I know Montana is full but…

[brockel]

Man I’m glad I live in the middle of nowhere (Ugly) eastern part of the state where it can be 95 degrees one week to 10” of snow the next. Where it’s 30 below in the winter and a 30mph wind to go with it.

 

[Irrelevant]

Well contrary to popular belief, according to Zillow there are dozens of "affordable" places within 45 min drive of Bozangles. Just depends on how much you sold your WA house for.

 

[Gerald Martin]

The nice thing about butte is that it is already so F’d up the locals think it’s a feature.

Laughed out loud at this. For some twisted reason I have always considered Butte to be the unfortunate offspring of a brother and sister town. My apologies to anyone who lives there and might be Butte hurt by that unflattering portrayal.

 

[Western Traveler1]

Instead of attacking the people wanting to come here and arriving at breakneck speed, we need to study and fix the root causes of why they are fleeing the cities.

 

[reeltight]

Instead of attacking the people wanting to come here and arriving at breakneck speed, we need to study and fix the root causes of why they are fleeing the cities.

I don’t think that would require a study.

 

[Irrelevant]

I don’t think that would require a study.

IDK.

If I were to leave WA for MT I doubt you could guess why.

 

[Western Traveler1]

I don’t think that would require a study.

That was quick. You belong in DC…

 

[BlazerBeam]

what we locals repeatedly see are people who aren’t local that are so blinded by the beauty they can’t grasp the reality of what is unfolding. It’s irritating to be told how good you have it by people who don’t have a clue what a healthy landscape actually looks like in this region and don’t understand what the problems are.

spot on. trying to see MT through the lens of the hustle and bustle of the coasts and feeling like there is plenty of room for all to come is ridiculous. God created some places for lots of people, and others were created for lots of elk and deer. SC was created for lots of people, MT was created for less than a million people and more that 200,000 elk

 

[mtmuley]

Getting fuller. I need to count the out of state plates I see in a day. Mountains were full of people this Summer. I am wondering what awaits me in my hunting parking spot of over 30 years. mtmuley

 

[peterk1234]

I am a recent transplant from a far away place. We are doing our best to blend in. We fish, hunt, mountain bike, camp, hike and ski. Changed our plates asap, and started complaining immediately about all of the out of staters.

We have been coming out here for the past seven years, at different times of the year, to be sure this is what we wanted. We love it. We are not in Bozeangeles. I'm a half hour away. Real estate is crazy. We did not buy a chunk of land, nor a house that we intended to tear down. We bought a duplex, well two. My daughter and husband live on the other side. In the process of remodeling both. Let's just say they needed some love. We love the small town feel and make a big effort to support every local business possible. We truly appreciate what the area has to offer. We have blended right in, and then some. The irony is, I am 54. We worked hard and could afford to buy a chunk of land and build that fancy home. Instead, I live in town, in 1400 sq ft, and across from subsidized housing. And we love it. Something about living a simple life.

Places like Bozeman are a mess. My 30 year career included banking and commercial real estate. So I have been exposed to real estate quite a bit. I am watching neighborhoods go up overnight. Nobody in Bozeman planned for improvements in infrastructure, and municipal services. Commercial is mixed with residential. Their zoning strategy, or lack thereof, sucks. I think the place is doomed. You know those residential dwellings next places like Lowe's? Give it fifteen years or so; it will all be low income housing. And not the type that you want. They want to pass an extra tax on homeowners to deal with the low income housing crisis. No wonder they call it Bozeangelas. Once you go down that rabbit hole it will never stop. Begging on corners? Ya, we all feel bad but at the end of the day but if you do not shut that stuff down fast and hard then you are going to have a big problem.


I am not sure what my point here is, other than to say I do not know the solution. I can say that if you move here then you should respect what this incredible place has to offer and do everything possible to fully embrace its wonderful way of life. But when I see Audis and Porches more and more, well I have my doubts. Heck, I even cringe when I see the dude all decked out at the grocery store in his full Sitka outfit. I told you I blended right in

 

[MTTW]

I was in Bozeman the other day to shop at the big box stores that have ran everything else in the neighboring towns out of business. By the time I got out of that giant sphincter of Montana I said to the wife in frustration "I have no business being in this F...ing town" She said " you are right, you don't.

It is painful to see this place turn to shit.
The realtors need to change their slogan from "Montana, the last best place" to "Montana, it could be worse".

If you recent transplants want to go unhated, quit dry humping the vehicle in front of you. Your plates aren't fooling anybody.

 

[BlazerBeam]

It’s not just about “blending in” and “embracing what MT has to offer.” Transplants act like if they do that (or at least say that they do. And what does that even mean anyway?) that that somehow offsets what adding more bodies to the area does to this place. The NUMBER of people is what will ruin a place. They can all be God-fearing, gun loving, conservatives, but if there is enough of them there will only be higher costs, more regulations/restrictions, and decreased opportunity. I can’t stop you from coming here, but I wish you would understand what you coming here is doing to this place. It may be a better setup for you, but your making it worse for people who have been here for much longer than your fantasy of MT has existed.

*I’m going to try be done with these types of threads, they get me too fired up and pissy

 

[JLS]

I guess if we lived in an eastern bloc country we wouldn’t have to worry about things like this.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Wait till all the newcomers see what passes for snow removal on the roads in Bozeman.

 

[brockel]

My wife is from Helena and has family in Clyde Park. After living out here on the east side for a while she said she’d never move back out west after we go back out there to visit her family. Even though I’d love to get closer to the mountains.

 

[Irishman]

I think the forces that caused people to flock to the big cities will resurface. Apart from the current homebuilding surge, what real job growth is there in Montana? People will return to the big cities to seek employment when the economy tanks like it always does.

 

[shrapnel]

I think the forces that caused people to flock to the big cities will resurface. Apart from the current homebuilding surge, what real job growth is there in Montana? People will return to the big cities to seek employment when the economy tanks like it always does.

This couldn’t be more wrong. The force that pushed the people to Montana, specifically Bozeman, is technology. All the high costs associated with Bozeman are due to a more affluent immigrant that fled the big cities and can continue their vocation here, away from the masses.

Every time there is an economic collapse, Bozeman dodges the bullet better than most places, as it has the University here and enough economic base that it isn’t as affected by changes that ruin most everywhere else. I worked at one job in Bozeman for 43 years and during the worst of the 2008 recession, we were down less than 2%. In a market that was off as much as 20% in many places, 2% off was like being up 18%.

The people that do come here, are used to excessive taxes and infrastructure costs, so they contribute to that philosophy and want to add the nice running parks and bike paths to go to the “M” so they can ride their $5,000.00 bikes and run in their spandex jogging suits.

There isn’t a bond issue or a school levy they won’t vote for and they will tell you it only costs you another “pizza” a month. Well I’m tired of giving away so many pizzas/month so they can make this a better place, while they ruin what they came here for.

I can’t stop it, but I am tired of it. We did it to these people, I guess it’s our turn...

 

[reeltight]

IDK.

If I were to leave WA for MT I doubt you could guess why.

Is it more of why you left WA or more of why you moved to MT?

 

[antlerradar]

Every time I read this thread, I am reminded why It is a good thing that I have to travel 30 miles of gravel road to get to the closest town of more than 10,000.

 

[reeltight]

That was quick. You belong in DC…

Not DC...I hate politics. I'm moving to Bozeman. I'm adding another body count to bozeangeles. I kid, I kid.

People leave places for many different reasons but there is a mass exodus of California and New York...it and the reasons are well documented.