Depopulation of Rural America (Marshall, Grant: house, theater, community college)

[demtion35]

I think the economy of an area is alot like water, seeks its own way/level and dictates many decisions on rural v. urban however there are plenty of folks that choose to live rural for many reasons which you see many times driving in the rural areas
And water left un-checked can do alot of damage

[GBCommenter]

Originally Posted by northsub

I'm confused by what you are getting at with the technology angle. Shouldn't online shopping, entertainment, etc. make it less important to be physically near these places. At least once we get internet access extended to rural areas...

I did think about that, and it's actually a little ironic when we live in an internet age where not only can you do your shopping online, you can stream movies and TV, and even ballgames, and plenty more. You're right that it should be very convenient to partake of activities without physically being at the movie theater or ballpark.

I guess my perception is, despite this, people still have a mindset of wanting to BE at the venue, and technology allows us time and money to engage in leisure activities. I could be wrong in the why of my perception, but it does seem populations are gravitating to cities (whether that's a good or bad thing is up for debate, however...)

[golfgal]

When we lived in a rural area and the internet became "popular" it was easier but before then, you just shopped differently. If we went to Sioux Falls to shop, we had a list and we did a lot of shopping. We would hit the mall for clothing but also Target, Sam's club, etc. We had all the day to day stuff in town so that wasn't an issue.

For the families that lived out of town and farther away from the day to day stuff-they just planned better for their shopping. For groceries, you often saw people with coolers in their trunks and they would but several weeks worth of food-had big freezers at home, etc.

Honestly, it saved us a LOT of money living in a rural area without instant access to everything. Here, it's a 6 block walk to the grocery store for a gallon of milk (or now with teens that drive-a quick drive to the store )==but it is never just that gallon of milk-you add in the bag of chips or the couple candy bars or that new cereal they have on sale and a gallon of milk is $25 .

Same with clothes shopping. We would go through the kids' stuff before we went, try on things, figure out what they need, etc. Now, we just go buy what they need/want-within reason of course.

As for needing to be at the "venue"--we went to more Twins games, museums, plays, etc. when we lived away from the cities then we have since we moved back up here. We would make a weekend of going, drop the kids with Grandma and off we went (or if the kids were coming with us to whatever-get a hotel room). Here, we don't make the "effort" to go as much I guess. Do you really know anyone that goes to these things every night or even every weekend??

[Lily0fthevalley]

"At least once we get internet access extended to rural areas..."

We gots dah intergoog even up in dah beeg woods!

Seriously.

[northsub]

Originally Posted by Lily0fthevalley

"At least once we get internet access extended to rural areas..."

We gots dah intergoog even up in dah beeg woods!

Seriously.

Some (most?) rural areas do have broadband, but it is certainly not universal. The state passed a bill in 2008 to get universal broadband coverage by 2015. Currently it looks like 6% of households have no access to broadband (I'd guess almost all of those are rural).

I have been to a rural area in Minnesota where the locals said that broadband was generally not available, and when it was it was "not good" (sounded like it was not very reliable). This was a county seat on an interstate, so not exactly middle of nowhere.

[Lily0fthevalley]

Broadband isn't the only source of internet. Many rural folks get high speed internet through the phone lines or via their cable service. Others use dial-up services. I think it would be accurate to say that every public library in Minnesota offers free internet service, generally via T1 lines.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by northsub

Some (most?) rural areas do have broadband, but it is certainly not universal. The state passed a bill in 2008 to get universal broadband coverage by 2015. Currently it looks like 6% of households have no access to broadband (I'd guess almost all of those are rural).

I have been to a rural area in Minnesota where the locals said that broadband was generally not available, and when it was it was "not good" (sounded like it was not very reliable). This was a county seat on an interstate, so not exactly middle of nowhere.

Actually, rural areas had cable television LONG before it was available in the Twin Cities because of proximity to the TV stations. I would say that the 6% are more likely to be found in new developments around the state that haven't installed the lines yet.

[sholomar]

Originally Posted by northsub

Because you want to live in a town where you know pretty much everyone for a greater sense of community. Because you want to be able to walk/bike anywhere in town. Because you want to live in a town that has a higher percentage of non-chain restaurants/stores.

Also, what do you mean by "progressive"? And do you have any data that supports the idea that progressiveness has anything to do with which towns do well?

progressive... a town that encourages new businesses rather then saying no, stay out, like sioux city was known to do in the past. Develop, basically.. parks, roads, things that arguably raise property taxes but at the same time encourage people to move in. Bike paths, golf courses, nature parks, items which supplement people's enjoyment in the community.

I'm the opposite. chuckle. I'd rather be a fly on the wall, and actually I find this town to be a little too small for me. I don't want to know everyone, I want to be anonymous.

My mother has a fiber optic line buried right to her acreage which is 15 miles from the nearest town. Amazing really, a company went a buried fiber to every acreage in the area a few years back. Out in the middle of nowhere, they can get 50 megabit internet if they wanted it. Right now it's a good 15 megs if both TV receivers are off. She appears to get 15 megabits, shared with the digital receivers... around 6-8 megs if both are on.

[northsub]

Broadband is a generic term that just is a vague notion of how fast your connection is. It doesn't refer to any one specific technology.

Here's the website that the state and national government sponsor to investigate internet availability:

Connect Minnesota: Home

If you click on mapping you can get various coverage maps (with minimum speed cutoffs). You can also get an average speed for each county. There are also county maps available with more detail. Except for the average speed map, these are maximized advertised speed rates. So, something like DSL will likely be slower than listed.

Really, the vast majority of (all?) unserved areas are rural. There looks to be questions about whether including wireless sources is appropriate. Doing so or not changes coverage quite a bit.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by northsub

Broadband is a generic term that just is a vague notion of how fast your connection is. It doesn't refer to any one specific technology.

Here's the website that the state and national government sponsor to investigate internet availability:

Connect Minnesota: Home

If you click on mapping you can get various coverage maps (with minimum speed cutoffs). You can also get an average speed for each county. There are also county maps available with more detail. Except for the average speed map, these are maximized advertised speed rates. So, something like DSL will likely be slower than listed.

Really, the vast majority of (all?) unserved areas are rural. There looks to be questions about whether including wireless sources is appropriate. Doing so or not changes coverage quite a bit.

Actually, if you know the state well, the vast majority of the unserved areas are unpopulated--big difference. The vast majority of the unserved areas in MN are in the national/state park areas where no one lives or VERY few live.