Recent comments in /f/vermont

MarkVII88 t1_j25c79x wrote

Reply to What do you think of Vermont population wise? Do you think it’s perfect the way it is? Too crowded? Not enough Cities? Open Discussion by Golfoneway95

The state needs more young people, more children, more families, more people who pay taxes, and more people who can and are willing to work. This is necessary in order to be able to afford the number of elderly, disabled, and low income people who require services, not to mention to be able to make our public education system more affordable again. I don't particularly care whether this is accomplished via proper population growth, attrition, or a combination thereof.

There's many obstacles to achieving better VT population demographics. These include such factors as:

  • the lack of available housing across the state
  • the lack of housing that people of reasonable means can afford
  • the lack of childcare in general so that people can afford to work
  • national & global market forces that drive costs of things like building materials, food, and fuel
  • regulatory hurdles that VT imposes that make it cost prohibitive to do things like build housing and open a daycare center in this state

A lot of these are real chicken-and-egg issues that will take a huge amount of effort and money up front to address. I know, deep down, that dealing with these (and other) issues that are hurting Vermont and Vermonters will be beneficial in the long run. But, like most people, I don't know how happy or willing I am to pony up my tax dollars to pay for these solutions, especially if I am not going to be a direct beneficiary of the services themselves. Sucks, don't it?

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Vtjeannieb t1_j2599qw wrote

Reply to comment by 5teerPike in From a relatively new Vermonter who went back to the south for the holidays... by MissJudgeGaming

Unelected positions on your Select Board? Never heard of such a thing. Maybe you mean “ran unopposed “, a very different thing. And if you want change, run for a position. Many Vermont towns have a hard time finding people to take these poorly paid, time-consuming, and thankless positions.

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Lazy-Trust-4633 t1_j258e5o wrote

Reply to comment by Less-Bodybuilder3537 in UVM too expensive by Constant_Education_4

I disagree with the folks who say that an undergrad degree is meaningless. Those are some critical developmental years and there are some extremely important lessons to learn about life, academics, and career that really only universities offer.

Its just that none of those lessons are worth $70,000 a year.

Any affordable undergrad program will do, though some are better than others.

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Fantastic_Painter_15 t1_j2577yw wrote

Reply to comment by Fantastic_Painter_15 in What do you think of Vermont population wise? Do you think it’s perfect the way it is? Too crowded? Not enough Cities? Open Discussion by Golfoneway95

Personally, I’m fine with the total population. The issue is the demographics of that population. Skewed far too old. State needs to find a way to keep younger people around - large part of that is affordable housing and jobs that pay livable wages. Those are only achievable with further development. But the flip side is too much development will take away so many of the things we all love about the state and the things that make vermont vermont. It’s a super fine balance imo and I do not have any idea how to appropriately strike that balance.

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quartadecima t1_j256md1 wrote

Reply to comment by 5teerPike in From a relatively new Vermonter who went back to the south for the holidays... by MissJudgeGaming

>>I dont like them either, but they're the same types with "take back Vermont" signs too, so should we abolish gay marriage because it doesn't make Vermont, Vermont to them?

Nope. If they’re going to fly the traitors’ flag, then send them packing. Vermont sent over ten percent of its population to fight in the Civil War, and had the second most fatalities per capita, according to at least one scholar. We were also the site of the northern-most action in the Civil War, the St. Albans Raid. They can’t have it both ways, embracing the Confederacy and its symbols while claiming to be “real” Vermonters with a monopoly on what makes Vermont Vermont.

I think we don’t actually disagree about NIMBYism in Vermont, so I’ll address your other points in the other sub-thread, time permitting.

ETA: To be perfectly clear, if they don’t like same-sex marriage regardless of whether they have confederate sympathies or not, they can still move to another state. If Vermont is anything, it’s a democracy, and that’s how we got (albeit awkwardly with the whole civil union thing) to marriage equality, here.

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