[flu189]

Just because a town, county, or state enacts a law means nothing. Vermont is full of laws and ordinances on the books which see lax enforcement and prosecution, many being even felonies. Now I'm not suggesting in the case of Brattleboro that this will come to be concerning the issue and concern at hand, but to be honest even if they ban public nudity do any of you really think there will be sanctions imposed? It also does not help that we are talking about Windham county with less than an impressive record of issues when it comes to laws and the people entrusted to enforce them.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by NYLIER

Last year the Selectboard was considering banning nudity. That may have been the time I spoke with the gentleman who told me he sees naked people standing in the traffic circle protesting. Then there was the issue with President Bush. The Town became world renowned...and it was not in a good way. I'm sorry if anyone has taken offense to me pointing this out to Arel. It is a very important decision to relocate and I would hate to see her find out after she moves that she chose the wrong location. Especially when she is asking this forum for information concerning Vermont.

I, for one, was not offended

I'm through there frequently with my kids in tow, and it's actually become something of a sport for us to try and find a naked person. Should I ever spot one, I'll be sure to post -- omitting the gory details, of course

[CraftLadyKim]

I am originally from Upstate NY (Saratoga Springs area) I lived in Bennington, Vermont (1987) for 9 months and couldn't get out of there fast enough. I lived in a four-plex apartment and no one even said hi until we were there 6 months. I found that if you were a tourist, you were very welcome and once you moved in you were the new folks down the block if you lived there for 20 years. Not only that, the doom and gloom weather got to me, as well as nothing to do. I then moved to New Hampshire and loved it! You don't get as much snow due to being closer to the ocean. What a difference, there are remote areas in NH but there are things to do there year around and you're not far from Maine or Massachusetts. I personally think that NH is one of the most beautiful states in the northeast (I'm just not a cold weather person)!!!

[Pkimball]

I have to agree with Craftladykim, NH is wonderful. I grew up in the Northeast Kingdom of VT but was born in NH and lived in the Lakes region and Keene NH area for many years. Southern NH does seem to get warmer sooner and it is close to the ocean and easy day trip. Keene NH has grown and it is only 10 miles from Bratt there are lots of new shopping places, and they try to have family festivals in the downtown and of course Keene is a college town.

I have gone to Bratt a number of times, and didn't ever see anyone walking around in the nude. In fact, until all the publicity around the ban wouldn't have known it. I wouldn't make that a reason to not move there.

Every town and state has it's good points and bad, you just figure out what you want to deal with a go for it. Good luck in your move

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by NYLIER

Last year the Selectboard was considering banning nudity. That may have been the time I spoke with the gentleman who told me he sees naked people standing in the traffic circle protesting. Then there was the issue with President Bush. The Town became world renowned...and it was not in a good way. I'm sorry if anyone has taken offense to me pointing this out to Arel. It is a very important decision to relocate and I would hate to see her find out after she moves that she chose the wrong location. Especially when she is asking this forum for information concerning Vermont.

I can't remember if it was Brattleboro (I think it was) or not but some PETA people wanted to protest nude against using furs. I believe one showed up, but not long, since it was in the middle of winter...I made it a point though to wear my fur ushanka hat that day even though I'm not even near Brattleboro...so I suppose they got attention but most of it was negative, in terms of the nudity issue and people disagreeing with their radical animal rights views...

[Sherylcatmom]

Originally Posted by NYLIER

Last year the Selectboard was considering banning nudity. That may have been the time I spoke with the gentleman who told me he sees naked people standing in the traffic circle protesting. Then there was the issue with President Bush. The Town became world renowned...and it was not in a good way. I'm sorry if anyone has taken offense to me pointing this out to Arel. It is a very important decision to relocate and I would hate to see her find out after she moves that she chose the wrong location. Especially when she is asking this forum for information concerning Vermont.

I agree that Arel should hear it all. And actually, rather than offending me, you mentioned aspects of Brattleboro that would entice me to live there. However, daily (or yearly) life in Brattleboro has little to do with nudity or nonbinding resolutions to arrest lawbreakers, whatever their stature. I imagine that there are plenty of happy, lifelong Brat residents who disagree with those viewpoints. Vive la difference!

[NYLIER]

Originally Posted by Sherylcatmom

I agree that Arel should hear it all. And actually, rather than offending me, you mentioned aspects of Brattleboro that would entice me to live there. However, daily (or yearly) life in Brattleboro has little to do with nudity or nonbinding resolutions to arrest lawbreakers, whatever their stature. I imagine that there are plenty of happy, lifelong Brat residents who disagree with those viewpoints. Vive la difference!

