The Decline of Rural Oregon (Portland, Eugene: co-ops, how much, schools)

[robertbrianbush]

Originally Posted by mollyblythe

Sometimes a book isn't just a book and a library isn't just a library. They can be lifelines-- as your touching and relatable experience indicates.

Think of how many people wouldn't be in the improved and successful places they're in today if THEIR libraries had closed. There are Larrys of different ages, genders, ethnicities and, often, reduced circumstances that lose big time when a library closes.

Quality of life dominoes fall in a community in negative ways people don't anticipate or realize with such a closure. Usually, those who vote not to support their library don't know what they don't know. They need to read a book---or two.

I wouldn't want to buy a home or open or invest in a business in a community that voted not to keep it's library open. I simply wouldn't want to be a part of such a community.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by robertbrianbush

I wouldn't want to buy a home or open or invest in a business in a community that voted not to keep it's library open. I simply wouldn't want to be a part of such a community.

Try Massachusetts. They have the best libraries in the world. Of course if you move there, you will pay about 10% of your income to support them, but you will have access to the best libraries in the world.

The libraries we have, are good enough for most Oregonians, and most of us would rather be outdoors, then sitting in a library anyway. So it's all good.

[highstump]

Originally Posted by boulder2015

Well said. It cracks me up to hear conservatives complain about "liberal social engineering" when they want the "gubmint" to subsidize and artificially maintain their rural lifestyles through giving the peoples land away (often to corporations who would limit their access to hunting, offroading, etc), building roads to places with no jobs, etc. The future will be more urban due to the efficiencies in resource extraction done by automation and robot workers. Dont like it? Pull your self up by your bootstraps, snowflakes, and find a job that will survive this shift: forest ranger, rafting guide, and other tourist related industries. Or move closer to a city and adapt.

Nice little snipe there, well done.

By the way, "gubmint" is not actually a word; the activity you mention is off-roading, "etc" is an abbreviation and should have a period after it and don't forget contractions need an apostrophe.
(Public education paid for in part by timber dollars.)

[texasdiver]

To some extent, what's going on in rural Oregon is a hollowing out of the middle. Ordinary middle class folks who are middle of the road politically are vanishing or moving to the suburbs and larger cities.

What you have left are the two extremes. The hard core right wing or libertarian gun types who want to live out in the middle of nowhere away from the clutches of government regulation. And the lefty old hippy types who want to live out in rural areas growing their organic vegetables (or pot) and living in their yurts or old converted school buses. I'm exaggerating somewhat, but not too much. The middle class jobs for ordinary folk are mostly gone and the folks who remain just aren't productive enough to keep the rural economy going.

[highstump]

T Diver, I agree with much of what you are saying. I have lived mostly in rural areas (all in Oregon) and have rarely been without work. The mindset of most people out here is such that they don't really care what you do; as long as it isn't bothering them.

[redguard57]

It's really quite simple:

NO JOBS

https://oregon.reaproject.org/analys...ulation/tools/

Population growth 1970-2019:



I mean how many of you have ever been to the tan counties? What JOBS are people supposed to get who are not already from the area? And then even if you're from there, the decline means your kids and grandkids probably need to look elsewhere.

I'm actually impressed the Pendleton area has grown. (I'm assuming Multnomah County has lost population because of gentrification).

[robertbrianbush]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Try Massachusetts. They have the best libraries in the world. Of course if you move there, you will pay about 10% of your income to support them, but you will have access to the best libraries in the world.
Look at the massive positive contributions Massachusetts .asked to our nation's economy, scientific progress, and so forth right on down the line.
The libraries we have, are good enough for most Oregonians, and most of us would rather be outdoors, then sitting in a library anyway. So it's all good.

Look at the massive positive contributions Massachusetts makes to our nation's economy, scientific and technological progress, etc.
You get what you pay for. And an ideal state has excellent libraries ABD excellent outdoor opportunities. Funding for libraries does say something about a community's priorities and the kind of folks who live there. I lived in a town once that did not support it's library...and it proved to be indicative of other problems in the community.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by robertbrianbush

Look at the massive positive contributions Massachusetts makes to our nation's economy, scientific and technological progress, etc.
You get what you pay for. And an ideal state has excellent libraries ABD excellent outdoor opportunities. Funding for libraries does say something about a community's priorities and the kind of folks who live there. I lived in a town once that did not support it's library...and it proved to be indicative of other problems in the community.

Indeed, Libraries are something of a canary in the coal mine or quality of life indicator. It isn't just libraries that are underfunded in many rural Oregon communities. It's the schools, public services, health care, infrastructure, etc. etc.

In this case, MA doesn't just have better libraries, it has far superior public schools and school performance, better rural health care, and various other public services.

In terms of Education, MA ranks #1 and OR ranks #40: https://worldpopulationreview.com/st...kings-by-state

In terms of rural health care, MA ranks #6 and OR ranks #21: http://ruralhealthquarterly.com/home...h-report-card/

For overall health care (urban and rural) MA ranks #2 and OR ranks #17: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...gs/health-care which means that urban areas like Portland and Boston bring up the averages in both states and the rural areas are lagging behind. But MA is still ahead on both measures.

In other words, MA residents are getting a lot more for their tax dollars than just nice libraries.

[NW Crow]

Library spending by state 2018
https://www.amacad.org/humanities-in...unding-sources

Oregon in high tier at about $63 / yr per capita. ahead of Massachussets. DC top at about $83 / yr.

Don't have big city data but I doubt any are anywhere close to 1% of per capita income, much less 10%.

By Oregon county is probably out there somewhere.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

Library spending by state 2018
https://www.amacad.org/humanities-in...unding-sources

Oregon in high tier at about $63 / yr per capita. ahead of Massachussets. DC top at about $83 / yr.

Don't have big city data but I doubt any are anywhere close to 1% of per capita income, much less 10%.

By Oregon county is probably out there somewhere.

I expect on average library spending in OR is within the normal range because bigger cities like Portland and Eugene have pretty extensive and well supported library systems.

The whole library thing came up because certain rural counties in Southern Oregon notoriously voted to defund their libraries. If I remember it was Douglas County (Roseburg) and also Josephine County (Grant's Pass) but I'm too lazy to google. I don't think there is actually any state-level funding for libraries. At least not much.

We are talking more about defunding schools and services in rural Oregon, not statewide as Portland and suburbs mostly pick up the slack in urban OR.