Grossman: Urbanites imposing their culture on us

Is this still a great place to live? For years I wondered when I would really be a local. I joke that I’m now a local because I refer to places by what used to be there. But now I’m another kind of local. One that’s getting pushed out of the community I love and have served for many years. I’ve lived here for 15 years. I built a business here for 10 years that generated a lot of tax dollars and jobs. But inflation, oversupply and consolidation from large outsiders crushed my industry. Now, outsiders have moved here in droves and the neighborliness of what I loved about this valley is being replaced by traffic and greed.

For years, I have lived on a handshake and taking someone at their word. No more. We are becoming like all the places we fled from. After agreeing to another year extension, my landlord demanded double the rent or else. And hired Garfield & Hecht who is all too happy to bully me to make a buck. It’s too common a story these days about people who have been contributing to our community and local economy for years, now being pushed out to make room for wealthy people who work remotely. They don’t contribute to our economies. They don’t build buisinesses or create jobs. They don’t embrace the mountain culture, they impose their culture on us. Peaceful hikes in nature are no more — now all you hear is people complaining about no cell service — really, you’re on a hike? The rudeness, anonimity and clutter of city life is taking over. I finally feel like a local who doesn’t know where I fit in this new paradigm. I miss my home.

Renee S. Grossman

Basalt