Nicest people

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

One reason they might not want young families is they have to provide schools for their kids.

They actually play this game at a huge scale back in NoVA where we lived. Fairfax County, VA allowed all sorts of permits to build office buildings but kept a lid on home building. This forced younger couples to move further out to Loudoun and Prince William counties who got stuck with building a lot of schools and all the other infrastructure. The WaPo did a major 3-part series in 2004 on "Beggar Thy Neighbor" to explain it all to us. I've posted it on this site before.

It is not a school thing, schools have been losing students for decades. My son's high school was built for 300 students that the district had in the late 70s, this year there are 78 total high school students in the building. Most people know that once the school gets to small the town dies, and there are several towns on the eastern plains of Colorado to see the examples of where the schools closed 20 years ago and half the buildings in town are caving in on themselves.

The issue comes down to how they feel it will affect them. Many are scared to see their towns change, some of them are scare of competitors (the local jewelry store sells diamonds and gold for almost double what you can buy similar items for in Denver), and then some are greedy.

The line of thinking was explained that night in the chamber of commerce that people entering early retirement in their early 60s will come to town, build a house, can afford new vehicles, will buy jewelry and other items from local stores, and will be in good enough health that they are not a strain on the limited medical in the area.

When I mentioned that with the 100 meg internet and good schools in the area that they could attract families who work from home, the 1st comment was well if they lose their job how do they know they won't start a new restaurant? What if the spouse can't find work and decides to open a landscape company in town? Terry has done landscaping for everybody for the last 20 years we can put him out of business. Then the president of the chaptor said that they need to make sure not to attract young families, even suggesting that some of them go online and give the schools negative reviews so people won't move here.

[Mike from back east]

The High Schools back in Fairfax Country typically have 1500 students and are usually full. The county plays their game to push population further out and those other counties really do have to sustain the cost of schools, roads, FD, PD and infrastructure. They regularly float huge bond issues for new schools, it is a very real situation. It's a whole other world from the eastern plains of Colorado.

Young families with kids cost them money for schools and teachers, even if the school population has shrunk. I certainly get their point of bringing in retired people: we don't need schools, jobs or much of anything; we bring money with us in the way of Social Security and other types of retirement and pension monies which I've argued for years is "free money" to jurisdictions smart enough to attract the older crowd. All we need are places to spend that money; doctors, movies, eateries, shopping. I get their point but tiny towns are not going to attract the big chains with deep pockets; those chains want crowded urban and suburban areas with income demographics to support their corporate profit goals. The way that rural America has emptied out for 125+ years it's going to take a new scheme of some sort to make towns attractive.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by orngkat

After the recent windstorm and a lot of cleanup to be done in our yard, not one neighbor offered to help in any way. Some walked by and took photos without saying boo as if it were a crime scene. Totally weird and unfriendly.

Those neighbors might have had their own mess to cleanup from the same storm. Taking photos without saying even a few words of shared misery is weird and unfriendly, though. Sheesh.

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

The High Schools back in Fairfax Country typically have 1500 students and are usually full. The county plays their game to push population further out and those other counties really do have to sustain the cost of schools, roads, FD, PD and infrastructure. They regularly float huge bond issues for new schools, it is a very real situation. It's a whole other world from the eastern plains of Colorado.

Young families with kids cost them money for schools and teachers, even if the school population has shrunk. I certainly get their point of bringing in retired people: we don't need schools, jobs or much of anything; we bring money with us in the way of Social Security and other types of retirement and pension monies which I've argued for years is "free money" to jurisdictions smart enough to attract the older crowd. All we need are places to spend that money; doctors, movies, eateries, shopping. I get their point but tiny towns are not going to attract the big chains with deep pockets; those chains want crowded urban and suburban areas with income demographics to support their corporate profit goals. The way that rural America has emptied out for 125+ years it's going to take a new scheme of some sort to make towns attractive.

There is a huge difference between having a full school and not wanting to bring in more students and having teachers that are teaching 2 classes for full time pay because there are not enough students to have more than 2 classes. The school here has a $500,000 traveling coach for their football team and gives everybody free lunch regardless of need due to the funds they collect from the local property taxes that have been in place since the 70s and state/federal funding. At the recent school board meeting they openly discussed ways to get more young families to move here saying they could double their current count and the only additional costs would be busing and lunch costs, but that will be more than offset by state and federal funding.

Meanwhile there is a school in the town 10 miles over that is in danger of closing because their headcount has dropped to 67 students in the entire district and they cannot afford to pay enough full time teachers. They even have buses picking up kids from other districts and offer free lunch and class rooms with 6-8 students in each class.

While you are correct in that a town turning into a retirement town can be great short term, it can also be a nightmare long term. Akron Colorado has long been a retirement town, going back at least 30 years they have a town with 2000+ people and about 100 students per year in their school district. The issue comes up as those young retirees age to the point of needing significant health care. A friend I have known for 30 years has never been able to get a Drs appointment in town and drives over an hour each way to Sterling for the Dr. They also have a lot of issues with homes falling into disrepair as these people can no longer keep up with their homes. The other issue is that the older people get the less money they spend. They are not going to buy a new car every 3 years as their last car doesn't rack up huge miles, jewelry becomes less important, a new furniture set is not needed when there is little use. Short term it is a great thing, long term I would argue these towns are better off getting families where they work from home bringing revenue into the town and spending their money in town.

[otowi]

Well, there's definitely nothing like that in Colorado - there are no schools where teachers are getting paid full time to teach less than full time and there are no astronomical football coach salaries here. We probably will be looking at some school closures again soon due to declining enrollments - smaller populations of kids coming up.

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by otowi

Well, there's definitely nothing like that in Colorado - there are no schools where teachers are getting paid full time to teach less than full time and there are no astronomical football coach salaries here. We probably will be looking at some school closures again soon due to declining enrollments - smaller populations of kids coming up.

I live in Colorado, and yes there are teachers being paid for teaching less than full time, and while I did not mention what the coach makes (I have no idea) I said that they use a $500,000 coach/bus to transport the team and talking to my son it is all the sports teams to events. I know it is hard for some people, but the front range despite having a vast majority of the population is less than 1/3rd of the state in actual area. Life is very different and towns are in various shape once you get an hour outside of the metro area. I happen to live in an area where 2 of the larger corporate farms in the country are headquartered, the town is not worried about money.