Western Pioneers in the Burgh (Pittsburgh: to move, air pollution, area)

[Fiddlehead]

Have I seen it?!

Watched it several times, though it was actually filmed in large part around Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Anton Chigurh was the ultimate badass, and that scene where he lights the car, then cooly walks in to get his drugs at the pharmacy is just beyond cool.

Exactly how it'll go down when I hit the Burgh........................"Call it!"

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

I had no beef with the Texans at all. They seemed friendly.

Ever see the movie "No Country for Old Men?" Hillarious dark humor!

I wondered if Texans wouldn't laugh at the humor because it's just normal communicating to them.

(Don't go telling me that's not how Texans really talk! I enjoy living in my own reality!)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

Have I seen it?!

Watched it several times, though it was actually filmed in large part around Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Anton Chigurh was the ultimate badass, and that scene where he lights the car, then cooly walks in to get his drugs at the pharmacy is just beyond cool.

I edited my post and now it appears after yours!

I watched it for the first time yesterday. My teenage son and I were laughing our asses off. I'll have to watch it again and again.

There were so many great scenes and lines! I'm not one for slapstick humor.....

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

Exactly how it'll go down when I hit the Burgh........................"Call it!"

Now you can stay up there in Oregon. We don't need your kind around here.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

You are right that it is locals selling houses, and that the Californians aren't the source of all evil. I am hardly copping out to describe things from my position. I live in a town, Ashland, Oregon, where the impact of retiring and flipping, and McMansion building Californians has been massive.
I don't want to debate this other than to say people who were priced out have a reason for their resentment, and it is valid, not a cop-out to say why the folks driving up the home prices are sometimes resented. Please don't be insulting, it does not strengthen your argument.

While Texas housing is affordable now, during the 1980s oil boom Texans were riding high, bought a lot of real estate in Colorado, and were resented. Granted that was in Durango area in about 1985. I had no beef with the Texans at all. They seemed friendly.

Sorry you took what I said so personally. It wasn't meant that way. There are lots of anti-Californians on the Colorado forum as well, and this very conversation is going on there. It may not have been the best choice of words, but it is certainly wrong to blame everything on the Californians.

I was in Colorado in the 1980s. It wasn't quite that way, in metro Denver. Housing has always been less expensive in Texas.

Dallas Housing Sales, Prices and Listings

Houston Housing Sales, Prices and Listings

I couldn't find a similar table for Denver, but you will see that it is listed as one of the 20 most expensive markets in the US.

Articles & Commentary

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Sorry you took what I said so personally. It wasn't meant that way. There are lots of anti-Californians on the Colorado forum as well, and this very conversation is going on there. It may not have been the best choice of words, but it is certainly wrong to blame everything on the Californians.

I was in Colorado in the 1980s. It wasn't quite that way, in metro Denver. Housing has always been less expensive in Texas.

Dallas Housing Sales, Prices and Listings

Houston Housing Sales, Prices and Listings

I couldn't find a similar table for Denver, but you will see that it is listed as one of the 20 most expensive markets in the US.

Articles & Commentary

Katiana,

Let's agree to disagree on this one, to a degree....I will concede that Californians should not be scapegoated for all the ills of Colorado or any place else. However, I was saying that the resentment some people feel is genuine, and I will stand by that.

For instance, I have never been able to afford a decent 3br/2 ba 1500 sf home in Ashland, although we have lived here since 2002, and we earn over $100k/year. I have no confidence in the valuations, even now. Needless to say none of my employees can either, nor the university professors here. Two of our five schools have closed for loss of kids and familes. So the retiring Californian effect is very real in smaller target towns throughout the West. I would think the effect would be smaller in a large metro like Denver, but it is huge in places like:

Bend, OR
Medford/Ashland, OR
Bozeman, MT
Flagstaff, AZ
Columbia, MO
Santa Fe, NM
Brookings, OR
Boise, CO
Jackson Hole, WY
Reno, NV
etc.,etc.

And for those individuals who cannot afford to buy a decent home in their hometowns, the resentment is a natural feeling. And I never said feeling resentful will change anything for the better, it is just a natural response. Now, I don't doubt you are speaking truthfully from your experience, don't dismiss or simplify mine.

[Tiger Beer]

It has just been one day, but a lot of things to comment on!

1) Juliegt mentioned parking in San Francisco! That was a big problem when I lived out there...i recall just tons of people (and myself) going around and around blocks just waiting for someone to pull out. Once they did, every moving car around's brake lights would go, wondering how they could get that spot.

Additionally, by the time you find parking, you are so far from whatever store/place you wanted to go, that your parking meter would probably expire, and the second it expires, the tow trucks are READY to tow...uggh.

2) CALIFORNIANS possibly going to PITTSBURGH. I don't think they will go there either. I like Californians myself, but I think their #1 priority is somewhere that is still in the Rocky Mountains. The few that I've noticed that get out of the West, seem to go to some area in the South...like Arkansas or Oklahoma it seems. It seems to me.

