anti california

This file photo shows a "no Californians" sticker plastered on a For Sale sign in North Portland last summer.

(Courtesy of Quinn Irvine)

Update, 7:24 p.m.: The GoFundMe campaign is back on. A new GoFundMe page - very similar to the original one - has been posted.

Update, 1:34 p.m.: Bullington said he took the GoFundMe page down after his wife objected to it.

Daniel Bullington is challenging Oregonians who complain about Californian transplants to put their money where their mouths are.

Bullington, 29, of West Linn, arrived in Oregon from Southern California about 18 months ago, seeking "the promise of green pastures," he said. He found a job selling cars. He and his wife had a baby daughter, who is now 15 months old.

But what Bullington didn't expect, he said, was the attitude some in Oregon displayed toward Californians like him. So he created a GoFundMe page, and if he raises $3,500, he'll move back to the Golden State, he said.

Oregon is "a beautiful state," Bullington wrote, but "Oregonians are not keen on Californians. It's clearly apparent."

The picture on the GoFundMe page is nearly identical to the anti-California stickers that appeared on For Sale signs around Portland last summer. Of all the transplants that moved to Oregon in 2014, the U.S. Census Bureau found, 30,500 came from California - far more than the 18,500 who came from Washington, the second-largest group. Meanwhile, home values and rents in Oregon have sharply increased, and the inventory of available homes for sale and rent has been historically low -- a fact many locals have blamed on the transplants.

This is a chance for Oregonians to gain one more home on the rental market, eliminate two cars from the roads and get rid of two people from the line at the brunch spot Screen Door, Bullington wrote.

And in an apparent nod to a certain presidential candidate, Bullington ends his request with, "Help make Oregon green again."

In a phone interview, Bullington acknowledged that it's a tongue-in-cheek campaign.

"I just thought it was kind of funny," he said.

He had been planning on moving back to California anyway, he said, because many of his friends are also beginning to have children and he wants his daughter to be able to grow up with them.

"I actually love a lot of the things that Oregon has to offer," Bullington said.

But don't get him wrong: if he meets his $3,500 goal, he really is going to use the money, he said.

"That'll pay for the moving truck... That's what it cost to get us here," Bullington said.

-- Luke Hammill

lhammill@oregonian.com

503-294-4029

@lucashammill