Why people like me left California to pursue the American Dream in Montana

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Your worst nightmare.

OPINION // OPEN FORUM

Why people like me left California to pursue the American Dream in Montana

Kevin Frazier
Jan. 8, 2023
Updated: Jan. 8, 2023 8:32 a.m.



Small towns like Livingston, Mont., offer the promise of a better future and appeal to big-city dwellers put off by urban living. Ideally, people wouldn’t have to move to fulfill their dreams.

Mark Miller Photos/Getty Images

Last year, when I graduated from the UC Berkeley School of Law, I was fortunate to have two job offers. One was a Big Law job at a firm in San Francisco. The other was a judicial clerkship on the Montana Supreme Court in Helena, Mont. The firm job offered greater pay, better benefits and more career stability. But for my fiancé and me, the choice was easy.

We packed up our spot in the Richmond District, got on Interstate 80 and headed for Big Sky country.

Like many other former Californians who have made the trek out of the Golden State since the start of the pandemic, we left our home in pursuit of the American Dream along what I call the “Zoom Trail” — the routes opened by remote work and COVID-induced restlessness.

The Zoom Trail, like the Oregon Trail before it, promises something at the heart of the American Dream: a belief that a better future exists for you, your family and your community. For many, big cities have lost their luster because the problems they face and the solutions they propose land somewhere on the spectrum between foolish and futile.

{snip}

[samnsara]

1. your town looks just like the one i live in ..in central washington

love small towns and on top of that im 12 miles out. But...that means I have to drive almost 25 miles rt for milk!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. But does your town have dinosaurs roaming the streets?

Source: https://geekireland.com/cowboys-vs-dinosaurs-jurassic-hunters/

[cilla4progress]

9. Wait -

Im in central WA.

[Stuckinthebush]

3. Livingston is a lovely town

Right at the top of Paradise Valley - gorgeous area. Bozeman is amazing as well. While I love the idea of more blue voters moving into Montana (it won’t take many more to move Montana blue I’d imagine), I do see the downside of pushing locals out of affordable homes and land. Ironically, what makes people want to move to these wonderful locations could eventually be destroyed by forcing out local color.

I remember going to Paradise Valley for the first time in the late 90s. I should have bought land then! I still love going out there, though. Winters must be brutal but the summer is fantastic.

I think about the Eagles “The Last Resort” Lyrics often when I go out to Montana. I love it but I worry about losing it.

And you can see them there
On Sunday morning
They stand up and sing about
What it's like up there
They call it paradise
I don't know why
You call someplace paradise
Kiss it goodbye

[SoCalDavidS]

4. "Won't Take Many More To Turn State Blue" -??????

Teflon Man won 57% to 41%.

[2naSalit]

5. The reason for that is more...

On the level of lack of interest outside the state to assist in electing Democrats into office. Once we were deemed "flyover territory" and over-represented in Congress, nobody took interest while the state was actually turning blue. Now that the magats have a super majority in the legislature and a christofascist as governor, the whining begins. The party should have been here helping and they blew us off.

The magats were crawling all over the state during the entire election cycle and that's how they won.

As far as Paradise Valley, already kissed good-bye, there are so many trophy homes and resorts being constructed that I almost wish they had built that fucking gold mine instead. Most of the working class locals can't afford housing without subsidies.

[Stuckinthebush]

11. Yeah Paradise Valley went crazy with trophy homes

There are some basic condos in Emigrant right off of hwy 89 next to the Saloon - nice but basic. I wonder how much those are going for. Probably quite a bit.

[2naSalit]

12. Those have been there for over a decade.

You should see all the shit being installed behind the Saloon and everywhere around it. I just hope the Storys and "Bert" hold on to their land for a long time. There's the Ravens owner, Arthur Blank, trying to buy up the whole valley lately to the point that nobody will sell anything to him now. And those religious peppers are still there too. They own a whole lot of land and a hot springs newly built at Corwin Springs. Other anti-American wealthy are also buying up large tracts of land at an alarming rate these days, all invited by Gov. Gianfornication.

[Stuckinthebush]

13. I didn't know about Blank

Good on locals not selling to him. Hell, if a handful of insanely wealthy people buy enough then they will make Hwy 89 a gated road. Want to get to Gardiner? Gotta go around through Big Sky and up through the Park!

[2naSalit]

16. And that's only an option in summer.

[Stuckinthebush]

10. The N is the key, not the %

A total of 588,388 voted in the 2020 election in Montana. Of those, 343,602 were R and 244,786 were D.

In 10 years Bozeman added close to 20K people. Missoula 10K. Billings 13K. That rate of change is going up at a faster clip. Make them Ds!

Give us 100k more Ds rolling into that very large state and it'll get more competitive.

[2naSalit]

14. Better yet...

Run off the Rs. We already have a glut of humans in a an ecosystem that can't really sustain us and all the ever increasing glut of new comers.

We do not have the water supply, the infrastructure needed will trash the natural elements that do sustain the area. On top of that, where are they going to live? are they going to do what half of the new comers do, buy my rental property and jack up the rent so high that I have to move back into my car? Like so many longtime residents are being pushed to accept?

