[looking4home]

Thanks for posting that link, FrugalYankee! I'll pass it on to my daughter, who might visit that area soon.

[AmILost]

Originally Posted by vter

I wouldn't go to the school when school is in session but after school/weekends should be fine.
You've only been here a month-give it some time. Summer is glorious. Everything gets so green. Not so much dirt & mud Spring is actually my least favorite time of year.

Okay, yes, describing summer as "glorious" is not an exaggeration. I can't believe the contrast between mud season and late spring! This might be the most beautiful place on earth. Yes, Vermont still has problems, but it's amazing how the scenery can change one's opinion on a locale.

[zonablue]

I was born in Vermont. St. J to be exact. My father, uncle, and grandparents were born there, too. Some of my relatives still live there. So I guess I have the right to speak.

New England is a dump. It might as well be in Europe. Everything is old, run-down, and decaying. So are the politics. The taxes are excruciating.

Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire have become refuges for the decaying 60s hippy culture, green movement radicals, and ecofreaks. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island are liberal bastions of corruption and crime. The larger cities, Boston, Providence, Hartford, Portland, Burlington, and the like, are crime-ridden, vermin infested, politically correct dumps full of housing projects. The government control over the citizenry is like something out of Marx and Mao. Maybe that's why it's called "New" England. It's so very much like "Olde England".

Anyone contemplating living in "New" England needs to throw away the travel brochures and just take a drive up there. Sure, the lakes and mountains and all the greenery are inviting. That's the lure. But the people aren't. They're clannish and snobbish. Outsiders are ostracized. If you're not from an 'old guard' family, you're not welcome, nor are you accepted as anything other than an 'outsider'.

Jobs? Non-existent. The whole area is running on fumes. The economy is depressed, the factories are falling apart, the infrastructure is failing, the towns are dumps, and the taxes are atrocious. I suppose, though, if you need some quick cash, you could join the crowds who grow marijuana out in the woods or set up meth labs somewhere. The whole area is a poster child for liberal entitlements, drug abuse, and poverty. Think Appalachia. No, think 'North' Appalachia. Actually, the mountains of Appalachia run right up into "New" England. That could be a clue.

It's just not a good environment. And the tax base is dissipating as the 'old guard' dies out and the young folks move out. Therefore, expect higher taxes, more deterioration, crummier schools, and, if it's your cup of tea, tons of more liberalism.

Fortunately, I don't have to deal with that anymore. For I am lucky. I got out at an early age and was able to grow up east of the West Coast and west of the Great Plains, where the air is fresh and clean, and the people are still, for the most part anyway, free of the liberal rot.

[Ex Vermonter]

zonablue, you mention all of the reasons why I left the state 10 years ago. I can especially relate to what you said about the clans and "old guard" families. This is especially true in the NEK. If your last name is not Couture, Bonneau, Pion, or Limoges, you will be treated as an outsider. I was born in VT but I did not come from one of the big clans. I love how some Vermonters refer to the outsiders as "flatlanders." It does not matter if you came from a mountainous area like Colorado or Switzerland, you are still a flatlander! My happiest memory of Vermont is when it when I saw it in my rear view mirror on the way out.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by zonablue

Outsiders are ostracized.

because it couldn't be your sparkling personality

[thunderkat59]

Originally Posted by zonablue

I was born in Vermont. St. J to be exact. My father, uncle, and grandparents were born there, too. Some of my relatives still live there. So I guess I have the right to speak.

New England is a dump. It might as well be in Europe. Everything is old, run-down, and decaying. So are the politics. The taxes are excruciating.

Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire have become refuges for the decaying 60s hippy culture, green movement radicals, and ecofreaks. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island are liberal bastions of corruption and crime. The larger cities, Boston, Providence, Hartford, Portland, Burlington, and the like, are crime-ridden, vermin infested, politically correct dumps full of housing projects. The government control over the citizenry is like something out of Marx and Mao. Maybe that's why it's called "New" England. It's so very much like "Olde England".

Anyone contemplating living in "New" England needs to throw away the travel brochures and just take a drive up there. Sure, the lakes and mountains and all the greenery are inviting. That's the lure. But the people aren't. They're clannish and snobbish. Outsiders are ostracized. If you're not from an 'old guard' family, you're not welcome, nor are you accepted as anything other than an 'outsider'.

