Don't "Californicate" Idaho
“Don’t Californicate Idaho”. That used to be the saying in Idaho when I was growing up.
I remember when I was growing up in Emmett, Idaho, there were a lot of bad feelings about people from California moving into our valley. It did change our life somewhat and nobody wanted them to stay. You get very set in your ways when you are isolated from other cultures. I would have thought that after all these years, Idaho would have changed a bit, from others moving into the state. Is this not true of all states? People move all the time for jobs and lifestyle changes. I guess some things die hard.
Saying he saw what the influx of out-of-staters, especially Californians, did when he lived in Hayden, Jerry Higgs, now living in Bonners Ferry, has launched a one-man campaign to encourage Californians to stay away.
“When I left Hayden, I counted three native Idahoans on the block where I lived,” Higgs said. “Some were from Chicago, some were from Oregon. But most of them, at least nine families, were from California, and they all brought their own ideas of what was right for Idaho, even though they had no concept of our way of life.” [...]
“I’ve had Californians tell me they wanted to get away from the Asians, Mexicans and blacks. We are not racist here! Richard Butler, Reverend Bertollini and Randy Weaver racists who gave Idaho a black eye were all out-of-state carpetbaggers.
“We don’t want your gay business districts, same-sex marriage, body pierced, tattooed to the ankles, (c)rap music, lowrider, celebrating diversity-while-standing-for-nothing liberal nonsense here in Idaho.
“The last thing we need is a Californian a half car length behind us trying to do ten miles per hour over the speed limit on a cold January day while the roads are covered with black ice. Your people tell us we are stupid while trying to change Idaho into the very thing they were trying to escape.” (source)
In his own way, he has a point. People are moving to Idaho to find a new way of life - to escape overcrowding, pollution, and crime.
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Welcome back Fritz. I wondered what happened to you. :)
I know the area you are talking about. My sister used to live in Coeur D'alene twenty-five or so years ago, maybe 30 (we were still talking at the time, haven't talked to her since 1984). The area was beautiful then, but I do remember it building up fast. Idaho has changed so much.
I just came back from visiting my dad and his wife who live about 50 miles from Coeur D'alene in Washington state.
They just built a new home there. It is a large, four-bedroom house on a private golf course.
The thing that shocked me was the contrast between the wealth of new residents like my folks and the grinding proverty of the pre-existing community. Just outside of the gated community where my dad lives are rundown shacks and a decaying downtown.
I couldn't help but wonder what those residents think when they see rich people from California like my dad building fancy homes and driving around in cars that are worth more than the houses in which they're living.
Peggy wrote that she's "drug-free" and looking for a better life for her kids. That's great, but she's moving to a place that has experienced one of the largest increases in meth production and distribution in the country.
My Husband and I are moving to Idaho with our three children for several reasons.
We are only in California because our parents moved us here. Our line of thinking and way of life fits in with idaho. We want a slower pace of life, good schools and environment for our children, to be around decent people and feel safe. We would be vringing a business to Idaho, "internet service" and would be a big contributor to the community.
Please do not judge all people from california the same way. The ones coming to Idaho are working family people who are drug free and looking gor a better way for their children.
I'm glad to hear the different viewpoints. My mom was born and raised in Twin Falls; my grandpa owned the newspaper there for years, and he and Grandma and my uncle are buried there. Mom left for college, married Dad, and ended up living in California, which is where I was born.
The thing is, I hate what California has become. Wherever I move, I sure as heck don't want to bring any part of this state with me. Wherever I move, I don't want to buy open land and build on it; I want to get an existing place and fit in with the community as it is.
And to those who hate this "invasion," well, let me tell you that we know a little bit about that down here. We get it from everywhere--is it any wonder that some of us, like some of you, want to find the kind of life we had when we were growing up? Believe me, if I could change my home state back to the way it used to be, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
But all I see is the inmates running the asylum down here, and I don't want to live my last 40 or so years in the asylum. For my husband and me, moving looks like the only answer, and we don't relish the thought of being away from family and friends. But whether it ends up being Idaho or someplace else, we just want to fit in with the folks there, not change it to be like California.
There is no doubt that people from different parts of the country have different attitudes on all factors of life. I think, as a general statement, people from densely populated areas tend to be more self-centered and arrogant - some would call them rude.
I agree with this, but I do understand the nature of why it has happened. If you think about it a bit, in a densely populated environment, people lose a sense of individuality. There is a sense of the mob mentality. Material things, rather than simple things, tend to become more important. If you are raised this way, it simply is how you look at life.
When I grew up in Idaho, it was much more sparsely populated. We were genuinely warm people. We had to be. I grew up on a farm. We didn't have cows. We had fruit and chickens. Our neighbors would come by every day or so, and we would barter. Money was never exchanged. We had chickens and fruit - therefore we had eggs, and they didn't. We didn't have milk and cream, but they did because they had cows. So we exchanged. From the cream, we made our own butter.
I know it sounds like something you would read out of a work by Dickens, but that was my childhood, and it really was a great childhood, up to my teenage years, when things changed for me. That was the Idaho I grew up in, and I loved it.
