From The Economist:
“They are all right in the metropolitan areas. But if I sell a rural property to one, I would never disclose where he comes from.” So says Cody Burns, an estate agent, of the single biggest group of migrants to Utah. Mexican immigrants get most of the attention in Washington, DC. In the American West, though, they are less numerous and, in some areas, less unpopular than arrivals from California.
Complaining about Californians is an old tradition in the Rockies; but it is reaching a new intensity. Five million people who were born in California now live outside the state. They are America’s second-biggest domestic diaspora, after New Yorkers, and the most noticeable. California is by far the most populous state in the West—and still growing rapidly. It has become a demographic machine, drawing in foreigners while disgorging its own population across the deserts and mountains. In the process, it transforms those areas.
Deseret has a lot to say about California implants… and almost none of them nice. A little to my surprise even my part of Estacado is a little agitated by the influx of Californians.
We just had two families from California move into our subdivision. I don’t understand why people have a bad attitude toward them — something I’ve never really seen here in Utah BTW. They seem to be glad to be out of California and usually make really good neighbors.
Comment by Abel — January 26, 2007 @ 10:01 am
It doesn’t work the other way around, even though California’s getting pretty crowded. We’re totally nice to transplants.
Comment by Spungen — January 26, 2007 @ 4:22 pm
Abel,
I’ve heard a story on a couple of occasions of a dairy town that became an “in” spot to a bunch of Californians that moved there en masse. One of their first orders of business was to shut down the unsightly dairy mills and smelly cow pastures that was one central to the town’s identity. I don’t know if the story is true (I suspect not), but it’s still informative of why the newcomers are resented: they’re coming in and changing the character of the area. I guess it’s an offshoot of the generally hospitable south’s agitation with carpetbaggers.
Spungen,
I guess California has so many immigrants (domestic and foreign) that it’s a part of their cultural identity. The same is actually true of where I currently live, which is why I was a little more surprised to see it here.
Comment by trumwill — January 29, 2007 @ 12:53 pm