Jobs? Non-existent. The whole area is running on fumes. The economy is depressed, the factories are falling apart, the infrastructure is failing, the towns are dumps, and the taxes are atrocious. I suppose, though, if you need some quick cash, you could join the crowds who grow marijuana out in the woods or set up meth labs somewhere. The whole area is a poster child for liberal entitlements, drug abuse, and poverty. Think Appalachia. No, think 'North' Appalachia. Actually, the mountains of Appalachia run right up into "New" England. That could be a clue.

It's just not a good environment. And the tax base is dissipating as the 'old guard' dies out and the young folks move out. Therefore, expect higher taxes, more deterioration, crummier schools, and, if it's your cup of tea, tons of more liberalism.

Fortunately, I don't have to deal with that anymore. For I am lucky. I got out at an early age and was able to grow up east of the West Coast and west of the Great Plains, where the air is fresh and clean, and the people are still, for the most part anyway, free of the liberal rot.

Where do you live in VT?
We moved to Vermont hoping this is what we would get, minus the drugs and stuff.
I saw a few liberal places--Brattleboro and Burlington, a few little towns, but overall Vermont is very old time/Deep South conservative. Excellent rant on "liberalism" though, pretty funny

Heres something you might be interested in reading. Probably not though . . .
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/...ng-charts-maps

[Dippylou]

Originally Posted by zonablue

New England is a dump. It might as well be in Europe. Everything is old, run-down, and decaying.

I can assure you most of Europe is NOT like that at all. I have my own problems living in VT after living in London all my life, but don't ever compare this place to Europe. Hell no!

[68vette]

Originally Posted by Dippylou

I can assure you most of Europe is NOT like that at all. I have my own problems living in VT after living in London all my life, but don't ever compare this place to Europe. Hell no!

I completely agree 100%. My mother has a home in Ischia, Italy, an island off the coast of Naples and my dad is from outside of Glasgow. We try to visit family in both places every year or at least every other year. I understand why my parent immigrated to the US and I love my country, but when we visit now I wonder what the hell they were thinking. I don't envy the taxes they have to pay, but there are few drawbacks. Public transportation (even in rural areas), HUGE daily food and produce markets (in my moms town there are 4 open every day) though the biggest market I ever saw in my life was the daily market just outside of Paris, I do not remember the name, but it translates to something like the 'belly of Paris.' I think it spans 550 acres. Sorry for rambling on. For zonablue to say Europe is a dump is a joke.
I think zonablue needs to get a little reality check about the state and the Northeast. There are problems for sure. I'm not afraid to point them out because I care, but to over-emphasize or over-exaggerate the problems of the Northeast shows a hatred or dislike for the region. I've lived in Vermont for about two decades, could you tell me where I can see a "crime-ridden, vermin infested, politically correct dumps full of housing projects." Even in states such as CT, they have torn down housing projects that were big problems like the infamous 'Father Panik Village.' If you want to say something negative or constructive please show us the facts.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by Dippylou

I can assure you most of Europe is NOT like that at all. I have my own problems living in VT after living in London all my life, but don't ever compare this place to Europe. Hell no!

just curious,,,why are you here?

[RomaniGypsy]

Reading all of these posts where people complain about how dingy other people's houses look... have y'all stopped to consider why that might be?

Here's the answer, in two simple words: PROPERTY TAXES.

The tax assessor won't come into your house, so your property value has to be assessed based upon its outside appearance. The worse it looks on the outside, the lower the assessed value will be... the lower the assessed value, the lower the property taxes will be. (You might be amazed at how many of these run-down looking houses have immaculate interiors because that's what the assessor will never see.)

I submit, for the record, the following solution to the problem of people's houses looking dingy. ABOLISH PROPERTY TAXES. When there's no longer a penalty attached to having a good-looking house, people will be much more likely to make their houses look good. But why in the heck would you paint your house if in so doing you raised your yearly property taxes by a thousand bucks?

Man, I'd live in a crappy-looking house too if it meant that the government got as little of my hard-earned money as possible.