What's the deal with being a 'local' in CO? Is it that serious?

Other than the somewhat silly "Native" bumper stickers that you see around (followed one this morning in fact), I've never experienced anything like that.

What is your business exactly? Not sure why anyone would care that the owner is "Native", unless you are selling those bumper stickers, which are probably made in China anyway.

 

Without any context for what you're talking about, it's hard to say. I don't think that being a native is super important but for some things, people want to make sure they're not dealing with some Johnny Come Lately who is here today and gone tomorrow. I know that we deal with a lot of other businesses and make sure to research who they are and where they come from and there are definitely red flags for companies that pop up out of nowhere.

I don't follow the whole "veteran on a hot day" part and "owning five exotic cars" and if that has to do with being local or not. I'm slow, though and I have a hard time understanding things.

 

Being born and raised in Colorado I take pride in it and enjoy meeting other "natives" (I don't really like that term per se) because they are few and far between. That being said, if you are generally a good person I could care less where you are from. I can see Sherpa's point about maybe they wanted to be sure they were dealing with a company with roots in the area. In business I tend to concern myself with people who want my business as opposed to those who don't want to do business with me....his loss I suppose

 

When pot was legalized the entire state saw a flood of people from out of state either moving to or visiting Colorado. As a result the traffic and congestion increased noticeably. Many people who were here before the law changed have grown resentful of these people for clogging the roads and causing the real estate market to rise. Not sure why someone would take this bias to influence business dealings but it could be a reason for it. Im not taking sides on the matter one way or another on this thread, but it could explain why they acted this way.

 

I am a native, family has been here 120 years. I have no resentment towards those that have moved here, what gives anyone anymore right to be here versus another other than the true Native Americans that were here first? I remember the 1980s and can deal with the addititional traffic and higher cost in exchange for a healthy diversified economy. I would suspect that you are right about the lower end of the social spectrum is upset as it is much more expensive to live here than it used to be. I would also suspect that many of the "native" bumper stickers are on cars from those that were not here in the 1980s as well.

 

That is funny. Slow is not something i associate you with Sherpa!

My wife is a native, born in Denver and lived here pretty much most of her life. I, on the other hand, have lived here since 1986. I have never seen any difference in native vs non-native. (Actually i am a naturalized citizen who has not really experienced any discrimination in Colorado.) I have lived here longer than other place.

 

Whaaaaaaatttt???? You're not a Colorado native, Mark???? I thought you had to be at least a fourth generation Coloradan like Scott.

See?? I am slow.

 

Ha! I am a little mixed up! Malaysia, England, India, Wyoming and Colorado (all with some Portuguese influence mixed up in there somewhere). How is that for ending up in the real melting pot .

 

I could never tell by your accent and skin color. I thought that was straight 4th generation Highlands Ranch!

Okay, okay. I'll stop joking around now. I saw the beach next to your elementary school!

 

I guess i am what you would call a Mutt. :0
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Born and raised here myself over 60 years ago and remember that C Springs was all of 35K population, Pueblo maybe 40K and Denver a cow town that rolled up the sidewalks at night. So people born and raised in CO, especially my generation are few and far between. The whole "Native" thing did start in the early 80's and suppose it was a way for those from here to snub noses at Texans and Californians who were diluting the gene pool. There was another popular bumper sticker of the time: "Don't Californicate Colorado". Unfortunately, that did happen.

 

Same thing has happened to Idaho.

 

Actually it was back in the early-mid 1970's and maybe even before that.

Back then 'Native' was a big deal and anyone from either coast or Texas was not very welcome.

The Texans forsure reciprecated.

 

That exists to some extent everywhere. I am from California and to them it was important too. When the place you grew up changes people want to blame someone. It certainly cannot be the natives who brought about change and overcrowding, higher taxes, higher cost of living etc now can it? To some extent there is truth to it, outsiders sure changed California but go anywhere that's nice and people want to be and that's going to happen. If you don't believe me just ask the Indians.

I suppose you could live somewhere where the weather is rotten, zero culture, no jobs, cheap homes and a low cost of living, nothing is ever going to change and you'd be in nirvana.


For the immigrants, there is always someone who is going to try and blame you for ****ing up their little slice of heaven. Just steer a course around them and get on with life. Someone with that sort of thought process I have no use for anyway.


For the natives, bottom line is be happy you live in a place someone else feels is worthwhile moving to. Make them feel welcome and they just might be a good neighbor. There are only so many good people in the world and you might have just met one of them.

 

Absolutely true, it goes back into the 60's at least...my father was a pharmacist in the drugstore that used to be in the Broadmoor Hotel and as kids found ourselves there quite often. I even caddied at the golf club for a few years so we were exposed to the comments and saw why they were being made.

It was the "Native" stickers that as I recall, came out in the 80's....