Source: In These Times
by Joseph Bullington
“On a recent visit to see old friends in Livingston, Mont., I found myself downtown, drinking the free art-walk wine, spearing the free cocktail weenies and admiring the fine skin of the expensively dressed couples bobbing in and out of the galleries that have proliferated here like some aggressive breed of plant. …. a ramshackle Subaru station wagon with local plates came trundling up Main Street, piled floor to ceiling with belongings. ’Fuck!’ shrieked the driver, as he pounded the steering wheel. ’I fucking hate this!’ The scene struck me as emblematic of life in the modern West, where a class of wealthy newcomers is snuggling into a comfortable, healthy, fulfilling lifestyle and unwealthy locals are left to wage desperate, doomed gambits to afford surging housing costs.” (05/06/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/american-west-public-lands-affordable-housing-gentrification