(image courtesy of Tim Mossholder on unsplash.com)
The growth of Boise, Idaho, and the resulting backlash from its long-time residents isn’t a new phenomenon. When I moved from Southern California in 1993 to Boise to take a job with Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), the anti-California sentiment was extremely strong. I had been warned of how locals would “key” cars with California plates. Some drivers even took it to the extreme of forcing drivers [of cars with California plates] off the road.
So what did I do when I drove up from SoCal and arrived on the day after Labor Day in 1993? I knew there was an apartment that HP had rented for me; I could have driven there and unloaded my car and relaxed after driving about 1,500 miles in two days.
“Straight to the DMV and change plates”
I knew better than that. As I drove into town -- this was pre-GPS on cell phones -- I went straight to the Boise DMV office next to the Police Station on Barrister Road. I went inside, presented my car’s title (the coveted “pink slip”), and walked out with shiny new Idaho license plates. I still remember the number (Yes, I am a numbers freak) -- 1/A 177677.
I got back in the car (now an Idaho car); went to the apartment; unpacked the car.
“Nothing’s Changed”
That experience was over twenty-seven years ago, and I can still recall it today. Even while I was working at HP (they offered me an early-retirement package after only 13+ years’ with them), there were times when born-and-raised Idaho native HP employees would talk about how Californians were ruining the state. There was one time when I decided to play along with them.
“I know what you’re saying,” I responded to one comment about the awful impact Californians were having on Idaho. “This is such a beautiful state,” I said. “It is such a shame that HP [remember I am talking to fellow HP employees] can’t find the talent they need here, so they have to go out of state to find the talent. That’s where they found me.” Icy stares and glares followed. I didn’t care. There was no engineering school in the state; there was no source of talent.
Not much has changed in the twenty-seven plus years that I’ve lived in Boise. The locals want to throw a lasso around the borders and not let anyone else in. That sounds like what the Sierra Club wanted to do in California. “If you weren’t born in California,” one Sierra Club slogan said, “then you can’t live in California.”
The folks in Boise have expressed that same idea. “If you’re not from here, then you don’t belong here,” seems to be the response.
(image from google.com)
So, how do you “keep them out”? That’s simple. There are not many roads that lead into Idaho, so all you have to do is to put up a barricade, and keep the foreigners out. After all, they are the ones responsible for housing prices going crazy (see my article https://www.newsbreak.com/n/0Z8R8fQg?s=influencer).
The main roads leading into Idaho and Boise from the south are from Utah. The simple solution is to set up road blocks along Interstate I-15 as it heads north from Ogden into Idaho. If the car plates are from any state other than Idaho, the officers just turn them away, and tell them to “go home.” The same thing is for the highway, I-84, that cuts northeast out of Utah into Idaho. There are a couple rest stops along the way. Set up a road block and force all the cars into the rest area. Again, if the cars don’t have Idaho plates, make the drivers turn around and “go back home.”
Idaho is a great state, and so is Boise. Let’s keep them that way. Don’t let others move here (Even though I did 27+ years ago).