I moved from the outskirts of a really small town (Horseshoe Bend, pop. 707) to just outside the border of metropolitan Middleton (just over 5,000 people). It is still utterly un-Boise.
Bi-Mart in Star is sort of the small scale Wal-Mart, with a wide range of products and groceries (but no produce). However, when I went looking for chili, they had one brand and that was turkey chili (why bother?) Unlike Wal-Mart, they sell handguns.
Ridley's is the supermarket in Middleton. They seem to share space with an Ace Hardware. Ace has both an external entrance and a Ridley's entrance. And like Bi-Mart, they sell guns.
At your age, you will probably survive the changes coming to that area. Nonetheless, you are the meat in a malevolent sandwich. Ontario OR (and overflowing into Payette/Fruitland) is a nexus for both regular and cartel-influenced drug trafficking violence. Nampa/Caldwell has second and third generation gang criminal activity. (I know this on an empirical basis.)
ReplyDeleteRegardless of protestations to the contrary, the Treasure Valley is now California "Medium"; It was "Lite" 15 years ago, and the trajectory, which is almost mathematically certain, is towards "Heavy". With it comes all of the issues that eventually cause the same repetitive dissolution of the locale that has occurred in every other place where the same demographic change has occurred.
It happened to Oregon, Washington, Colorado, it is well underway in Utah and Arizona, and Idaho will fall as well. Ontario and Payette were once sleepy farm towns; now the criminal activity there is beyond what most people imagine. There used to be nothing from Boise to Nampa/Caldwell, or from CDA to Spokane. Now it is virtually a continual and growing suburban sprawl. Those people did not come from Idaho.
The populations, surging by CA "refugees", based in Boise and CDA/Sandpoint will exceed the voting power of the less populated areas. That is the tipping point.
Your own personal conservatism is irrelevant.
I am glad that your relocation works well for you. I hope that it continues to. Keep your guard up higher than you did in HB; the countrified area of Middleton (and surrounding area) can be deceiving. I would not debate you regarding telescopes or history; the aforementioned is in my wheelhouse.
The California refugees that I have met here since 2001 are with one exception, well to the right of most natives. That's why they moved here.
ReplyDeleteCaldwell had no murders in 2018, 9 rapes, and 11 robberies. For a town of 55K people that's pretty good. Compared to most any California city of comparable size... The gang recruitment law Idaho passed several years back seems to have helped.
Nampa is bad. It has murder and rape rates that are almost Californian. Caldwell seems to have fixed its problems.
ReplyDeleteKeep an eye on the Bi-Mart sales. I've often seen ammunition prices that meet almost any Web sale prices and without shipping at that. Often good firearm prices as well (.22 Rossi semi-auto rifle for $90, etc.).
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