I mentioned public nudity and having the President of the United States arrested. You find that enticing. Yes, we do think differently. I find it enlightening to see how different everyone is even if I don't agree with them.

[sheera05148]

I think Vermont is a communist state. Their media smokescreen for being considered liberal is just that, a smokescreen. It is very communistic in their day to day living. The state is run with an ironfist, so in order to live here, you have to be squeaky clean, especially if your a social misfit of any kind. (Gay, druggee, drunk, etc....) Please, beware of their communist and ironfist ways of running the government, police, towns. Vermont is not what it appears to be through their media exposure. They bend the real information in hopes of bringing people in. No jobs, no commuting solutions, just a bunch of bullcrap. Please beware, anyone who is thinking of moving or visiting here.

[VTerWantingOUT]

People leave Vermont because it very easy to get comfortable here, but if you want to reach for the stars and do more with your life it's hard to do here. People here hate change, and want to keep everything so rural. The cost of living versus income available is very awful and it makes it tough to live. Most of the state shuts down early which doesn't appeal to us night owls, and it's so far away from major cities except for Montreal. Albany, and Hartford could count I guess. Boston is too far away and too awful to matter.

I'm proud to say I grew up here and got a lot of valuable life experience here, but I want more out of life and Vermont just can't deliver that. That's why I have planned to leave Vermont.

[babelsgp]

If you ever consider moving closer to Burlington, I do know of a place that really needs a social worker, and if you prefer the night-shift I'm sure you'd be hired yesterday HA!

People that stay, like the quality of life. Some people like the quality VT provides and others just don't.

I've read a lot of this discussion...

We've relocated to Chittenden Cty, nice place near Vermont, from Texas in 2006, husband was born in Dallas, TX and I grew up there (5yo on). My uncle lives up in Craftsbury, VT, so I've at least got family here.

Long winter, but I came from TX and the summer is so hot and long that we didn't go out for more than 6 months out of the year- and forget growing crops unless you want to pay out the wazzzooo for water- so for us we just flipped seasons, and now we actually have a four-season life. Plus we seem to be able to keep warm, I'm not sure why but 32 here does NOT feel like 32 in Texas. My Northface Fleece jacket is really most of the time ALL I need, but keep in mind I live in Colchester, right next to the water, so it isn't QUITE as cold here. So COLD and people leave as everybody has said because MOST jobs don't pay enough for the cost of housing. Cost of housing is high because everyone wants to have their vacation home here, so you've got this mix of hard working Vermonters that don't get paid enough, and the ultra-rich driving the housing market cost up; they don't work here, honestly they make it hard for people that live & work here (though they may also make it possible for people to live here-catch 22, because a lot of people here are hired by them). Many people here have two or three jobs, that cater to the tourists-or helping other Vermonters, to make it.

I LOVE it here. Vermonters work very HARD, are very practical & boy are they frugal, and I don't think they are frugal just because of being paid poorly, I think they LIKE being frugal-ya know usurp "the man!" They don't want to just throw their money out, when they can fix it, or do it themselves. They will jump right in to MAKE it work, however creatively you can think of in some cases. They don't run out to Home Depot to solve a problem! Most that I have met, really don't like the "flatlanders" mainly because we have this ideal of what we *think* Vermont is and we end up changing it because we truely don't understand. I am from a very large city, and it's the oddest thing living here. In Texas if I had moved to the country I would have been met with proudly-uneducated, opinionated, rough-speaking, stab-you-in-the-back friendliness, and no way would I be able to find gourmet foods. I moved here and I have been to some way-out places and they had Indian food sold at a gas station! These people are opinionated-sure, but they tend to be educated and have strong-beliefs. They stick to themselves, which is great for me as I tend to do the same.

We got lucky, because VT is so "communist" as I have read, we have benefitted. My husband works at UVM as a post-doc (that nice little stint after your PhD where they pay you nothing), and because he is not a "true" employee we have to pay for our health insurance (it's an NIH award, so we pay taxes direct and don't have too many benefits). Had he decided to be a post-doc in Texas, we would have had to pay $950/month health insurance premium, because the NIH award is given anywhere and you are NOT truely an employee. In VT, at least at UVM, you pay your insurance premiums based on your income, we make little so we pay 10% of the premium, about $110/mo. Also the Dr. Dynasaur really helps us out, for $15/mo, we don't pay for dental, medical, etc. for our children. People that make less than us may not even have a monthly premium. There's also a renter's rebate, so if you end up renting for the entire year you will get something back, I think it's 21%.

As far as painting houses... maybe they changed that law, because there are a LOT of purple, pink, yellow, blue even spotted & rainbow houses in Burlington!

But we've only been here 2 years, so maybe it's still the honeymoon period.