[Pyrites]

I wonder if customers to Sterling Ridge understand they’ve moved to the wildland urban interface fire zone?

[Cyclopath]

[Backpacker Joe]

[Slugman]

Sad to see that BPJ has completely lost his mind, as well as his manners. This is what NW Hikers has become, a place for brainwashed semi-literates to threaten to start killing people.

[Chief Joseph]

Freedom of speech cuts both ways and also the main reason that political issues don't work in this forum. Peace.

[Backpacker Joe]

[altasnob]

[JonnyQuest]

Red or blue? Not talking conservative or liberal, but the color of Loctite that should inevitably be used on this thread.

[CC]

[cdestroyer]

wow this is getting really heady, or is it headly?? all I posted was a change in population. was never any reason given as to why. could be a bazillion things, bad breath, to many police, not enough parking places. dunno how idaho potatoes got involved, or what is a red or blue state anyway? is there an orange state? I wonder what kind of responses would be posted if the title were more griz than black bear inhabiting an area...perhaps something like, not enough rainbow trout, or the yellow finch population is impacted????

[Sculpin]

[Randito]

Some stuff I was reading about people moving around indicated that urban/rural migrations are increasing political polarization. E.g. that conservative folks living in urban areas are migrating to rural areas to have similar minded folks as neighbors. With a similar trend the other way, e.g. progressive minded folks moving to Austinfrom more rural parts of Texas. So places like Boise or Bozeman are becoming "redder" and Seattle and it's suburbs "bluer". So people want to be comfortable in their own little echo chambers and not have put any effort into understanding what interests they might have in common with other folks. In the "cable news" business, big money is being made by portraying "the other side" as evil and bent on destroying America. Of late there as been little concern about whether what is presented in such "news shows" has any basis in actual events. I think one firm recently defended themselves against a civil lawsuit by claiming "no reasonable person would take our reporting as factual". Probably best to assume all politicians and pundits are lying and trying to manipulate you.

[Sculpin]

"The Great Reshuffling" https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/30/homes/us-home-prices-remote-work/index.html I suspect that the home office angle is a bit overplayed in this article. I think folks wanted a better living space because they were stuck there 24-7, with the need for a home office being a minor component of that. Austin is probably the nicest town in Texas, but I still don't get why it is so popular. Bike lanes and brewpubs I guess, because like everywhere else in Texas, there is little public land and just the tiniest fraction of outdoor recreation that we enjoy here.

[Anne Elk]

Historically, the biggest driver of demographic shifts has been economic, and I think it's still mostly that way. No work in Pennsyltucky? Move to a large urban area with job opportunities. The growth in large west coast cities in the last couple decades was fueled by the tech industry which drove up housing prices like crazy, and subsequently started an exodus: people on fixed incomes who can't afford the taxes any longer, and the regular working-class folk who can no longer afford the rents here, much less purchase a house. The pandemic and the disgust over the social disintegration of urban coast cities (I can only speak reliably about Seattle) has pushed another certain % to suburbs, or wherever those who can work remotely, want to go that matches their lifestyle preferences. The cost of purchasing a home has been driven up partially by demand, but also the constraints put on builders. First there's the pandemic-exacerbated supply shortages. I heard through a reliable source that one developer of a townhouse complex at the corner of my street paid an extra $500K to the city, the current tax required for him to not have to sell an unknown # of the units as "affordable housing". (Whatever that means in today's market.) The general contractor working on the project next door to me said it cost him an extra $60K for private security on a project he was doing in Georgetown because thieves broke in and stole wiring and plumbing, more than once. So there's all that expense on top of the high demand creating bidding wars. An old (1930) but remodeled SF home a few homes down from me listed for $1M and sold for $265 above the asking price. All the density increases the city could permit won't change that arithmetic. Then there is NWH member Iron, who, after much researching and member queries, moved with his family to Kimberley. I was envious given that I've wanted to move to Canada since my student days at The Banff Centre; I was never able to pull it off for various reasons. Despite my Canuckophilia, I thought Iron was over-reacting a bit given his primary reason for wanting to leave the US. However, given the events on the national scene this month, it no longer seems like an over-reaction. And that's probably about all I or anyone else in this thread should say about that, if we want to keep it open.

[Cyclopath]