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The problem with people from more advanced or "faster" cities is that when they move to a slower town or state they are always looking for ways to "improve" it. Why?
It's survived all this time without your help. Why can't you just accept it for what it is?
I've heard for years how beautiful Maine is. Please don't change.
I don't know if anybody is still reading this thread but I came upon it after typing the question "why the hell doesn't Maine and Brunswick in particular give a rats ... about keeping young people..." Interestingly enough, this thread actually turned up! In case anybody is still reading... It should be clear enough by now that Maine is indeed in the midst of a population crisis. The state was one of only three last year to actually lose population. This is especially significant considering that recent studies show that the U.S. as a whole is projected to be the only industrialized nation in the world with positive population growth. The reason? Immigration! Specifically, latino immigration. Sure enough, Maine has one of the lowest Latin populations in the country. Part of this problem has been mitigated by the arrival of secondarily resettled refugee populations (meaning people who moved here on their own accord). Of course, even these communities have been treated with suspicion. To put it mildly... The higher education system still attracts a sizeable population but once they graduate there seems to be nothing left. The critical 25-35 yr old demographic is emigrating in epic proportions Every June, one can see this process clear as day, as an exodus of recent graduates, fresh from the ceremony, pack their things and head down I-295 South to Boston or NY as I-295 north swells with the ranks of newly retired baby-boomers. I love it when older folks whine about taxes, and healthcare costs all the while voting down measure after measure that would even modestly support young professionals' attempts to set up new businesses and find affordable housing. Isn't there a correlation here? Every economist knows that the older the population, the higher the cost of entitlement programs which means higher taxes, crumbling infrastructure and cuts to services and education. All of which in turn exacerbates the problem of more and more young people being forced to move away to find work and have children.
About five years ago, New Brunswick, Canada was faced with an almost identical situation. Their solution? They formed a new branch of government called the "Ministry of Population Growth" and targeted education investments, bundled affordable housing with start-up business clusters and most importantly, adopted an open immigration policy. The result? The population loss reversed within five years. Maine even hosted a conference in 2006 where they brought representatives from New Brunswick in as consultants and created a series of pilot programs that were promptly cut within a few months time. All that is left is a Facebook site with fewer "fans" than my grandmother.
Is all hope lost? I wouldn't still be living here if it were... Brunswick made a few wise moves in the past few years that may yet buck the trend. The arrival of the Downeaster train in 2012, redevelopment of NASB and the Transit-Oriented Development called Maine Street Station are all positive signs. Yet the attitude of even the most progressive town leaders still seems oddly antagonistic to the idea of young people having any say as stakeholders. Planning meetings are held during work hours, no attempts are made to reach out to places where young people gather and when anybody without grey hair attends a meeting they are treated as if they just got out of prison!
This attitude needs to change if anything else is going to follow...
It doesn't bother me in the least that Maine's population trend is downward. The lower the better. If the roads went back to dirt and the bridges were wooden decked I'd like that even better. If the schools didn't have a football team or take junkets to France it wouldn't break my heart either. We got along just fine with dirt roads and Mom and Pop grocery stores in the 60's and even early 70's. We could all take care of ourselves and didn't need pilot programs, welfare, and support groups to help us out. If the Walmarts all folded and we had to drive to Boston to catch a plane so be it. If you can't find something to do here ...move away. Nobody is begging anyone to stay. If you find an area more attractive and robust feel free to go. I hope half of Maine's population decides to move away especially the ones in the south from Kittery to Bath.
It doesn't bother me in the least that Maine's population trend is downward. The lower the better. If the roads went back to dirt and the bridges were wooden decked I'd like that even better. If the schools didn't have a football team or take junkets to France it wouldn't break my heart either. We got along just fine with dirt roads and Mom and Pop grocery stores in the 60's and even early 70's. We could all take care of ourselves and didn't need pilot programs, welfare, and support groups to help us out. If the Walmarts all folded and we had to drive to Boston to catch a plane so be it. If you can't find something to do here ...move away. Nobody is begging anyone to stay. If you find an area more attractive and robust feel free to go. I hope half of Maine's population decides to move away especially the ones in the south from Kittery to Bath.
