Congress considers Plan to Lure People to Rural Areas

Star Tribune ^ | April 7, 2003 | Tom Ford

[wallcrawlr]

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Emily Bernier, mayor and lifelong resident of Oklee, has seen her northwest Minnesota town slowly decline.

Since 1970, the population has dropped from 536 to 410. A theater and several of the town's grocery stores and gas stations have closed. And in September, Oklee consolidated its schools with the neighboring town of Plummer because of sinking enrollments.

[RippleFire]

bump

[Amerigomag]

Announce these incentives to the populus of Sanoran Mexico and your backwoods will be filled in 6 months.

[Vigilanteman]

Rural depopulation-- policy of the left.

[TopQuark]

It's silly to attribute to leftists urbanization that has been observed throughout the world for the last couple of centuries.

[Ditter]

I am sorry that these small towns are dying but no amount of money would make *me* live there.

[GingisK]

I am sorry that these small towns are dying but no amount of money would make *me* live there.

If I could retire today, I'd surely "go it". I bet you tire of "big city life" as you get older.

[3AngelaD]

This is social engineering of a most pernicious nature. It is a shame small towns are disappearing, but those who feel this most keenly should go live there without expecting a government handout. Land of the free and home of the subsidized.

The key to this kind of loopy logic: "Dayton spokeswoman Debra DeShong said the government has an obligation to assure that rural residents have the same access to good jobs and quality health care that their urban and suburban counterparts enjoy." Oh? Where is this obligation outlined in the Constitution? Brownback talks the talk against "big government," but look at this Big Brother plan to decide where people should live and then force taxpayers to underwrite their decisions. This is about as dishonest and/or hypocritical as it gets.

[jimkress]

Oh come on, guys! What happened to the EVIL URBAN SPRAWL? I thought the EVIL URBAN SPRAWL was going to destroy the universe. Now, these people want to subsudize the EVIL URBAN SPRAWL.

They should at least be consistently stupid...

[Myrddin]

More socialism. These "benefits" will be confiscated from the taxpayers. Frankly, I don't want the government using taxpayer money to swell the populations of small towns. I moved to small town to get away from the low life that has been bred in the big cities on the welfare tit.

[Ditter]

I am pretty old already (62) & I lived in a small town from '63 till '79. No thanks! You have no privacy. Everyone talks about everyone else business constantly. It doesn't matter if its true, just as long as its intresting. Its how they pass the time. Don't say you haven't been warned.

[womanvet]

There is nothing I want more than to move somewhere more rural. But who is kidding whom? $5000 will buy me what towards an equipped farm? and winter supplies? Gee whiz, I have 2 sweaters and an old quilt for winter here; no heater...

Any rural spots on the list near Bisbee? Immokolee? Move to Dashole's South Dakota? Ya gotta be kidding!

When dh was alive we had considered some areas in WY or ID, thinking it was so cold that we might be able to afford to buy some land, but there is no way. Sorry, I just don't see it working...unless one of those politicians knows an old rural widower who wants a ready-made family...

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Classic Spengler.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

"Small Town USA" out in the middle of a cornfield is a LOT different than urban/suburban sprawl. BIG difference, in fact. I know because I grew up in the middle of central IL in a small town.

[Windcatcher]

I live in Delaware County, PA, and I'd kill to live in a small rural town, say out by Hershey (away from the libs, hee hee). Problem is, trying to get a long-term IT job out there.

[MIgramma]

Speak for yourself.
I wouldn't live anywhere else.
Been both.
True, everyone knows "what's up". But OTOH, you have a very extended family when things don't go right. And, you have a lot of defenders if an outsider gives you a hard time.

[speekinout]

That's nuts! Congress can't tell people where to live. And giving tax rebates won't do it.
Small towns that need a population infusion have to figure out a way to attract jobs. That's not a Fed'l gov't responsibility. Americans are pretty mobile - they go where the jobs are.

[Black Agnes]

The eco-wackos need to stop killing the industries that keep small towns populated. They've killed logging, mining, fishing, ranching/etc.

[Black Agnes]

Or Somalians as in Maine.

[Ditter]

I *was* speaking for myself. I know lots of people love their small town. I said I was sorry they were dying in my first post. But don't think that people have no extended family because they live in the city, not this one anyway. I've had both too & no one will ever get me back in a nosey smallminded small town again.