What Have You Done to My Stanwood

I am involved with the government in the once small town of Stanwood, Washington. Stanwood was a fabulous place to grow up and go to school and just hang out. A place that seemed boring when I was in high school and yet we never lacked for things to do. From scaring girls at a local cemetery to just hanging out at the beach, we were never really bored.
Unfortunately over the past twenty years, many outsiders have discovered what a wonderful place Stanwood is to live. The problem that I have with people moving into Stanwood from the "big city" or where ever, is that they won't just leave the town the way it was. They are attracted by the "small-town" feeling; the lack of traffic, crime, gangs, etc. The issue becomes that once they have moved into our small rural farming town, these immigrants soon begin missing all of the amenities of the mess that they left behind. Soon the "newbies" fight to get the "big-box" stores and all that come with them and we are soon left with a city that isn't remotely what attracted the new folks in the first place.
If the "pit-of-despair" that you left is so terrible, then why recreate it in my town? Go away! Go back to your one-stop-shopping and your parallel parking. Go back to fast-paced living and take those that came with you.