In my teen years, when Idaho began to go downhill for me for other reasons (that I've mentioned elsewhere on this blog), we were even then complaining about all the Californians moving into Idaho and "spoiling it". It is a real thing that what you are seeing is the destruction of a way of life that we once knew. That has created resentment. I understand that.
But, it's happening everywhere in the United States. More and more, we see the influx of people we view as "foreigners" who are "spoiling our way of life". This is not the United States we once knew that thought was so great. That is gone. We should also be mindful of the fact that at one point, we (European white people) were the foreigners of this land, and history has recorded that we weren't too hospitable to the native Americans who were really the first people to tame this land. To them, WE were the "Californians" and when they got in our way, we raped, pillaged, enslaved, and murdered them.
But I also think that it's worth pointing out that, as a minority who grew up in Idaho (me), despite having some good points to it, Idaho is not the most friendly haven in the world if you are "different". Despite the beauty that is disappearing in Idaho due to overcrowding, Idaho has it's share of skeletons in the closet as well. And California did not create those skeletons. The good people of Idaho before the Californians came to Idaho did that all by themselves.
And it hasn't gone away. This November when you all go to the voting booths, I'm certain that once again there will be mean-spirited debates on such issues as gay marriage and, in one short vote, you will put the undesirables (in this case, gays), in their place once and for all. Not that I would call "totally snotty".
I would just like to say I have grown up in northern Idaho, lived here 19 years now and everywhere I go now it doesn't seem like home anymore. It has completely changed and I do think it is mainly because of CA ers, (as I call them). Most, (I am not saying all) are trying to escape the filth in CA but they are just bringing it with them, most of their children I have met are totally snotty and out of control and it has turned into a who has what and I have a better house and car than you. It's absurd! Nothing will change for these folks no matter where they try to escape to, they need to change their beliefs and their home enviornment. I don't want to raise my children with these snotty rich people. We are planning on moving from Idaho to now escape them, it's sad.
Tina,
I don't know why you would assume this guy is a child molester, so I can't address that.
I don't make assumptions about the people of Idaho. They almost killed me, and for 18 years of my life, they made my life a living hell. So, don't lecture me about what kind of people live in Idaho. 70% of them are hateful bigoted losers who care nothing for other people - especially queer people, and that's the honest truth. When I went back a few years ago for a family function, I honestly didn't feel safe there. Now, what's wrong with that picture?
When you move to Idaho, you should expect to encounter resentment for overpopulating Idaho. These are people who knew an Idaho that was much more sparsely populated than it is today. They resent that and they blame the influx of Californians for making Idaho less than it used to be.
Of course, I suppose that resentment will be less in the more liberal areas of Idaho, such as Boise. If you move to Emmett, where I used to live, you will encounter a lot of hostility. Hell, when I was there 30 years ago, they were blaming Californians then. If you move to a more rural area, it may be difficult for you.
You can label this as you want - racist, bigoted, whatever. Whatever you call it, it is real.
As for me, I try to get along with all people, and I do try not to label people. But if someone goes around beating people up or killing people for being in an undesirable minority who obeys the law and pays taxes, that person deserves my judgment.
Oh, this guy's a child molester hu? You guys are sick to even promote this sicko! I know where I won't be moving. Nowhere around this creep. Now that I know what city he lives in I won't be bringing my children around this redneck looser!! How disgusting to even give this molester the time of day. But I'm glad that now I have the source to find out where all the sickos in Idaho live so I won't move around them. I'm trying to get away from them all out here. Now I don't feel so bad about what he said because how he feels is not coming from anybody worth while. Nobody cares about this guy and if he died today nobody would care.
I live here in California and my husband and I are trying to move up to idaho with our two children. I understand where you're coming from, but most of the californians wanting to move to idaho are the ones looking for a better life (quieter) life for their children. The ones I would worry about are the ones who just want to move there because they can get a really cheap house. Those are the ones who don't care about other values as long as they get a house out of it. It's not fair for you to pre-judge ALL of us that way. My husband is a social worker and I am a teacher, we are good people and would help to better the parts of idaho we touched. The way you talk makes me wonder how nice you people really are. Here I am thinking that we could move to a really nice place where people are friendly but you don't sound very friendly to me. Now if we do move there we certainly won't tell anybody we meet where we're from, and that's sad. You say you aren't racist but you seem to be that way to me. You're judging/treating certain people different just because of where their from. Last time I checked, that is a form of racism.
Now that I didn't realize. But thinking about it, I can see where that could happen. California is so much more liberal than Idaho. The people in California who are conservative would most likely find Idaho a welcome change in that respect.
If that is what is happening, what Mr. Higgs said is quite ironic: "We dont want your gay business districts, same-sex marriage, body pierced, tattooed to the ankles, (c)rap music, lowrider, celebrating diversity-while-standing-for-nothing liberal nonsense here in Idaho."
I have found that the people moving into Idaho are moving for all the wrong reasons - to escape diversity, to live in a state that is governed my social conservatives - and that the people who have fueled the state's growth have made it more conservative and hateful than it was in the 1970's and 1980's.