Coeur d'Alene - Paradise Destroyed (Idaho Falls, Moscow: transplants, house, tenant)

[ejay]

Originally Posted by Trace_Rinaldi

BTW Unc... Lets see some pics of those nasty Ghetto homes....HAHAHAHA.... AND yeah there are a few Tat shops... SO WHAT? whats wrong with a little ink? Does that make a city bad in your opinion?

Tattoo's have been done for a good LONG time... If your looking for a town without a tattoo shop your looking for a spot in the North Pole I suppose... The guy that does my Ink had a shop in Pullman... How do you feel about being so close to a place that does such evil works??...LOL...

I will take some photos of some boarded up houses and some rude people and traffic. They are everywhere around here. Traffic here sucks now. Go for a drive at 4 am and that is what it used to be like here at 4 in the afternoon. You newbies around here have no idea how nice this place was before the internet. I know that from where you all came from it sucks it's just too bad that people keep acting like they are still in the city when they are not. This is the country folks it's not the city. It's a place for simple living and a slow pace. So Cal is not a slow pace and neither is CDA now with all the Southern influence. It's only going to get worse over time....

[unclebigs]

I guess the newcomers to CDA don't know what it used to be like. Post Falls metro area now has 42,000 people and has more than tripled in 20 years. CDA city limits is over 41,000 people and this is a small area. Hayden has 13,000 people in just 7.85 square miles, up 40% since year 2000. This area used to be a place where you can relax away from the stresses of the City. Now, this has all the stresses of a big City. It is a big City. Try traveling any time of the day between CDA and Hayden on Hwy 95 or Government Way. Nasty! Those of you who love the area....God bless you. I've been coming to CDA since the mid-80's and the change is enough to make you cry. From my perspective, it's truly Paradise Destroyed.

[Count David]

When I used to think of Coeur d'Alene, I didn't think of tract homes, big-box stores, and traffic.

Now I do.

It was a different place....even way back in the 90's.

[Keim]

I have to agree with the last two posters: CDA has changed massively since I first visited in the late 1970s. Like any change there has been bad with the good. CDAs problems are minor compared to California. A newcomer from a larger place would see CDA as an improvement. But CDAs problems are developing in a direction I don't like: congestion, crime, strip malls and fewer local merchants, decreased lake access for regular folk, and a larger disparity between the haves and have nots.

I prefer the CDA of the 80s. I just like smaller towns.

All was not rosy for CDA in the 80s. Good luck finding a job back then anywhere in the area-the economy was near dead. The racism problems we all discuss now? They were real and scary then. UncleBigs sees boarded up storefronts now? Nothing compared to then. Downtown was nearly dead. CDA did what it needed to do to turn that around. And they did it very successfully. Now they have different problems. They traded the problems of stagnation and poor economy for the problems of sudden massive growth.

Don't get me wrong-I really like to visit CDA. It just has the types of issues that would turn me off from living there. Like I said before: I am a small town guy.

Trace-No I am not going to debate you that colleges=drunk college students. I think we can both agree that some things are truisms. 2 plus 2 DOES equal 4, and college students do drink. I would debate you that one can easily experience the great things Moscow offers and not see a single drunk college student.

[Count David]

The growth is a major (like light-years) difference between Coeur d'Alene and places like Moscow and Lewiston. CDA has nearly doubled in size since 1990 (~ 18,000 people). Moscow has gained ~ 5,000 people since then. Lewiston has only gained 3,000 since 1990.

Growth is fine, but in the CDA area, I don't see it ending anytime soon. Eventually there will be even more homes, more stores, more boats on the lake, but also less trees and less charm.

CDA is nice now, but it's slowly getting the "Idaho" diluted out of it.

[EnochTheSleestak]

Hate to say it, every Idaho town with a supermarket has been Californicated. Anyone who knew Idaho before they all came can tell you that.

Sorry Californians. You can say "...but I'm differerent..." all you want, but you ain't. The lot of you have brought your state, and it's problems, with you.

Thank God I left before you all settled in.

[unclebigs]

Enoch, I'd rather live in crowded, nasty CDA than anywhere is Europe. I like freedom.

[EnochTheSleestak]

Originally Posted by unclebigs

Enoch, I'd rather live in crowded, nasty CDA than anywhere is Europe. I like freedom.

Do that. Meanwhile, I'll take my rifle and walk to go bag my next moose.

[unclebigs]

Beautiful Coeur d'Alene 10 minutes ago:

[tiberius]

I was just going down the list of state forums to find mine and noticed the Coeur d' Alene name, and smiled.. Then I saw the paradise destroyed part and had to look in.. It broke my heart.. Anyplace that has that type of growth is on a path to destruction.. All the californians who destroyed their own place, (or sat by and watched it happen because they didn't want to be unfair to anyone ), are now moving to the northern rockies to escape their own dirty work back home.. All the peaceful years when outsiders ignored the northern rockies because they were isolated and boring, are over.. Now that they've been made aware of the good places that are still left, they will be coming like a swarm of locust.. Just as destructive .. and once they take hold .. just as unstoppable.. And people like trace will keep telling their california friends to ignore the false warnings and come on up and check it out for themselves.. And they will keep telling everyone who's been here for a long time how to do things, what to ignore, and how wrong they are about everything.. and how wrong they are to try to protect their home.. ( it seems you can take the person out of california, but you can't take california out of the person ).. And after the californians sit by and allow their new "home" become just like the one they ran from, they will simply pack up and move to another nice place and their next new "home".. And when the same thing starts happening THERE, they will tell THOSE people the same thing they said in Couer d' Alene.. " I don't see anything .. I've lived in worse places ( at which time they'll mention Couer d' Alene ) .. these new people are just trying to make their way .. who are you to not want them here.." .. Then they'll tell their friends about the NEW place they've discovered.. and it will start all over again..

PARADISE DISCOVERED IS PARADISE LOST ...... and if you don't try to stop it BEFORE it takes hold and is right at your front door, you will lose what you have.. You have to be strong enough to say no to people, and maybe hurt some feelings, and make some very strong laws concerning growth.. Give the californians a map to canada.. I expect its already too late to save Couer d' Alene.. It won't get completely intolerable for the long timers for years.. but it is coming.. just like trace's california friends.. Of course, when it finally collapses, don't count on being able to tell trace about it ... he might be long gone.

tiberius