Newport (Portland, Bangor, Augusta: crime, how much, home)

[jena]

Can anyone provide feedback on Newport? DH just had his interview last night w/ the company he might be working for. Just waiting to see if the company is going to make an offer which dh seems to think they will based on the call. So, I would like to get as much info on the area as possible.

Thank you so much for your input.
Sincerely,
Jena

[jena]

Can anyone provide feedback on Newport? DH just had his interview last night w/ the company he might be working for. Just waiting to see if the company is going to make an offer which dh seems to think they will based on the call. So, I would like to get as much info on the area as possible.

Thank you so much for your input.
Sincerely,
Jena

[Mark S.]

I don't know anything myself, but you can view City Data's report here: http://www.city-data.com/city/Newport-Maine.html

Good luck to you and your husband!

[pinkpalace]

I just moved out of Newport two weeks ago!

Newport is in a pretty good area. You're 30 minutes away from Bangor, 45 minutes to Augusta, and 90 minutes to Portland. Newport sits in the intersection of a lot of the "major" hiways in Maine, so you have an unusually high number of things like fast food restaurants, grocery stores, a super wal-mart and other things a town of ~3000 people doesn't usually have. Plus, one of the local business owners recently bought a gas station and started a gas price war... as of this moment, Newport has the cheapest gas in the state, at around $2.39/gallon.

Schools are good, crime is really low, and there's a fantastic lake (Sebasticook lake) right on the city. It didn't seem to get much use though (waterskiing, boating, etc.), so I don't know if there's a problem with pollution or whatever. The lake is gorgeous though.

The only problem I had would be a problem you'd see anywhere in Maine (all of New England, really). Utilities are really high. There's another thread that talks about utilities where I posted how much I spent in heating oil the two years I lived in Newport.

All things considered, Newport is a great place to live in Maine.

[truckmen]

Newport, Maine is known as having the largest lake in the entire nation that is completely surrounded by one community. :-)

Ralph M Bohm/N5WPG

[MAINEr]

Hey Jena,

I live in Newport now, have for about 2.5 years. Like pinkpalace said for a small town we have a super walmart in Palmyra (a stones through from Newport), a couple of restaurants, sit down and fast food. I moved here thinking it was a small town but get real irritated with the tourists., mostly because I hate traffic. I work in Bangor since there aren't many jobs in Newport (in my opinion). Gas is nice, right now it's $2.23 gal, just went up from 2.19. My oil company charges @2.299 (cash price) gal for #2. It costs me @$1200 year to heat the house, but that also includes hot water.

Where might you be moving from?

[davey cricket]

let me tell you a little story ive been in maine for 1 years with my wife 3 boys it is not a easy state to live in work is scarce and the employers take advantage of it ..if you dont work like a donkey they'll get their mainers to drive you out of your job they all stick together to make outsiders miserable not just a few they all do trust me ive been out of a job unemployment ran out a year had to go to human services to get some assistance they plain old told me "my advice is to get the dodge out of maine cause its gonna get worse here ...honest to god thats what they told me there is absolutely nothing for kids unless they into basket ball its like they forgot about programs for kids or they just want tthem home to clean out the barn or something no life for a kid schools are pretty lame too no good programs in any of them my opinion they are just baby sitters ...so you do some home work and think about this cause i still after living here for a decade or so kick myself in the a@% for moving here ...you will regret it ....

[hlmagan]

Originally Posted by davey cricket

let me tell you a little story ive been in maine for 1 years with my wife 3 boys it is not a easy state to live in work is scarce and the employers take advantage of it ..if you dont work like a donkey they'll get their mainers to drive you out of your job they all stick together to make outsiders miserable not just a few they all do trust me ive been out of a job unemployment ran out a year had to go to human services to get some assistance they plain old told me "my advice is to get the dodge out of maine cause its gonna get worse here ...honest to god thats what they told me there is absolutely nothing for kids unless they into basket ball its like they forgot about programs for kids or they just want tthem home to clean out the barn or something no life for a kid schools are pretty lame too no good programs in any of them my opinion they are just baby sitters ...so you do some home work and think about this cause i still after living here for a decade or so kick myself in the a@% for moving here ...you will regret it ....

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience, but what you've said is untrue. I hope life gets better for you.

[cdodge04]

Originally Posted by davey cricket

let me tell you a little story ive been in maine for 1 years with my wife 3 boys it is not a easy state to live in work is scarce and the employers take advantage of it ..if you dont work like a donkey they'll get their mainers to drive you out of your job they all stick together to make outsiders miserable not just a few they all do trust me ive been out of a job unemployment ran out a year had to go to human services to get some assistance they plain old told me "my advice is to get the dodge out of maine cause its gonna get worse here ...honest to god thats what they told me there is absolutely nothing for kids unless they into basket ball its like they forgot about programs for kids or they just want tthem home to clean out the barn or something no life for a kid schools are pretty lame too no good programs in any of them my opinion they are just baby sitters ...so you do some home work and think about this cause i still after living here for a decade or so kick myself in the a@% for moving here ...you will regret it ....

I too am sorry to hear that you have had such a hard time here in Maine... Life is what you make of it, and I know a lot of people that have moved here and are welcomed. To say that we stick together to run other people off is absurd. What you consider to be "working like a donkey" to a lot of us is normal. A lot of Mainer's are hard working people...try lobstering or cutting wood...

[chaosX5]

Originally Posted by davey cricket

let me tell you a little story ive been in maine for 1 years with my wife 3 boys it is not a easy state to live in work is scarce and the employers take advantage of it ..if you dont work like a donkey they'll get their mainers to drive you out of your job they all stick together to make outsiders miserable not just a few they all do trust me ive been out of a job unemployment ran out a year had to go to human services to get some assistance they plain old told me "my advice is to get the dodge out of maine cause its gonna get worse here ...honest to god thats what they told me there is absolutely nothing for kids unless they into basket ball its like they forgot about programs for kids or they just want tthem home to clean out the barn or something no life for a kid schools are pretty lame too no good programs in any of them my opinion they are just baby sitters ...so you do some home work and think about this cause i still after living here for a decade or so kick myself in the a@% for moving here ...you will regret it ....

Theres nothing wrong with kids cleaning out the barn!!!! It's good for them to know what work is..........