why are some people so mad? (Missoula, Drummond: camp, maintenance, tax)

[whatupitsdani]

i agree. and i wish that people would remember this is America. we are all Americans. that unites us. so yeah, im moving from philly, which has so many stereotypes i could stack and sell them. but montana has stereotypes too. and i dont listen to that stuff, until people start telling me i wont survive, coming from a big city like philadelphia. telling me that i wont have friends, that people wont accept me. that i'll be bored. telling me to open a strip joint? to be a bar tender? to learn to appreciate wildlife, because apparently i dont or something? is that really your impression of city life?

wow, people. grow up. accept me, and accept all the other who want to live wherever they so choose to...gotta say, in my mind, i pictured very friendly and pleasant people, who had some of that hospitality that i knew down south.

ive got a good impression on the life, but not on the people.

[jenzebel]

Boof--you are right on with your comments. I am angry about what is happening to Montana and yes, it has come through in this forum. I do feel for those that have lost the fight to keep the culture of their home state intact and now face urban sprawl and blight. I can only imagine, for example, what an incredibly wonderful place California was at one time--with beaches, mountains, deserts and fertile valleys. But as you've said, they lost the fight--we haven't yet. And I don't plan on stopping just because I may hurt someone's feeling. It is that important.

[jenzebel]

Originally Posted by lorelei2873

This is what I find so funny...why is it kind of seen as morally wrong not to want more people to move here? I live in Montana because I don't want to be around a lot of people, no matter how wonderful their ideals and manners are. I don't want more people to move here. I will probably be very friendly and open to a new person who I meet who just moved to Montana. However, as a concept, I do not want our number of persons per square mile to go up. I'm going to get a lot of "you can't fight progress." Well, I know I can't fight progress, but it doesn't mean I have to embrace a big population increase. It's nothing personal. I don't really care about how bad it is in other states compared to Montana. It doesn't matter to me. It's not a relative discussion. I just don't want things to continue to get worse. I should not have to feel shamed for wanting to maintain the life I grew up with...I don't want to be posting on the Alaska board in 15 years (no offense to Alaska) with questions about moving there. We shouldn't have to feel bad for wanting to keep our Montana culture from eroding away.

I loved the post from the person from California. It's not quite exactly where I'm coming from, but a lot of the points about protecting your lifestyle are really on target.

Right on Lorelei! People were so angry over my postings that they starting personally attacking me--for was telling it like it is and accurately portraying the problems we have in Montana (like Meth) that many seem to think we don't have here and for saying I don't want to see growth and more people moving here. I don't care if I am politically correct or not--I don't want to see Montana change and I am tired of people that want to move here telling me I should just get used to it.

[ComputerUser000]

Im a Yankee from New England, but have lived in North Dakota... New Hampshire..Connecticut.. Florida..Alabama...Mississippi and SOuth Carolina!

If I could, I'd return to North Dakota.. or venture into Montana for a broadcasting job! Why? Not because I saw it "in some movie"...but because I enjoyed my time in that neck of the woods for several reasons..... based on PERSONALI EXPIERIENCE.. not something someone else told me or i saw on tv.

[gfgirl]

Originally Posted by halliwellalien

i have been reading the posts here, and most of what i have been reading makes it seem like some of you just dont want ANYONE to move to montana. you blame everything on the 'outsiders'. have you ever thought that some of us want to go to a place where we can live and survive?

where i live now, a 3bd 1 ba house with a very small yard (if any) will cost you about 700k. i have lived here most of my life and i am already sad about having to leave. but, i am not bitter toward anyone who moves here. whether they have money or not. change will happen whether you like it or not.

please stop blaming everyone for the bad things. good and bad are everywhere. some of us really do want to move to montana because of the beauty we see. not to make it worse.

Ok, but if everyone moves to Montana and builds a house than how beautiful is Montana really going to be? The scenery will be destroyed, because you will see nothing but houses.

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

Won't have to worry about me movin there. After spending last week in northern Idaho, and driving home through the Bitterroot Valley, I am cured of my curiosity about Western MT. It's nice, don't get me wrong, I just felt more comfortable in ID.

[MT & NV Girl]

JoeJoeMan, I have to agree with your opinions, even though they seem to be wildly unpopular (eh, I've never been one to "run with the pack" anyway)! I came back to Montana to get my son out of bad schools, but it literally destroyed me financially. Sad, but true. If we could find a way to have decent paying jobs and still keep Montana like Montana, we'd be set. I do agree that people move here because of some romantic notion they've conjured up about living in Montana. We ARE being overrun with people who have made their money elsewhere and then bought up the land in Montana that born and raised Montanans can't afford to buy. So, I say you can't fight it, so I'm off to another state again to make some money. Maybe someday I'll be able to buy a little acre or something in my home state to retire on. Who knows?

[JoeJoeMan]

MT & MV Girl wrote

JoeJoeMan, I have to agree with your opinions, even though they seem to be wildly unpopular (eh, I've never been one to "run with the pack" anyway)! I came back to Montana to get my son out of bad schools, but it literally destroyed me financially. Sad, but true. If we could find a way to have decent paying jobs and still keep Montana like Montana, we'd be set. I do agree that people move here because of some romantic notion they've conjured up about living in Montana. We ARE being overrun with people who have made their money elsewhere and then bought up the land in Montana that born and raised Montanans can't afford to buy. So, I say you can't fight it, so I'm off to another state again to make some money. Maybe someday I'll be able to buy a little acre or something in my home state to retire on. Who knows?

My heart goes out for you....best of luck, I do hope it all works out for you. You're right you really can't fight it, as much as you'd like to. It has been one of the biggest tradgedies in my life, in many ways I feel like all the things I worked for and hope for someday have just been snatched out from underneath me....I always thought....someday I'd get it all together, have security, home and all and then as it seemed in my grasp it all pulled away from me and I was reaching and reaching to catch up and never quite did, just like you I couldn't compete with all the out of state money coming in, so home ownership has just become a thing of the past for me, not to mention my children.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by whatupitsdani

ive got a good impression on the life, but not on the people.

I think you'd find MT folks friendly enough, provided you don't try to change their way of life. But if you're one of those people who are trying to change the MT way of life, you might find the MT life and people hard to adapt to, and a lot of hard feelings along the way.

See, that's one of the things that makes Montana what it is -- live and let live and DON'T intrude on how the next guy lives. What's not your own place is none of your business.

Quite unlike California, where it's all about forcing the entire neighbourhood to conform, and if that means new neighbours drive out old ones, oh well!! Unfortunately, it seems that mindset is invading MT -- concomitant with all the yuppie money.

[mark6052]

on a recent drive across washington I ran across two different couples from MT that are moving to central WA. because they cant afford western MT and the type of people moving in. so goes the migration.