It doesn't bother me in the least that Maine's population trend is downward. The lower the better. If the roads went back to dirt and the bridges were wooden decked I'd like that even better. If the schools didn't have a football team or take junkets to France it wouldn't break my heart either. We got along just fine with dirt roads and Mom and Pop grocery stores in the 60's and even early 70's. We could all take care of ourselves and didn't need pilot programs, welfare, and support groups to help us out. If the Walmarts all folded and we had to drive to Boston to catch a plane so be it. If you can't find something to do here ...move away. Nobody is begging anyone to stay. If you find an area more attractive and robust feel free to go. I hope half of Maine's population decides to move away especially the ones in the south from Kittery to Bath.
I don't know if anybody is still reading this thread but I came upon it after typing the question "why the hell doesn't Maine and Brunswick in particular give a rats ... about keeping young people..." Interestingly enough, this thread actually turned up! In case anybody is still reading... It should be clear enough by now that Maine is indeed in the midst of a population crisis. The state was one of only three last year to actually lose population. This is especially significant considering that recent studies show that the U.S. as a whole is projected to be the only industrialized nation in the world with positive population growth. The reason? Immigration! Specifically, latino immigration. Sure enough, Maine has one of the lowest Latin populations in the country. Part of this problem has been mitigated by the arrival of secondarily resettled refugee populations (meaning people who moved here on their own accord). Of course, even these communities have been treated with suspicion. To put it mildly... The higher education system still attracts a sizeable population but once they graduate there seems to be nothing left. The critical 25-35 yr old demographic is emigrating in epic proportions Every June, one can see this process clear as day, as an exodus of recent graduates, fresh from the ceremony, pack their things and head down I-295 South to Boston or NY as I-295 north swells with the ranks of newly retired baby-boomers. I love it when older folks whine about taxes, and healthcare costs all the while voting down measure after measure that would even modestly support young professionals' attempts to set up new businesses and find affordable housing. Isn't there a correlation here? Every economist knows that the older the population, the higher the cost of entitlement programs which means higher taxes, crumbling infrastructure and cuts to services and education. All of which in turn exacerbates the problem of more and more young people being forced to move away to find work and have children.
About five years ago, New Brunswick, Canada was faced with an almost identical situation. Their solution? They formed a new branch of government called the "Ministry of Population Growth" and targeted education investments, bundled affordable housing with start-up business clusters and most importantly, adopted an open immigration policy. The result? The population loss reversed within five years. Maine even hosted a conference in 2006 where they brought representatives from New Brunswick in as consultants and created a series of pilot programs that were promptly cut within a few months time. All that is left is a Facebook site with fewer "fans" than my grandmother.
Is all hope lost? I wouldn't still be living here if it were... Brunswick made a few wise moves in the past few years that may yet buck the trend. The arrival of the Downeaster train in 2012, redevelopment of NASB and the Transit-Oriented Development called Maine Street Station are all positive signs. Yet the attitude of even the most progressive town leaders still seems oddly antagonistic to the idea of young people having any say as stakeholders. Planning meetings are held during work hours, no attempts are made to reach out to places where young people gather and when anybody without grey hair attends a meeting they are treated as if they just got out of prison!
This attitude needs to change if anything else is going to follow...
Many high school seniors that are going to college have a youthful tendency "to get out of here" going to an out of state college-see new areas-possibly a warmer climate
what maine needs is job creation-plain and simple- not goverment debt jobs-private sector investment jobs-we need industry and manufactoring jobs-
The state of maine needs to be more business friendly-less regulations/restrictions/taxes
maine is over 90% trees-we have plenty of room for development.
The new administration coming in knows this and hopefully can improve things in this area.
Maine is a beautiful ,if poor, State. It always has been. Businesses come and go with the national trends. You won't ressurect the old woolen mills, shoe factories and sardine processing plants of yesteryear as things have changed. Objectively looking at Maine from a business point of view Maine has little to offer. Sure if you want to start a salmon farm or grow sea urchins for the row Maine is a great spot. Maybe you could make wooden boxes or broom handles here but in reality everything that can be made in Maine can be made somewhere else cheaper. Maine's only true resource beyond lumber and lobsters is it's recreational value. People come here to get away from somewhere else. They have for a couple of hundred years or more.
