What are the three biggest problems with Montana??? (Bozeman, Helena: apartment complex, tenants)

[Reziac]

My sister lived in Billings a few years, from 1983 or so. It's always had a "rough side" of town. The street she lived on was the main drag down to the southeast section, and the ambulance ran all night every night.

But I think you'll find that every city over a certain size has bad neighborhoods, no matter where you look, and over time they migrate as the better-off move to newer digs. It's nothing unique to Billings.

[MTSilvertip]

Originally Posted by MadameKlein

1) Opportunities are often thin on the ground. Income and cost of living are not equal and even people with higher education often live hand to mouth. This includes educational opportunities; while there are colleges here, they aren't high ranking and our students often rank very low at the pre-k through 12 levels. Corruption and poor funding are hard on the education here. One art museum. Poorly funded police department. Plenty of chances to drink, but I'll get to that.
2) Winter. I can't stress how difficult winter is here. The snow piles up and creates huge ice slicks and the accidents are dangerous and deadly. WINTER HERE CAN KILL YOU. Subzero temperatures are the norm for weeks at a time during the winter months. Snow removal is spotty at best. If you don't have a 4WD, don't bother. You can get stuck in your driveway and only get out after hours of shoveling in the subzero temperatures.
3) While there are some lovely people here, for the most part they can be cruel and clannish. There's no sense of knowing and helping your neighbour; instead, there's a huge amount of suspicion and viciousness. It's like many of the folks here never left juniour high. Adding to that is the "alcohol culture" that is so rampant in the area; rarely is anything done without alcohol, and where there's alcohol, there's insanely drunk people. It's not unusual to see people vomiting in the streets downtown after a 'fun' night at the bars. DUI's are some of the worst in the nation, with regular appearances being made before the judges of people with 11, 14, and 18 DUI's. We have a terribly drunken culture here. It's disheartening, but probably has a lot to do with the fact that there are few good jobs and nothing to do here but get hammered.

Probably a little hostile, but I'm in the process of moving because I want better for my kids. Billings wasn't like this when we moved here, but it's slowly but surely going down hill.

It sounds to me like your comments are specific to Billings, not the whole state.

Billings isn't one of my favorite towns either, but I would take it in a minute over places like Seattle or LA.

[heeha]

The biggest problem with MT?

The dating scene is HORRIBLE for single males. The women here, even the methheads, get their top pick of guys.

[Reziac]

And I've heard people say the dating scene is horrible for single females.

Clearly you're avoiding each other!!

[Vegabern]

1. Low wages vs. cost of living. Can't eat the view.

2. Lack of diversity.

3. It's too dry for my tastes. I like it green. The NW corner is alright but I crave more than an isolated area.

[Reziac]

And here just yesterday this desert rat was thinkin' ever'thing seemed awful green...

[Vegabern]

Originally Posted by Reziac

And here just yesterday this desert rat was thinkin' ever'thing seemed awful green...

It's great during the very liminted window of greenery.

[historyfan]

I have several on my list of biggest problems which I think hold us back from our full potential.

The culture of alcohol and all its attendant problems is still present.
The acceptable level of violence toward women & children on the reservations.
The lack of technological advances..fast reliable internet...statewide.

The disportionate share of taxation (which goes primarily to funding public education) paid by property owners vs a sales tax paid by everyone.
And the consequential across the board underfunding of public education.
The cost of tuition for in state students at all our university units.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by historyfan

The culture of alcohol and all its attendant problems is still present.

Apparent alcohol consumption for States, census regions, and the United States, 2009

Appears MT is high on beer, low on wine, and about the middle of the pack on spirits.

[LXXXI]

Originally Posted by heeha

The biggest problem with MT?

The dating scene is HORRIBLE for single males. The women here, even the methheads, get their top pick of guys.

It's like that everywhere. They are all competing for the top 2% of men. The rest don't even exist until she needs a wallet to support her. I saw the same thing in SoCal, saw the same thing in OH. I talk to guys online from the UK, Germany, Poland, Russia, Australia, Japan, India....it's the same there, too.

Originally Posted by Reziac

Clearly you're avoiding each other!!

Some of us are.


I think the biggest problem here has already been mentioned numerous times, a lack of decent-paying jobs. Not everyone wants to be in the medical field, nor can we all be lawyers or .gov clerks shuffling papers around in Helena. I have a great job, but I spend my life basically on the road, and quite likely the only times I will be working in MT from April - October or so this year is for about a month here in two weeks. Other than that....WY, ID, and WA, so far, soon WA again, possibly OR or even Texas and the Gulf States. I will avoid assignments that take me to the Dakotas, midwest, or Minnesota though. Living on the road suits me, but not everyone likes it.

People that move here from out of state and try to turn it into CA or whatever hole they left are my personal biggest gripe. The job thing can probably be overcome, on an individual basis anyway. But there's nothing you can do about Kommiefornians buying up all the land along the river down by Livingston, to the point that you have to drive out toward White Sulphur to hunt deer with friends who live in the Livingston area. Or trying to change laws that don't need changing. MT has always been pretty much "Meh" when it comes to how people choose to live their lives, as long as they don't hurt anyone else. We need laws making homosexuals a protected class? I think not. How about we just continue with "Mind your own business and let people live how they see fit"? It worked for a hundred and some-odd years.

The internet and cell phone situations suck. Bad. Try working in Wolf Point for a week and tell me if you have cell service much past Glasgow going east. It doesn't count if you have NeMont as your provider, either.

AFAIC, though, those things are a small price to pay to be back home again.