Monday, January 23, 2012

It's only partly my fault


So... while blogsurfing this morning I ran across a post about change.
Not personal change, the loose change in your pocket, climate change or environmental change ...wait! It is kinda about environmental change, but more like about attitude change, or maybe how it doesn't change fast enough.

Anyhow, the other blogger was posting about how her community is reacting to changes (not well, frankly). That almost immediately struck a chord with me.

I moved from a much larger metro-type area of run-on communities to rural Northern California about 40 years ago. At the time the local population was about 18,000 souls. The entire market area was maybe 90,000 - 125,000. (today there are 90,000 in the city, which makes it larger than the city from where I moved) . There were two things that struck me when I moved here:
  1. Most of the newcomers wanted to shut off the flow of folks into the area
  2. They also wanted to change how things were done to how it's done where they came from
About the only change that has really occurred here is the major industrial base in the area has almost entirely disappeared. But the locals, for the most part, had nothing to do with the disappearance of the big mills (lumber and paper). The largest employers now are government (federal, state, and local) and two hospitals (there used to be three, but the county hospital couldn't manage on the funds it received because folks with insurance went to the other two).

Anyhow, things have changed dramatically and just about anyone who's been here for five or more years doesn't like those changes because they don't meet anyone's expectations. Many of us moved here to get away from traffic, chain stores and all the things one sees in just about every suburban community...

...and it turns out we brought them with us along with additional challenges

If I were younger, I might move to New Mexico
\/

8 comments:

  1. What you say is certainly true. Thirty years ago I moved to Portland Oregon to get away from the rat race and overpopulation of Southern California. Now I sit in traffic almost as bad as anything I've ever experienced. And most of the big chain stores have found their way here as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Portland wasn't even on my radar... but I did almost move to Fresno. Where I ended up was a good choice at the time and a lot of really good things happened here that I wouldn't trade anything for

      Delete
  2. If I were younger, I might move to New Mexico

    Not a bad ideer. I was (counting on his fingers) not quite 58 when I made the move and haven't regretted it much. My community consists of about 13,000 very rural souls and while I do whine occasionally about the lack o' Big City Amenities (good restaurants [and lots of 'em], Starbucks, concerts) but the lack o' Big City Irritants (traffic, Democrats) more than offsets the minor bitches, moans, and complaints I have. I think I'll die here.

    wv: roonvat. I THINK that might be "moonbat," as pronounced by someone with a speech impediment. Or mebbe someone from Holland.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Used to was that we had very few big city amenities, but had some really unique stuff. Now we've got a lot of half-assed city amenities (public transportation is a joke) and have lost a lot of the best things that were here. Still and all there's a whole lot more to be said for not living in a major metropolitan area or one so rural that traveling more than 30 miles to shop is routine.
      I picture living out my life here, unless someone makes an offer I can't refuse

      Delete
  3. Change is inevitable. Sometimes it's good, most of the time I'm with you - moving to Mexico sounds about right. Espeically watching these debates lately!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well... I said New Mexico, but maybe Mexico might even be better.

      And you're right. Chang is going to happen no matter what we do.

      Delete
  4. Nothing pisses me off more than when people move from a crappy place to a nicer place and then try to institute every thing that made the crappy place crappy. Here in the Northeast, it is what happens as folks from Massachusetts migrate northward to New Hampshire. They move there to escape onerous taxes, but they soon discover that they like SOME of the things that their taxes got them in MA, so they propose tax changes for NH, then a little more, and a little more... By 2050 (when I probably won't be around, and Thank God for that) New Hampshire will be played out as a haven for those wishing to avoid some taxes and have a bit more freedom, then it's Look Out, Canada!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Golly, Sully, I thought for a second you were gonna start in on the Pilgrims and what happened when they moved to Massachusetts.

      Delete

Go ahead.
I dare ya!



who you callin' a goat head?


Robin gifted me this

...and this, too!

Robyn gifted me this

Apryl presented this one

Bacon

Bacon
from Uncle Skip

An award

An award
From A Daft Scots Lass

"...you magnificent ba$tard!"

"...you magnificent ba$tard!"
from Ol' AF Sarge

Put it back where it started!!!

copy this

copy this
stick it anywhere

set things right