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The reason the northeast is losing residents is because more and more city folk are flocking to the northeast and changing hte once republican structures into 'progressive' (translation= destructive moral deficient, mother nature over civilians rights ideals) - Vermont is a lost cause- Maine is soon on it's way to being lost cause- NH as well- and forget about Mass unless you worship depravity and mother earth.

The following link does not relate to this thead http://sacredscoop.com

A couple of months ago, I saw a PBS documentary about a small town in New York located about 100 miles north of Manhattan where a cement company proposed to build a plant. The town dated back to the 1600s, and, until a few years ago, was mainly inhabited by descendants of colonial Dutch and English settlers and Italian, Irish, and African Americans whose forbears migrated to the area in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. The plant in question would have provided employment to the community, which was clearly beneficial to an area that had lost industry in previous decades. State and Federal environmental requirements had been met, but the company still needed zoning approval from the local authorities.

The zoning appeal was denied. What had changed was the demographics of the town. Many former residents of New York City and its suburbs, and other areas outside the state, had migrated into the town. They did not like the "look" of the proposed plant and what it would do to the aesthetics of the area. (It was not really an environmental issue, as the company had met the regulatory requirements.) A lesbian activist, originally from Nebraska, who opposed to the plant defeated a long time local politician whose family had lived in the area for several generations for the office of mayor. Her allies took over the town council, and the zoning approval was never granted.

The tragedy in this case is that the mostly working class oldtimers lost control of their community to a bunch of outsiders. Eventually they will die off or move and not leave any legacy, as so many of them are childless for one of several reasons. Their boutiques will be long shut, their policies will have chased away industry and commerce, and this area will become more immersed in poverty, a Yankee Appalachia if you will. Unfortunately, this may be the fate of the "Our Towns" and "Bedford Falls" of the small town Northeast for the foreseeable future.