Why You Shouldn't Move To Idaho

From the Daily Mail: "Angry residents of Idaho town say retired California cops and firefighters flocking there aren't conservative enough - and fear they'll enact liberal policies (but newcomers' hefty pensions have helped rejuvenate local economy)." The article relates:

    Californian transplants are stirring the political pot of a quaint Idaho suburb - with furious locals claiming they are not conservative enough to fit in.

    The new dynamic involving the Boise-bordering town of Eagle was unveiled this month by The Los Angeles Times, in the form of statements from residents - and local politicians - both new and old.

    They mostly complained about how, in recent years, the town of 32,100 has been bombarded with new arrivals from The Golden State - particularly those receiving hefty pensions following careers in public service.

    Abetted by pension funds, the long-in-the-tooth lawmen are swiftly supplanting longtime residents, they said - pointing to the so-called ‘liberal baggage' the ex-cops and firefighters are bringing with them as they move in from hundreds of miles away.

    This ideological clash recently came to a head in the town's mayoral election this month, during which City Council President Brad Pike won a resounding victory in a heated runoff over incumbent Mayor Jason Pierce. 

    The win, aside from serving as an upset, comes as California pension money is quickly becoming the 'lifeblood' of the area, in the words of The Times report. 

    The "lifeblood" of the area. Heh! That is quite the conceit. All they have done is "Californicate" the area, as locals like to say. 

    Even a few decades ago, Eagle, Idaho was still a semi-rural community just beyond the outskirts of Boise. But between the lower land prices, a quaint small-town "downtown" and a rather picturesque setting between the Boise foothills and the Boise river, it was rapidly bought up by people fleeing California, such that it became a "poor man's" version of Sun Valley. Now it is just an increasingly crowded suburb of Boise filled with expensive subdivisions (especially along the river), crappy (but pretentious) restaurants and offices. The problem, as this article attempts but fails to really describe, is that these imports bring their dysfunctions with them from California or wherever. It also doesn't help, as the article relates, that they move to the area flush with cash from selling a home in LA (or wherever) and a pension that is much higher than the average wage or salary and then buy up property driving the price of housing through the roof. 

    The irony in the article is that the dispute seems mostly to be between those that moved from California years ago and more recent California transplants.