not an outdoor enthusiast.

The ugly: Intolerant progressive community. A political disposition that suffers the ideology of the transient and liberal college community (students that are around a few years, vote, and move) and well funded transplants from the eastern and western coastal cities. Brain drain - an economic condition that causes the best and brightest to seek opportunity elsewhere. Run down trailer parks. A main strip through town that is highlighted by shuttered businesses, old strip malls, liquor stores, aluminum buildings and adult shops. Nickle and dime casino's all over the city - I've seen mothers in smoke-filled rooms feeding their welfare checks into keno machines while their babies sit in car seats next to them at 9am on a weekday morning.

In short Missoula can be summed up as a diversly homogenous community (All Caucasion: punks, rednecks, white trash, hippies, cowboys, college professors, lawyers, blue collars, nature lovers ...) who all enjoy poverty with a view. Heaven in the summer and hell froze over in the winter.

I'm not sure if I quite get it yet. Care to elaborate?

[RogueMom]

Too funny!

I lived in the Bitteroot Valley for a couple of years and worked in Missoula every day (I found this forum while living there, hence my forum name). Mr. Boz has absolutely nailed it. Great writing!

[MrBoz]

Originally Posted by Threerun

I'm not sure if I quite get it yet. Care to elaborate?

I did forget to mention the summer forest fires and the smoke that just sits in the "bowl" of the five valleys for days (if not weeks).

[RogueMom]

Yes, I worked in the Southgate mall, and two summers ago the whole mall was a little "foggy" inside from the smoke. You got used to it though.

I do have to credit Missoula, and Montana in general for the personal safety factor. Crime was miniscule there compared to what it is here in the Carolinas, and most other areas of the country in general. And the hip-hop "thug" thing was pleasantly, virtually absent from the culture. That's ONE thing I didn't miss at all while I was out there. It was more a college, "skater dude" culture among the young people. Oh, and a lot of cases of too many body piercings. But I never felt so personally "safe" anywhere I have lived. That being said, it was too shut off from the rest of the "world" for me, at this point in life. Like everything else, it's a trade-off.

[Heart]

Although my husband has to work in Missoula every day, I would never live there. As it is, I try my best to avoid going there. Believe it or not, the traffic on Reserve and the way people drive is so out of control.... it makes looking like going down a freeway in California easy as pie. We were recently hit on Reserve by someone not paying attention and going to fast. I was injured on top of my the health issues I'm fighting already. I consider myself young too.... but that city is just not for me. We had to go downtown one day to handle some business, and there was someone on the corner on top of a box with a bullhorn preaching about the wonders of having marijuana.... and really, I don't want to hear that. I felt like I was transported back to Berkeley, Ca. All that's missing now are the dancing Hare Krishna's, but I'm sure that will be next.

I'm starting to feel that the very thing I tried to escape has landed in Missoula! lol
But it's okay..... I can still leave the city and come back home to my quiet little town.