Reader Bob Garza, who always provides thoughtful commentary on this blog, has raised the issue of our county’s image to outsiders — a topic that has been discussed here before:
“Two friends and former colleagues of mine from out of town went to the Independence Day parade and were surprised by the tea party presence. One of them who was considering moving here, jokingly said that if this is how it is here then she’d move someplace else. She was kidding but I got the sense that she was serious.
“The image that the tea party in this part of the county gives to visitors is something that should be considered by business and community leaders. If people begin to think of this area as a ‘backwater’ filled with rednecks and angry old people, then tourism will decline and potential new residents will find a different place to live.
“Of course, if you like the status quo and don’t mind gradual decline, then you should encourage this political and polarizing posturing which doesn’t seem to provide any substantive or productive value in the form of meaningful governance solutions.”
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EXACTLY. The same point can be made about bickering in online comments at the Union (and elsewhere…) – a lot of savvy folks interested in moving to an area will check the local newspaper(s) online first. It’s an excellent barometer, as long as you remember to take it with a grain of salt, that EVERY community will have bickering that comes out in online comments more than it does in public. But – at the parade – that is indeed a whole different category. Chamber of commerce, huh?
Some folks think of GRASS VALLY as an all white city where minorities are not welcome. The right wing (by all their names) seem to be validating the concern expressed by folks who have asked me if I was concerned about living here given minorities are not welcome. For the first many years here I would tell them the concern was not real. Yes a few racist JUST LIKE MOST ANYWHERE.
After watching folks for the last 18 or so I cannot defend the place I chose to live. You cannot either.
If in reading this if the shoe fits……
Nevada County has been a redneck county long before I was born. It didn’t seem to stop anyone and their brother from moving here. Most immigrants realize that they don’t live in the city anymore and adapt to rural reality. A few can’t hack it. It’s changing, but not fast enough, I guess.
There are more reasons as to why people do not move here besides the tea party….I can think of one right off the top of my head as to why people my age move away instead of staying…home prices! When affordable is 300K your just pushing your younger generation out of town. Combine that with a down economy, yikes!
I agree with RL on the fact that GV/NC is changing…
James, you are little behind the times on home prices. Affordable is more like $200K now and current interest rates make the payments less than renting. The big problems for renters to make the leap to ownership are having a sufficient down payment and passing bank scrutiny. I buy foreclosures in need of work, fix them up and sell them around $250K, like for 1400 sqft, 2 acres, NID, orchard, pasture etc.
Lot’s of houses for sale for under 299K around here now, many in the mid 150′s or lower.
Greg…where do you get 200K? What is your source? and I should have stated median instead of affordable…Median is 303K in Nevada County which of course is higher due to Truckee, but it runs 228K in GV and 293K in NC..still a bit much…that all according to Data Quick Information Systems.
Just go realtor.com or some site like that and search Grass Valley for under 200K. Median price is meaningless to a first time buyer. They should be looking for starter homes.
The problem is getting buyers to qualify. I think that some sort of cooperative like Yunus set up for his micro credit program might work. Otherwise there will be mostly land lords and renters.
But James is right it’s a financial thing. Even though the cost of living in Nevada County’s cheaper than the Bay, that’s more than made up for by the increased difficulty of finding a job.
Imagine, living somewhere that is tolerant of opinions that would be hounded away were they to be uttered in downtown ‘frisco. How we can stand to live here is unfathomable.
BTW my monthly mail from Zillow has the cheery news that the ‘zestimate’ for my home’s value decreased about 5% in the last month.
Here’s a nice little 2bd in 95959 that recently sold for $86K:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/10099-Celio-Rd-Nevada-City-CA-95959/19448844_zpid/
The funny thing about liberals is that their always talking about how evil these mostly white towns are, but for some reason they always move to towns or communitys that are mostly white. I wonder why that is?