What to do when your small town is overrun by the rich

[TexasTowelie]

In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, there’s a look old-timers exchange when a newcomer, decked out in brand new cowboy boots and blinged out jeans, walks in.

“You know, the look women sometimes give each other when a man is talking,” Claire Fuller, a lifelong Jackson resident, says.

The newcomers, “the Californians buying brand new everything,” have descended on Jackson, and the pandemic has only accelerated the urban flight from those too-darn-expensive coastal cities to the vista rich, once quiet, interior West.

Jackson Hole is one of the hottest spots for those with wealth and a penchant for wild lands, ski slopes and tax havens (Wyoming has no state income tax). From January through September, over $1.5 billion in real estate sales were recorded in 2020, a record-shattering number, the Jackson Hole News reported.

Read more: https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2021/1/29/22242573/reseachers-surveyed-western-towns-that-went-luxury-heres-the-biggest-problem-jackson-hole-springdale

[czarjak]

1. "Can't we all just get along", though?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

2. A not-quite-subliminal suggestion of a solution for Wyoming ...

[no_hypocrisy]

3. This is comparable to The Hamptons, another colony for The Rich.

Southampton, Easthampton, Montauk.

In the Sixties, you had a smattering of mansions and hedgerows. The towns were for the locals, year-round residents. Small Mom-and-Pop stores. Easy parking in town. Reasonable traffic. The towns belonged to them.

In the Seventies, there was a migration of the Upper East Side to the Hamptons. They brought their toney stores with them with their Mercedes and BMWs. Restaurants changed to suit their tastes. Local businesses closed. Route 27 out to Montauk, a two lane highway was jammed with cars. Near impossible to find a parking place at local public beaches. More impossible to get into new clubs that replaced local hang-outs.

Fast Track to the early 2000s with NYC-ers like Lizzie Grubman derisively screaming "White Trash" at locals before hitting a number of them in reverse with her black BMW.

Kids grew up in these towns, went K-12 in their public schools, graduated, married and can't afford to buy a house to raise their families and be close to their parents. Even bungalows on less than 1/2 an acre go for almost a million dollars.

There has been a simmering dispute whose Hamptons is it for decades.

[GusBob]

4. Westerners don't like outsiders of any sort

This is an age old story, rich or poor you ain't welcome. I hear this All the time "Montana is full, move somewhere else" lol there are like 3 people per square mile where I live.

But Californians man are they ever hated. There is a migration of them due to climate and housing costs there.

In the places downstate where there are not 3 people per square mile they are snapping up houses and the market is sky rocketing

There has always been a fight over land in Montana since the first White man came here. Natives vs pioneers, ranchers vs sheepherders, free rangers vs fencers, ranchers vs sodbusters, homesteaders vs homesteaders, railroads, mines, Native rights. Always conflicts

It's going on today with ranchers vs the Prairie Preserve folks, in state outdoor folks vs out of staters, folks against the Hutterites , e everyone against the Californians

There will always be conflicts out here

[panader0]

5. This happened in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Hispanic people who had lived there for many generations saw their property taxes go up
far beyond their means when Santa Fe became an art colony back in the 60's and 70's.
The downtown plaza area was the oldest and most desirable property and yuppies from all
over came in and forced the longtime residents out.

[Squinch]

6. It's irrational to base most of your region's economy on the trade

of wealthy incomers and then resent the wealthy for incoming.
We call that "being assholes."

[Klaralven]

7. So long as your property is appreciating faster than your taxes, you're ahead.

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. Not if you can't afford higher taxes and don't want to be forced to move away n/t