[Image]
11.23.20 NYT article on the pandemic’s effect on Bozeman, MT  Link to article
Excerpt: “The phenomenon of gridlock in a natural paradise has been seen across the West for years. But in Montana it has accelerated markedly this year, fueled by urbanites fleeing the pandemic. Now, many residents are concerned that the state that calls itself the Last Best Place has bragged a little too loudly and too often.”

On a similar but local note:
11/22/20 Aspen Daily News article by Madeleine Osberger, Covid 19 and Aspen real estate: “Boom town means entrance for some, exit ramp for others”  Link to article.
Excerpt…”Asked if he had a sense of what, if any, unintended consequences might result from the 2020 Pitkin County real estate boom, Tim Estin (agent with Aspen Snowmass Sothebys) had this to say:

“The unintended consequences: more people, new homes [and] more construction in and around town, everywhere. More traffic, more construction vehicles on Highway 82, more density and an even more divided class of locals — the employee class and the rich class, with no one in the middle … so expensive that mere mortals of the middle and upper-middle class are priced out of the pearly gates.”

Estin went on to note, “But that social ‘caveat’ has been well-recognized for at least the past 30 years in Aspen. So why would anything fundamentally change, except to become more so?”

He added, “On the positive side, a lot of really nice, successful and smart people and families are part of this COVID wave of more full-time residents. Their values appear to have much in common with the general local sensibility. And that would seem to be a net-net on the side of good, cool things to come to town.”