As many of you know Emma and I have been visiting our daughter and her family in New York this week. As a byproduct of this visit we have spent a small amount of time in smaller towns in New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont. This has presented a great opportunity to make a comparison of how these areas are weathering the economic hard times versus the area I come from. There is nothing scientific in my analysis, just observations.
The first thing that impressed me is how old all the buildings are. The common denominator of all of these New England areas I visited is the absence of evidence of construction in the past 5 years. The only signs of construction were some road projects and they were not improvements but maintenance. In other words, if the government isn't doing it, it isn't getting done. There is a new Super Walmart in Hudson, NY but that is a large bedroom community to the state capital. Besides, Walmart is having some great times now so it is not surprising. However the areas we visited in Massachusetts were much more dire. Lee, Massachusetts is the home of a Prime Outlet Mall which seems to be the only new construction there in the past 40 years! The downtown area is dismal and depressing. We had lunch at a diner downtown, Joe's Diner, that proudly announced their founding in 1955. My guess is that is the last time anything was changed there! No credit cards accepted, no checks! However, they are apparently addressing a market need because they were very busy. You could also feel the eyes following you when you came in the door.
Probably the most significant time travel event we had was yesterday as we spent the day touring through Vermont in search of fall foliage. As we drove through the small towns it was striking that these folks were not interested in change of any kind. The people I talked with were all old timers any were happy with their lifestyles. These were people that were benefitting from the boom period of the year, shop owners and restaurantuers. However, there were very few customers in the shops or restaurants when we were there. So you can imagine that they are going to have a hard winter!
In all of our travels this week I have yet to see a new home under construction. In fact, I haven't even seen one under repair. This is not to say that there are none just that there is no overt signs of residential construction. This doesn't bode well for these small towns in New England. All the news is about this town has a multi-million dollar budget shortfall, or another raising taxes by double digits. There is little or no job growth so they are experiencing flight to areas where jobs are available. With this flight goes the tax base, leaving an increased burden on those remaining. Unfortunately the local governments are just now coming to the realization that government services at the level of the past cannot be sustained in the future. The current serving elected officials are now paying for the excesses of the past and will probably be turned out of office for their efforts to rein in spending.
All in all, I am glad I live in Texas! Small towns there are experiencing many of the same problems of the towns I visited this week. The difference is attitude. Texas small towns provide the lifestyle desired by a growing number of Texans without the obtrusive government the larger cities seem to be adopting. They are attracting businesses to the smaller towns, bringing much needed jobs and tax base to their communities. It is the nature of Texans to want limited government and be self reliant and the small towns offer it.
I love to travel and visit new places! I have a list of places I want to go before I die and it is very ambitious. However, visiting is nice but home is home. I have yet to find a better place to live than Central Texas. I'll let you know if I find it!
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