Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 592 posts

Re: Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming

#221

Post by ghaff »

reducesuffering wrote: post #50
garren wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that doesn’t even touch on the new year-round fire season normal we have to contend with. Last year was crazy and this year is supposed to be as bad or worse. Every 3rd or 4th pine tree in the hills is beetle kill. A lot of people are looking to move into mountain communities that are largely water stressed already. Adding more people, with less water, and higher fire danger and it’s going to get ugly.

Where can one find areas that are most water-abundant and don't run into the water scarcity issues?

New England generally as well as the rest of the Appalachians to the south generally don't have water issues.

Re: Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming

#222

Post by calvano915 »

whalesalad wrote: post #99

Some of those states are on a crusade to ensure cannabis and other drugs are never legalized. That’s gonna be a no from me dog. Colorado being the exception of course, but Idaho and Wyoming come to mind.

The Treasure Valley is awful close to OR which has plentiful options. WY proximity to CO mostly the same. Most probably are not swayed either way on this issue when moving to these states but when all the neighbors are offering options and are disadvantageous to live in, people will make ID or WY work to get the best of both.

See living/working in WA and shopping in OR for tax advantages as a similar analogy.

Re: Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming

#223

Post by bedhead »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #120
eysquared wrote: post #24

There seems to be a lot of negativity in the comments so far. Is this not the dream that is often touted on hacker news? Work at a FAANG and "retire" somewhere more affordable? I'm personally doing just this. I was lucky enough to land a good job out of college, buy a house in a desired area, and see it appreciate in the last 10 years. This increase plus the birth of my kids left me wondering if there wasn't a better…

You're seeing negativity because it's getting harder and harder to deny that this "dream" involves the locals getting screwed when tech monopoly money turns their local economy upside down. Sure the guy who had the foresight to start a brewery wins but everyone else loses. You know what the end game of this looks like? It looks like Vail CO, Cape Cod MA, coastal Long Island and CT, the Hamptons, wealthy retirement ar…

Last year I moved from a top 3 city to a small mountain town in Colorado. In my experience, your hostility is extremely common in small towns that have big seasonal influxes. I continue to be amazed by the overt disdain long-time locals have for second home owners and relatively newer full-time residents. The one constant is: "Everything was great until shortly after I relocated here and you people moved in." A week doesn't go by here where a long-time resident doesn't write an op-ed for our tiny newspaper with this exact message, and delusional descriptions of how their once-great town is now a hellscape.

Re: Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming

#224

Post by poilcn »

throwaway6734 wrote: post #121
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're seeing negativity because it's getting harder and harder to deny that this "dream" involves the locals getting screwed when tech monopoly money turns their local economy upside down. Sure the guy who had the foresight to start a brewery wins but everyone else loses. You know what the end game of this looks like? It looks like Vail CO, Cape Cod MA, coastal Long Island and CT, the Hamptons, wealthy retirement ar…

Locals wouldn't get screwed if they advocated for better zoning policy and allowed more housing to be built. This doesn't happen because those same locals that are homeowners love the value of their house exploding upwards

Or because they don't want to live in a giant anthill?

They are not obliged give any piece of their land to the people who want to live there. It's in their interest to fight to preserve local communities and local businesses, putting obstacles to the "nomads" and corporations.

Re: Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming

#225

Post by ghaff »

bluGill wrote: post #188
ghaff wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of people assume you're either 200 miles from the nearest Walmart or you're in downtown Manhattan/a dense close-in suburb. Go 1-2 hours from pretty much every large city and you can be in pretty rural areas--although not necessarily a mountain town of course. I do like going into cities now and then but I really don't need or particularly want one on a day-to-day basis.

If you own a car it is hard to get 200 miles from a Walmart in the US. Not impossible, but very hard.

I'm aware. I was using it as an expression for how binary a lot of people assume urban vs. rural is.

Re: Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming

#226

Post by ramphastidae »

Loughla wrote: post #206
watchdogtimer wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same with rural communities here in the Midwest. We would love to have FAANG refugees move here.

YMMV on this one. In my part of the midwest, home and land prices have almost doubled in the last year, and went up about 6x since we built our house (about 8 years ago). Two reasons: (What used to be called) Yuppies moving out here and working remotely to 'get more in touch with nature' (read: start a blog or something about sustainable living that is really only possible if one of you has a 100k+ salary) and invest…

This is the pure definition of NIMBYism. You built a house there eight years ago that has increased 6x in value. Now others are trying to do the same thing and you demonize them for it. You should be complaining about state policy, not the people seeking a better life for themselves.

Re: Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming

#227

Post by itsoktocry »

ghaff wrote: post #180
blunte wrote: post #102

My last home in the US was near a ski resort in Colorado, and it was a fantastic life - incredible mountain biking in the summer, and of course snow skiing in the winter. It was truly heaven. That was before remote work was as common as it is now. If I had to go back to the US, that would be the place. Sure, you miss out on the cool things the city offers; but a couple hours drive and you're in a big city. I found th…

I think a lot of people assume you're either 200 miles from the nearest Walmart or you're in downtown Manhattan/a dense close-in suburb. Go 1-2 hours from pretty much every large city and you can be in pretty rural areas--although not necessarily a mountain town of course. I do like going into cities now and then but I really don't need or particularly want one on a day-to-day basis.

>people assume you're either 200 miles from the nearest Walmart or you're in downtown Manhattan/a dense close-in suburb. Go 1-2 hours from pretty much every large city and you can be in pretty rural areas

This must be why "ban cars!" is so prominent on HN. Apparently people here have a hard time imagining a location where they can provide quality-of-life improving utility.

Re: Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming

#229

Post by lotsofpulp »

leetcrew wrote: post #204
bluGill wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The things you can do in a city are different from the things you can do in the suburbs, are different from the things you can do in rural areas. There are pros and cons of each. Sadly in the US many dense cities have abandoned the things that kids like to do, leaving those who like city things to the suburbs as the best compromise. I know someone who started a children's museum, when she started the city tried to ge…

in my social circle, the number one reason why families leave the city is the abysmal public school system. it's not a big deal to the wealthier families, since they can just send their children to private schools. middle income families usually can't afford that, but they can afford to hop over the county line and send their children to the very good public schools out there. at least in my area, I wouldn't say the…

It’s not the school system that is abysmal, it’s people not wanting their kids to mingle with kids from lower income/less wealthy families. Cities might have various socioeconomic classes living near each other, and so the schools have a more mixed population.

Suburbs can restrict their schools to those that can afford to live there, so those public schools can have very few kids from lower socioeconomic classes, and a greater proportion of kids from people who are in higher earning professions.

Post reply on HN