How To Avoid Rich Liberals In Oregon (Portland, Eugene: appointed, crimes)
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Not sure what your agenda is, but I am assuming you do not want to be around snobs. My observation is that they come in all political stripes. The Ashland culture is highly influenced by the exurban Bay Area immigrants who made a killing in the last California real estate bubble. Yes, they can be annoying, and rich. But they have good qualities too. They support the schools, really care about the town and environment. The issue is partly that as a recent, high status cultural layer, they do not seem very interested in the culture of rural Oregon. However, now the the bubble is fading, we will probably be seeing more locals move back into Ashland, and less Californians. That said, you observed right that Ashland markets itself strongly to the urban wealthy. Namely, the type that will drive hundreds of miles to come to a Shakespeare play. And they aren't all coming from Medford and Redding.
My favorite real Oregon town, with liberals, conservatives, cowboys, and hippies is La Grande. A gorgeous region that is not overcrowded or overpriced. A college town. If you can just find a job! You might also like Moscow, Idaho. A nice college town that is not too full of itself. Corvallis and Eugene are both down to earth too, but a bit rainy for me.
I would recommend Linn County which is between Oregon Liberal bastians like Lane (Eugene) and Benton (Corvailis) Counties. It votes GOP and has more than the average number of fundamentalist Churches and Charter schools. The Santiam Pass and the US Army Corps of Engineer dams and Lakes provide great recreation and if you don't like people much there are places where your nearest neighbor might be 20-50 miles away..
Not sure what your agenda is, but I am assuming you do not want to be around snobs. My observation is that they come in all political stripes. The Ashland culture is highly influenced by the exurban Bay Area immigrants who made a killing in the last California real estate bubble. Yes, they can be annoying, and rich. But they have good qualities too. They support the schools, really care about the town and environment. The issue is partly that as a recent, high status cultural layer, they do not seem very interested in the culture of rural Oregon. However, now the the bubble is fading, we will probably be seeing more locals move back into Ashland, and less Californians. That said, you observed right that Ashland markets itself strongly to the urban wealthy. Namely, the type that will drive hundreds of miles to come to a Shakespeare play. And they aren't all coming from Medford and Redding.
My favorite real Oregon town, with liberals, conservatives, cowboys, and hippies is La Grande. A gorgeous region that is not overcrowded or overpriced. A college town. If you can just find a job! You might also like Moscow, Idaho. A nice college town that is not too full of itself. Corvallis and Eugene are both down to earth too, but a bit rainy for me.
If they care about schools and the environment, and perhaps volunteer or vote for taxes or candidates to support these programs (versus doing nothing, or running a deficit), then that's fantastic - there are some places that claim to care about schools and the environment, and then the voters never show up at the polls (like in Flagstaff, Arizona, for example).
What is important is to find a place with a sense of community where people care about each other, including schools and the environment. Many Western towns that receive California, Illinois, and NY transplants don't allocate enough resources towards the homeless, disabled, GLBT community, unemployed, uninsured, etc.
You could seek out trailer parks to live, within walking distance to a Walmart and/or Hooters restaurant. I think churches with hand painted signs, and lots of pick up trucks with re-tread tires out on the road is an excellent indication. Check into the rate of teenagers who become parents and don't graduate from high school. I think that will give you an idea of the kind of place you would fit in well.
Bottom line... Don't try to avoid ANYONE! I think you're WAY over thinking this.
Ditto! From your attitude in this thread, I don't think you'll have to worry about avoiding them; they'll likely do a good job of avoiding you.
Your major concern seems to be how to avoid an important segment of the population, yet you claim that "What is important is to find a place with a sense of community where people care about each other...." I don't care where you move to, if you go there with the attitude that you want to avoid wealthy people, liberal people, retired people, poor people, or conservative people, you may as well stay where you are. It takes all kinds to make the world go around. Trying to ignore half the population isn't the best way to be accepted anywhere.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tilegirl
You could seek out trailer parks to live, within walking distance to a Walmart and/or Hooters restaurant. I think churches with hand painted signs, and lots of pick up trucks with re-tread tires out on the road is an excellent indication. Check into the rate of teenagers who become parents and don't graduate from high school. I think that will give you an idea of the kind of place you would fit in well.
You could seek out trailer parks to live, within walking distance to a Walmart and/or Hooters restaurant. (truncated)
That's not the issue and neither are the percentage of charter schools. I'm referring to places such as Santa Fe, NM and Flagstaff, AZ where liberals are very rich, unfriendly, yet the infrastructure is in poor shape, City-Data crime stats are high, and in Flagstaff, nobody votes and schools are closed down. Hard to get a job when it's like this!
I would be concerned that this could also be the case in Eugene, Ashland, Bend, etc. I don't know what this "ashland attitude" is all about (mentioned in the other thread). However, if people in Ashland are indeed all from California, then I would not have any issues, although I see here that Oregonians have problems with Californians!LOL
There are very cohesive, friendly communities in our nation, and others that are very unaccepting. In this recession, the sense of community often determines whether or not a newcomer stays a few months, or several years. Rich liberals can be exclusionary and territorial, although in my experience, this is not the case in the Bay Area or Seattle. I am speaking in generalizations yet it's a result of negative experiences in other places.
I am a big 'ol educated liberal, and by some standards I am well off finacially. I ALWAYS vote for school bond issues, although I do not have children of my own. I have not missed an election since I turned 18 years old. I talk to most people I meet, and have a very eclectic group of friends. Some of them even pick-up truck driving, blue collar, "GED" possessing conservatives! Because I tend to hand around with people who are smart (regardless of education) nice, and interesting to talk with. What I do avoid is people who pre-judge others, based on arbitrary standard dreamed up by Bill O'Rielly. Take a look inside yourself, and really think about what makes a good neighbor.
Rich liberals can be exclusionary and territorial, although in my experience, this is not the case in the Bay Area or Seattle.
So can poor ones, and conservative ones and just about anybody in any walk of life. You would be better off being more open minded towards others. Maybe the problems you have had in the past with "rich liberals" was realy the result of your attitude towards them. Open your mind and you will find that there are good and bad people everywhere. And please do it before you decide to move here.
So can poor ones, and conservative ones and just about anybody in any walk of life. You would be better off being more open minded towards others. Maybe the problems you have had in the past with "rich liberals" was realy the result of your attitude towards them. Open your mind and you will find that there are good and bad people everywhere. And please do it before you decide to move here.
In this case, that's not the case. I'm relating personal experiences, not soliciting psychological advice. For the record, it was the attitude of these rich liberals towards me that was the issue. To them, your politics were all that mattered in personal relationships. Losing friendships, and getting thrown off yahoo boards, just because I provided political suggestions on how to improve the quality of life, by recruiting businesses with Liberal and Libertarian values (like Eugene and Ashland have).
That's not an uncommon story from ex-Flagstaff residents. Or, over in Santa Fe, they deleted all of my postings on a political Wikipedia site, because they had a political disagreement with ONLY 5% of the material I posted on their site.
I will never again move to a City that does not highly value, and respect, the suggestions of progressive, educated, forward thinking newcomers. Nor will I move to a place where your political point of view determines whether or not you can make friends w/ someone. These are the bad experiences I'm talking about. Having spent over 20 years in Seattle where these things don't happen, I know there are places where these are simply not issues.
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