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Resentments and clash of cultures in West are very realFAULT/From A1Oregonians first slapped “Don’t Californicate Oregon” bumper stickers on their cars, but, like the song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Californication” is still alive and well.”1 think it's just such a common desire to say things were really calm and great here and then these people came in,” said Patty Limerick, history professor and faculty director of the Uni-versitv of Colorado’s Center of the American West.SINCE 1991, the number of Californians moving out topped the number ol peoplemoving in to the state. And where do they go? The top five states Californians moved to between 2(XK) and 2(X)5 were Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Washington and Oregon. according to William Frey, population expert for the Brookings Institution.For many Californians, they want w hat eludes them in their state open space, clean air and not so much traffic. So they sellvtheir houses for a chunk of change, move somewhere else in the West, bu\ a bigger house and start driving up the housing prices, much to the dismay of locals.Sherrie Watson has lived in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, since she was 16 and is quitefed up with Californians.“They complain how coldit is. And they just moved here because it is cheaper and to ‘get away,’ but then they keep saying things like, ‘We did it in California this way, so why don't you change?’ “They came here because they liked it the way it was w hen they visited, but then they want to change it. I don’t get it,” she said.PICKING ON Califot •nians has almost become a sport, with people trying to come up with the catchiest slogans or blogging about how annoying Golden Staters are.Montanan Tom Heather-ington runs a Web site called www.montana-sucks. com that sells T-shirts and bumper stickers that say: “Montana sucks. Now go home and tell all your friends.”The products aren't specif icallv aimed at Californians, but, let’s just say the point is taken.“Most people just have this state of mind about Californians being, how shall I say it different than everybody else,” Heathering-ton said politely.Shirley Vanderstelt, 34, is an ex-Californian who moved to Bozeman four years ago. Mostly, she has felt welcome, but “there is definitely an underlying feeling of dislike for most Cali fornians.”“I generally tell peoplewhere 1 grew up, then immediately follow that with ‘I'mnot one of those Californians' because it usually starts with rolling of the eyes, a sigh and shaking of thehead.”WHEN JOHN WILKERand his wife moved from Riverside, Calif., to Highlands Ranch, Colo., in 2005, they were told to change their license plates quickly or they would be run off the road.A joke?Maybe, but that resentment and clash of cultures are very real.For many Westerners, California is seen as a state of excess and an example of howr things shouldn’t bedone. (These also are the people who elected a movie star as their governor.)Combine that with the frontier West, where residents aren't so interested in a lot of government control over how they behave, and therein lies the problem.Yes, Californians drive up housing costs, and some can even be blamed for falling prices because of the many investors who snapped up cheap houses, then wanted to sell, creating too much inventory in cities like LasVVegas and Phoenix. Many believe those cities are becoming suburbs of LosAngeles.“Home prices go up and we all blame Californians.” said Jav Butler, director of Realty Studies at Arizona State University Polytechnic.“They are sort of like the West Coast version of the New Yorkers. They have theattitude.”BUT WHAT about politics? Are Californians starting to turn the West more blue?I think the Democratic Party is counting on it,”Frey said. “If they shifted just a little bit in the last election, [they] could have elected a Democratic presidentwColorado has gone from red to blue in the last four years, something ex Californians mav have had a handvin, said independent pollster Floyd Ciruli. But reallv the change just indicates what is happening in the rest of the country, he said.Now, about that smoking ban. Nevada, where gambling and smoking are almost one in the same, previously had one of the nation’s least restrictive smoking laws. Now there’s no smoking in restaurants, bars that serve food or around slot machines in grocery stores or gas stations.Connie Feulner is a bartender at Jake’s Bar in Las Vegas. When customers get to talking about the smoking ban that passed last November, she keeps mum. Don’t tell the customers, but she used to live in California.“Damn Californians,” she said, repeating a familiar complaint. “All their fault, all the time.”
Newspaper Details
Kalispell Daily Inter Lake
Kalispell, Montana, US
Mon, Mar 26, 2007
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
University O.
USA 30 Sep 2022
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