Bangor, Portland or Burlington (VT)? (Cape Elizabeth, Rockland: how much, house, employment)

[MikeSL]

Currently I am residing on Mount Desert Island and I love it. Beautiful place to live, however, the employment options are too limited so I've decided (and been urged) to move on.
Considering Bangor and Portland, Maine and also Burlington, Vermont but I am having trouble weighing out all the pluses and minuses.

Anyone live in all three places by chance?

[Acadianlion]

I have lived and owned a business centered in the Portland area. You and I both live in "the greater Bangor area". I have never lived in Burlington, but can make a generalized statement that it is a northern New England city, which means relatively small with comparatively little economic development or industrial growth as there is New England is really not an industrial or economic growth center.

The United States is an urban culture. If you are looking for an opportunity to advance yourself, financially, socially, and intellectually, you need to research those areas that have large populations and have grown and developed the most in the past three or four decades.

Unless you have specific skills, education and training that can be utilized in the local economy, OR have a nice trust fund left over from Grandma, ANYWHERE in northern New England is pretty much a dead end.

I assume that you are a young person, perhaps in your early twenties. If I am correct, then let me pass along to you the advice that I gave to both of my children when they were in college: Go far, far away from Maine. Go as many places and work and live in as many different environments as you can. Once you have done that for a while, if the lure of living in Maine still sings a song that you can't ignore, you will be able to come back knowing a lot about a lot of different places and people, and you will be coming to a place with your eyes open from experience.

Start your search by looking at the population demographics of the area. Go where there are more people below the age of fifty than above it, and go where there IS population density that is much more than is in northern New England.

Good luck! You have a great adventure ahead of you, and with your experience on Mt Desert Island, you have something really good to compare other places with. Who knows? After a while you may decide to come back to MDI, limitations and liabilities be damned!

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by MikeSL

Currently I am residing on Mount Desert Island and I love it. Beautiful place to live, however, the employment options are too limited so I've decided (and been urged) to move on.
Considering Bangor and Portland, Maine and also Burlington, Vermont but I am having trouble weighing out all the pluses and minuses.

Anyone live in all three places by chance?

What exactly are you looking for in terms of work?

[JC3]

Burlington is a nice area. Depending on what you are looking for though. It is a college area and is right there on Lake Champlain. Nice scenery around and all the amenities. It will be a "little" drive to the ocean though. Then again Champlain can quickly turn ocean-like in a minute.

[HI to ME]

Originally Posted by Acadianlion

I assume that you are a young person, perhaps in your early twenties. If I am correct, then let me pass along to you the advice that I gave to both of my children when they were in college: Go far, far away from Maine. Go as many places and work and live in as many different environments as you can. Once you have done that for a while, if the lure of living in Maine still sings a song that you can't ignore, you will be able to come back knowing a lot about a lot of different places and people, and you will be coming to a place with your eyes open from experience.

Good advice Acadianlion! This is what I did when I was young....moved to various parts of California and now Hawaii....and now 20 years later I am moving back to Maine with probably a greater appreciation than I have ever had before! I agree that, if you are young, you probably want to go explore your options, even if that included leaving Maine for a while. However, I have friends and family who never left Maine and they could never imagine doing so either. When my sister needed a change, she moved to Portland but now lives in Belfast. If you are trying to decide between these 3 towns, then I would say Portland.....it might have more opportunities for you!

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Burlington has more freedom and lower taxes if that is important to you; and you can hunt on Sunday!

The down side is that Burlington has a very high density of yuppies. Vermont probably has the highest per capita rate of Volvo ownership in the entire country. They even have country alternative Volvo repair shops.

[jlcoffin]

I have a summer farm about thirty mins inland from Portland. Many of my neighbors commute and for the most part are nervous about their jobs. The economy like many places has taken its toll. I'm not sure what your looking for but for me, Portland is a bit dissapointing. It is fairly dirty, sprawls all over the place and I was surprised how much graffitti there is and a geniune lack of interest to fix it. Also, Cape Elizabeth liberals pretty much run the show. I'm a moderate all things considered, but what has me thinking of moving is the fact that they are creating a welfare state out of at least our neck of the woods. Every year I go back, trailers and hillbilly crap grow closer and closer to our small and historical area. All of us hate it but there is no voting power due to the small populations of these towns. I wanted to leave the west for that very reason only to find Maine turning into the same thing. I'm not a snob, but I like well kept areas. On top of which, welfare brings in its share of problems and house vandalism and theft are increasing every year. I am looking at the Burlington Stowe area.
Am I barking up yet another Portland tree?? Any advice would be great.
Hope this helps
PS: Desert Isle is pretty hard to beat!!! lol

[nyctovt]

For employment opportunities and cultural activities I would rule out Bangor.
Portland is still growing and you should be able to find work,eat at great restaurants,go see a minor league hockey or baseball game,walk on the beach and see world class entertainment like big rock concerts,symphony most mid to top range popular acts eventually play Portland.It is getting more crowded and expensive to live there and in the heart of downtown Portland there does lately seem to be a few more instances of gun-related violence but it would not be appropriate for me to go into what the reasons for that might be.Anyone else who would care to elaborate on that point and be flamed ,be my guest.
Burlington VT and the immediate surrounding towns like South Burlington,Williston,Winooski are your only real choices for relocation if you are someone who needs to find employment and don't need immediate access to general services.Any place away from the Burlington area is the sticks with no employment opportunities unless you are an electrician,plumber car mechanic,things like that. Burlington is Portland on a much smaller scale and although it is said how liberal Burlington is Portland is not exactly a conservative haven either.It is by far the most culturally diverse area in the state.You would be trading the Ocean for Lake Champlain but the lake is beautiful,just not as beautiful as the ocean,IMO.
Having lived in Portland and Vermont and currently residing in VT,I would go with Burlington if it were my choice.
Good luck.

[Maineac]

One thing Bangor does lack, to a certain extent, is "cultcha." We used to go all the way to Rockland on monday nights to the Tradewinds for a little blues tune up. Bangor, typically, would have little or nothing in that vein. Garage bands playing drunk-a-thons in local bars. But if you look real hard regionally, you can find what you need. Real rock concerts ended in Bangor a long, long time ago when the Jaycees stopped bringing in big name bands. I saw the Grateful Dead and Canned Heat at the Bangor Odditorium circa 1969. The Jethro Tull concert was the best, though.

Joan Baez stepped onstage at the Bob Dylan concert and says "I feel like I'm in the Grand Canyon." Referencing the Bangor "Odditorium."

[Kiwiluver]

Bring lotsa money to Burlington with you. And yes, Trustafarians abound on Church Street. I have had occasion to work there over the years, albiet for short periods of time. Very expensive.