Single guy with no kids who is leaving corporate America for good... (Portland: insurance, crime)

[cleverhandlename]

...wants to move to a small coastal town in Maine, where there exists no Starbucks, McDonalds, Wal-Mart, grid-lock traffic, boring, vapid, lifeless cubicle jobs, street gangs, oppressive cops and marijuana laws, uppity, superficial rich snobs, pollution, meth labs, crack houses, hour-long commutes, and basically everything that recently made up my mind to leave the modern American city and actually live for a change. I'll wait tables, stock shelves, sell fruit door-to-door, sack groceries, anything to avoid going back to an office in some sterile urban high-rise and staring at a computer all day. Theoretically, I'd like a town on or near the coast with about 1K-5K residents that's I guess what one might consider "hip" although I really dislike using such words, but you know what I mean. Would appreciate the suggestions.
-Rob

[Northern Maine Land Man]

You're going to need to compromise if you pick Maine.

"oppressive cops and marijuana laws, uppity, superficial rich snobs"

We have laws and they are enforced. We have marajuana laws and we do have some superficial rich snobs too. If you can't live with these you won't like it here.

Personally, drug laws don't affect me because I don't do drugs and I find superficial rich snobs entertaining, but to each his own.

[cleverhandlename]

I'm not talking about cops reasonably enforcing laws. Even a completely anti-drug person would admit that marijuana and crack/meth are not even remotely close to the same thing. Maine has recently decriminalized marijuana, as it should, but still has strict penalties for crack and meth and other drugs that kill people and ruin lives, as it should. Also, I used to find superficial, overly-materialistic, smug, shallow rich people entertaining, but now I'd like to find them entertaining from a greater distance, as I'm sure you are doing, living in North Maine. You see, I've had to work in offices with corporate sharks who screw people out of insurance pay-outs for a living. I've had to live in close quarters with these people. They are entertaining to you because you don't have to. Thanks for allowing me to expound.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by cleverhandlename

I'm not talking about cops reasonably enforcing laws. Even a completely anti-drug person would admit that marijuana and crack/meth are not even remotely close to the same thing. Maine has recently decriminalized marijuana, as it should,

Rich, smug, overbearing people very well may be your neighbors if you live in a coastal community, not in a far off place where you can chuckle at their antics. They come in from all over to buy vacation properties all up and down the coast. I am willing to bet every single person who lives along the coast, on this forum, can show you where they live in their town. AS for pot being decriminalized, you need to review your information. Maine Marijuana laws

[cleverhandlename]

Folks, folks... Please... I'm not a troll and there's no real need for a moderator to ban my IP address just because I asked a question that happened to briefly mention my disdain for superficial rich people. Let's just forget superficial rich people and marijuana laws for one second here. In the original post, I was just asking you guys if you know of a small town where there's a decent arts scene, light industry, available housing, and a "live and let live" attitude, as it were. I'm not trying to slam anybody here, guys...and I just joined this forum last night, and yes, my only other post outside of the Maine forum is a mild slap at Atlanta. If you have ever been there, you would agree that it is a bit suffocating and anxious and racial tension and crime run rampant there. The same could be said for many a modern big city. Alas, that's why I am taking steps to move out of the city and live in some place like Maine, in a town that hasn't been overrun by the stress of modern urban living. I was actually giving Maine and the people who live there much credit for refusing the advances of this alluring, yet minatory American phenomena. I would like to experience an America that has stopped huge corporations from steamrolling mom and pop. Please don't get caught up in such minutia as marijuana laws or isolated accounts of someone's neighbors being smug rich people. That's not why I wrote this post. I wrote this post because I know you guys appreciate living in one of the most beautiful parts of the world and I might appreciate the same thing. We can disagree about each other's lifestyles on another forum.

[ILUVMAINE]

Cleverhandlename

My suggestion would be for you to move to Seattle or the surrounding area. I think it would be a perfect fit.

[starwalker]

cleverhandlename, though I am not in Maine yet (move comes in a couple of weeks) I would suggest that you might want to try a variant of what I did... Focus on the type of climate/location you prefer (coastal, you mentioned) and then work from a map of Maine, looking up and listing the coastal towns and searching the Web for those that have community or other related sites... many of the communities have pages here on City-Data, with lots of (sorry, CD.com...) dry demographics but some (even some small communities) have web sites put up by either the town or an interested citizen that give me a better sense of the "flavor" of the community. This may give you a bit more direction... then plan a vacation... NOT during "tourist season" I would say, though if you are looking at an area that has a big tourist impact, you might also want to visit then, as things will likely be very different. Spend as long as you can in the area, with no particular agenda other than "looking around, talking to folks, browsing and following your nose."

I was originally looking at the area roughly around Augusta-Bangor, but on my visit I found that Bangor and the surroundings spoke to me and Augusta -- though it may be an equally great place -- did not.

[thesamesound]

This is also what my Fiance and I are currently doing. I'm going to be done with school after summer and we both feel like we need to get out of NC and we looked around the states and saw what interested as far as geographic location, crime rate, economy, etc. etc. and narrowed our choice down to Portland, ME. We've planned a week long trip to Portland this spring to get an idea of how it actually feels. I don't think anyone can ever get a feel for a place without stepping foot in it.

[contented]

i have to recommend the coastal towns of the blue hill peninsula. once a man recognizes that the place he's living is unfit for human habitation, a bit of a frenzied search begins and who's to say what wordsmithing you might use during your initial breakout?Deer Isle - Stonington Chamber of Commerce

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by cleverhandlename

Folks, folks... Please... I'm not a troll and there's no real need for a moderator to ban my IP address just because I asked a question that happened to briefly mention my disdain for superficial rich people. Let's just forget superficial rich people and marijuana laws for one second here. In the original post, I was just asking you guys if you know of a small town where there's a decent arts scene, light industry, available housing, and a "live and let live" attitude, as it were. I'm not trying to slam anybody here, guys...and I just joined this forum last night, and yes, my only other post outside of the Maine forum is a mild slap at Atlanta. If you have ever been there, you would agree that it is a bit suffocating and anxious and racial tension and crime run rampant there. The same could be said for many a modern big city. Alas, that's why I am taking steps to move out of the city and live in some place like Maine, in a town that hasn't been overrun by the stress of modern urban living. I was actually giving Maine and the people who live there much credit for refusing the advances of this alluring, yet minatory American phenomena. I would like to experience an America that has stopped huge corporations from steamrolling mom and pop. Please don't get caught up in such minutia as marijuana laws or isolated accounts of someone's neighbors being smug rich people. That's not why I wrote this post. I wrote this post because I know you guys appreciate living in one of the most beautiful parts of the world and I might appreciate the same thing. We can disagree about each other's lifestyles on another forum.

I'll give the you benifit of doubt Maine is a beautifull state. I think you'll find even those rich snobs change their tune a little when they're here so you may actually be able to live with them. I get your point.....your sick and tired and need to get away.....even for a few years. Maine geography in a nut shell. Southern Maine more populated than Northern Maine. East = ocean and west = mountains. You might have better luck looking for towns in the north central and western part of the state as the ocean towns command more money and attract people with more money. But if your set on the coast then the further down east...the less expensive. From the sounds of it EastPort may be a nice little city/town that could fit you. But remember no matter where you move to you'll always bring the same problems with you that were your's to begin with.