[Homestead] Do You Love Your Community?

Lynda lurine at softcom.net
Fri Feb 29 15:36:48 EST 2008


We've had four major influxes.  One was the result of lawsuits requiring Los 
Angeles and Marin Counties to "do something" about their homeless problem. 
Their answer was to handout bus tickets to our area along with a map to the 
local welfare office AND a complete set of papers already filled out for 
them to apply for GA.  The crime rate went from next to nothing and everyone 
leaving their house and car doors unlocked to those living intown locking 
everything up.

Next was the folks who got the bus tickets calling their friends because 
they'd all "discovered" the South Jetty and the excess of bleeding hearts 
our county had.  They set up one of the most disgusting shanty towns 
anywhere.  And they ran a chop shop and a "pharmacy."  They got away with 
this because the land was mostly privately held by big corporations outside 
the area and the access was very limited for the cops.  That is when the 
crime rate went through the roof!

Next, we were discovered by folks in Ireland and a couple of other places in 
Europe.  Now, those folks aren't a problem <g>  They have been neighborly, 
haven't tried to change anything and love and respect the land!

Last, an enterprising realtor decided to market our area to folks in Los 
Angeles, the Silicon Valley, etc. -- sell your McMansions now, they're worth 
upwards of 10 times what you paid for them; buy more house on more land for 
the price you paid for your McMansion in 70s -- and he optioned whole new 
developments up here at about $70,000 a house (on 1/4 acre or bigger lots) 
and started a bidding war.  These out of towners went ape when they saw 
brand new houses, large lots, views of the ocean or over-looking a pastorial 
stream and prices that began in the low $200,000s.  Then they discovered 
they could actually afford to buy land.  Another bidding war.

Now, we have lots of crime and no one who has lived in the area for 
generations can afford to buy anything!

Oh, and then a couple of them decided they needed to fix things.  So one ran 
for city council and each and every council meetings has some reference to 
how things are done in San Diego.  The other one is a millionaire who 
decided that the county needs to be Republican.  And they decided that the 
city should become big box heaven.  When met with a wall, she and her 
husband started their own newspaper which they pass out free.  Hasn't worked 
so far but they have hopes.

Used to be one of the friendliest towns in the world.  Used to be you 
couldn't go anywhere without someone saying hello and greeting you with a 
smile.  Doesn't even feel like home anymore!

Lynda

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Walton" <waltonrp at gmail.com>


> And this new influx is probably one of the biggest challenges to
> anyone from the "outside" that wants to move to the mid or upper
> south. I have an interesting perspective on this having seen these
> peoples "invasion" of Florida and now to be following the "invasion"
> of the upper south.
>
>>From a local perspective both in Florida and Virginia, locals deal
> with high land prices and these folks move in calling the high prices
> a deal and then cause the prices to rise more.
>
> Culturally, it causes century and a half old wounds to rise to the
> surface, and it's not helped much that many people moving in from the
> outside actively want to change things to be like they were "back
> home".
>
> My one piece of advice to someone moving to a new area is to
> understand that you are the outsider and will need to conform to local
> standards in many situations. If you don't want to do that, you'll
> probably be ostracized by the community that you move to. On the other
> hand, people that move in and are open to new people and try to
> confirm to the local community have a better experience.



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