It's called Vacationland for a reason. Yes people try to stay and start businesses but Maine is tough not only politically on businesses but in a geographical way too. It costs much more to ship from Maine than it does in most other states. That two to ten hours north of Boston weighs heavily when considering shipping costs. Bringing in raw material, paying a workforce and shipping out the finished product has proven to be too expensive for all but a handful of industries still hanging on here.
With fuel as high as it is heating a warehouse in Maine is crazy when you can set up in the Carolinas and save all of that transportation and heating costs.
Maines way of life won't change overnight if ever. We may get over run with retirees from away but the attraction to Maine for businesses will remain low for a good long time.
Maine is a beautiful ,if poor, State. It always has been. Businesses come and go with the national trends. You won't ressurect the old woolen mills, shoe factories and sardine processing plants of yesteryear as things have changed. Objectively looking at Maine from a business point of view Maine has little to offer. Sure if you want to start a salmon farm or grow sea urchins for the row Maine is a great spot. Maybe you could make wooden boxes or broom handles here but in reality everything that can be made in Maine can be made somewhere else cheaper. Maine's only true resource beyond lumber and lobsters is it's recreational value. People come here to get away from somewhere else. They have for a couple of hundred years or more.
It's called Vacationland for a reason. Yes people try to stay and start businesses but Maine is tough not only politically on businesses but in a geographical way too. It costs much more to ship from Maine than it does in most other states. That two to ten hours north of Boston weighs heavily when considering shipping costs. Bringing in raw material, paying a workforce and shipping out the finished product has proven to be too expensive for all but a handful of industries still hanging on here.
With fuel as high as it is heating a warehouse in Maine is crazy when you can set up in the Carolinas and save all of that transportation and heating costs.
Maines way of life won't change overnight if ever. We may get over run with retirees from away but the attraction to Maine for businesses will remain low for a good long time.
The other thing to remember is that big businesses with thousands of employees, will locate themselves where there are people with the experience such employers require.
That means places that arleady have companies that have such employees to steal away.
Or places where most such employees would like to live, so you wouldn't have trouble importing employees from far away, because its likely they woudn't mind relocating to where you are.
So it's like you have to have big business already to attract more big business.
Because big business requires a constant supply of specialized employees with experience (i.e., college grads with no experience account for only a fraction of the employees needed, so sending Maine's workforce back to school isn't good enough).
Maine is a beautiful ,if poor, State. It always has been.
Not always has been.
Maine was one of the most prosperous states in the early 19th century (and I think I even remember reading that one Maine city or county had the highest per-capita income for a while or maybe the most millionaires--I forget exactly which).
The economic problems for Maine started when the midwest was settled and railroads were built.
The midwest farms were then able to out-produce Maine, which has rocky soil that makes plowing slow and difficult.
And it was easier to build railroads from the Midwest than to build railroads across Maine, because Maine has so many rivers transecting the most direct potential rail routes (Maine had to transport its crops by water to other states instead of by rail).
So when the Midwest started stealing farm business from Maine (actually from all New England), it was the beginning of the migration of Maine's young people out of state: most of the early young migrants moved to the Midwest.
Since that time, one by one, the industries that Maine fell back on went away.
And the migration of the young out of Maine continues.
But whatever Maine's reasons for the young leaving, I guess it could just be considered part of the general migration of all Americans from rural areas to urban areas that has been occurring since 1900.
Around 1900 most Americans lived in farm country.
Now more than 80% of Americans live in metropolitan areas (and thank goodness they tend to pack themselves together like sardines, leaving some roomy places left for the rest for us; if those ubanites spread themselves out evenly, we'd all be in trouble! LOL)
Last edited by OutDoorNut; 11-24-2010 at 02:58 PM..
"Beautiful and poor" are major desired attributes for retirees.
My pension would not allow me to live in any city where the average household income was $200k/year.
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