3) Juliegt, Providence (RI) weather seems similar to Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh seems a lot better. But I've been viewing and really examining most underrated cities, and Providence seems to qualify as good quality and reasonable housing prices comparitively. Still though, when I view google maps, I think Pittsburgh just looks cool - the dotted hillsides and such in particular. But Victorians in particular, it seems Providence has an abundance of them, and has something San Francisco-esque about it, but in a totally different kind of way.

#4) MOVING PATTERNS. From what I've noticed in general, every region has its group of people they don't like. In Miami, they don't like the Cubans coming in. In the South, they don't like the Yankees. In New England, they don't like the Boston folk moving in. In North Carolina they don't like the Floridians OR Northeasterners, and the Floridans are often 'half-backers' - meaning they went to Florida but it was too hot and too far from home, so they moved half back home! It goes on and on...(smile). But overwhelmingly, with the Midwest, anyone who moves there, still has that 'WOW factor, oh, you're interested in us?'

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

It has just been one day, but a lot of things to comment on!

1) Juliegt mentioned parking in San Francisco! That was a big problem when I lived out there...i recall just tons of people (and myself) going around and around blocks just waiting for someone to pull out. Once they did, every moving car around's brake lights would go, wondering how they could get that spot.

Additionally, by the time you find parking, you are so far from whatever store/place you wanted to go, that your parking meter would probably expire, and the second it expires, the tow trucks are READY to tow...uggh.

2) CALIFORNIANS possibly going to PITTSBURGH. I don't think they will go there either. I like Californians myself, but I think their #1 priority is somewhere that is still in the Rocky Mountains. The few that I've noticed that get out of the West, seem to go to some area in the South...like Arkansas or Oklahoma it seems. It seems to me.

3) Juliegt, Providence (RI) weather seems similar to Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh seems a lot better. But I've been viewing and really examining most underrated cities, and Providence seems to qualify as good quality and reasonable housing prices comparitively. Still though, when I view google maps, I think Pittsburgh just looks cool - the dotted hillsides and such in particular. But Victorians in particular, it seems Providence has an abundance of them, and has something San Francisco-esque about it, but in a totally different kind of way.

#4) MOVING PATTERNS. From what I've noticed in general, every region has its group of people they don't like. In Miami, they don't like the Cubans coming in. In the South, they don't like the Yankees. In New England, they don't like the Boston folk moving in. In North Carolina they don't like the Floridians OR Northeasterners, and the Floridans are often 'half-backers' - meaning they went to Florida but it was too hot and too far from home, so they moved half back home! It goes on and on...(smile). But overwhelmingly, with the Midwest, anyone who moves there, still has that 'WOW factor, oh, you're interested in us?'

Tiger Beer,

This post is very informative and seems spot on from my experience. I was trying to point out above that trashing the Californians is just one manifestation of a worldwife phenomenon. Probably silly, but in nearly all th examples you mention, someone with money is supposedly messing things up for someone else.

And we haven't even mentioned the other socieconomic extreme, where poor people move in and often bring crime and get on assistance. People get even more fired up about that! LOL!

Nice summary!

To speak to Pittsburgh, even some rich bubblers coming from Cali, or DC, would probably not have a huge effect unless they started buying homes like Happy Meals as investments. like they did in Phoenix and Las Vegas. A few moving in with great startup ideas might be a good thing.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

And we haven't even mentioned the other socieconomic extreme, where poor people move in and often bring crime and get on assistance. People get even more fired up about that! LOL!

I noticed that with Sacramento on their forum! There was one area, Elk Grove, that looked kind of cool on google maps. Apparently South Sacramento is the 'scuzz' of the area, and Elk Grove was this new beautiful area, but with all of the foreclosures and such, all of the riff-raff gravitated into Elk Grove and destroyed it. Apparently.

That was the affordable reasonable & affordable area of Sacramento that looked good to me...so with that knowledge, Sacramento goes scratched off my list! Sounds like an enormous gang problem in Sacramento.

----

Pittsburgh & Vegas still remain at the top of my 'to move' list, never in doubt anyways...50/50...and checking out New England a bit, but doesn't compete so far.

[juliegt]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Funny! You and Fiddlehead are welcome to move to Pittsburgh. You both can help us screen future Californian migrants.

Glad to be of service!

[juliegt]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

Well, being the wage slave that I am, I have to get a good job there first!

Juliegt has great posts and a good attitude. I think she would be better qualified than me.

That said, I suspect the weather will do the best job. Many (but not all) Californians love their warmth and sun, and the cloudy, cold winters will keep them at bay better than anything else, I would suspect.

Not me though! There is no escape.....!

With the exception of San Franciscans, they are used to urban living and gray weather.