Sorry, Montana is full, we could do with many less, especially of the fascists.

[Stuckinthebush]

15. That would be a dream - running off the Rs!

Yes, you are correct. More humans there will be terrible, but if they are coming let's hope they are Ds.

[2naSalit]

17. They're not Ds.

[Chainfire]

6. In my Deep South rural community we see a lot of people from cities come, buy cheap land

and settle in to live the American Dream. We sometimes bet on how long it will take before we see the for sale sign on the property. Just guessing, but I would say the average is about three years before they get bored to death; after all, it is 40 miles to the mall...

[usonian]

7. your town looks just like the one i live in ..in central California, except bigger.

and on top of that I'm 12 miles out of town. But...that means I have to drive almost 25 miles rt for anything but milk and beer at the 4 miles away gas station/quick mart! And we seem to have a higher percentage of pickup trucks per vehicle here.

Got unobscured big sky on east and west sides, about 140 degrees each.

If the American Dream is a belief that a better future exists for you, your family and your community, isn't it true that when your community grows big enough, it has all the problems that big cities face, and only residents to tax to solve them, until businesses move in to augment the tax base, and then ....

the American Dream moves farther away.

[2naSalit]

18. The picture only shows a block on Main St.

There are probably another fifteen blocks in the downtown bus. district.

Pop. ~ 12K.

[usonian]

19. Oh, we don't have much more than that one block. Just spread out a bit.

No traffic lights, only a 4-way stop.

Only concession to "modern" CA is a Burger King and a Subway.

Cheers

[2naSalit]

20. Well...

It is the county seat for Park County, the only city in the county, everything else is a town or village or a ranch.

[usonian]

21. Check :-)

County seat. Only UPS and FedEX know the hamlets.
Across the street from the gun store is the guy with the ***mp boat!

We should exchange notes someday.

I did some flyfishing in my day, and know a little bit about Montana.
Not crazy about the weather. I get "seasons" here in the foothills.
Was thinking of moving closer to the coast for the milder weather.
Until this week. Unless I find a houseboat.

Maybe I'll visit someday.
Let me know if you visit the well known national park in central CA.

[2naSalit]

22. Deal!

[2naSalit]

8. And they are driving up housing costs so that...

Nobody who is already here can afford to live here now. Montana's ONLY social safety programs are federal programs, the state offers you nothing and are severely stingy when you are owed something like UBI benefits or child welfare services and any of the federal programs where money or some monetary benefit is issued.

If you can't find profitable employment or are already independently wealthy, life will be hard here.



Bozeman nonprofit invests grant in new shelter, programming

(Mind you, this is a warming shelter.)

https://www.ypradio.org/community/2023-01-06/bozeman-nonprofit-invests-grant-in-new-shelter-programming

And then there's the legislature...

Medicaid and abortion top health agenda for Montana lawmakers

https://www.ypradio.org/government-politics/2023-01-09/medicaid-and-abortion-top-health-agenda-for-montana-lawmakers


A podcast solely for the purpose of monitoring the legislature: The Session Week 1: 'The House is ready for business'

https://www.ypradio.org/government-politics/2023-01-09/the-session-week-1-the-house-is-ready-for-business

A bumper sticker that has been in circulation for years around here says:

Montana is FULL! I hear North Dakota is nice.

[GusBob]

23. Census figures/ anecdotes

2012 population of MT per census data; 1 million
2022: 1.12 million

As a Florida transplant ( from Wisconsin originally, lived in Florida for 20 years) this topic interests me greatly

I came here to work a second career as an IHS health care ‘specialist’ long story short the career blossomed and due to COVID I couldn’t travel ‘home’ to my other job, house, family and friends

Then due to drivers license and vehicle registration rules and taxes, well the state audited me and declared me a resident. I say they adopted me. This sucks financially as now I pay taxes on my Montana income and Florida income too. We lost our health insurance and homestead tax break on our home as well due to residency changes

But it’s worth it fer sure. Where we live ( Hill County ) there is no population growth explosion like Kalispell or Southern MT.

Recently returned to Florida to visit after a few years and it was it was crazy crowded. Hated the traffic and crazies. Being from the Midwest, I find New Yorkers to be kinda abrasive

I do know folks complain much about Californians moving to Montana ( outdoorsman especially). We don’t get them up here on the lonesome prairie

If I we to buy a place in Montana it would be in the central part of the state, Lewistown or White Sulpher Springs

[mahatmakanejeeves]

24. I've been to Havre. I can't see that getting any too crowded.

Thanks for writing.

[GusBob]

25. Lol true

The region itself has its charms, if you are an outdoorsman, rancher or Hutterite

The brethren do well up here I visit their colonies.

Next door Blaine County has a pop, 6k. I can tramp out there hunting and not see a living soul for miles and miles. Big Sandy, home of Tester, has a great small town vibe, not the Ixian fundamentalist stuff the out of state billionaire GOPers are pushing

This ain’t like that Yellowstone show fer sure

Thanks for posting the article