Posted on 06/10/2005 3:20:29 PM PDT by Murtyo
Some towns in rural Maine are ceasing to exist as independent entities, instead putting local decisions in the hands of distant state bureaucrats. In doing so, they are giving up on a tradition of pure democracy more than a century old, in which citizens directly determine policies and budgets in annual town meetings.
In the past two decades, nine towns have joined what is called the Unorganized Territory, a vast region of sparsely inhabited forests and unincorporated places, mostly in northern Maine. The area is half the state, bigger than the state of Maryland, with about 8,000 people. Those giving up on self-government and moving to the Unorganized Territory are among Maine's smallest towns. Faced with the burdens of government, and rising property taxes, a dozen more towns have shown interest in joining.
Among those considering the move is Cooper, a scattered collection of homes up north in the Downeast region of the state. Most of Cooper's 145 residents are stretched out along a two-lane state highway for 7.5 miles. There's no main street, no downtown, no sidewalks, no streetlights and no school.
Cooper has been incorporated as a town since 1822, two years after the state came into existence. Despite the town's long tradition of self-government, its residents think de-organizing Cooper and joining the Unorganized Territory would help lower much of their costs -- by helping to disperse the tax burden across many more people, for example. De-organization would also alleviate the burden of hiring more and more people to fill town jobs mandated by state law, such as animal control and code enforcement officers.
Still, there are those who mourn the thought of losing the long-standing tradition of pure democracy.
"It's sad, sad, sad, sad," says Doreen Sheive, a Maine native and fiscal administrator of the Unorganized Territory. "You have people giving up hundreds of years of local control and pride in their community."
Property taxes are killing these small towns. As more land gets taken over by the state, or converted into wilderness sanctuary and taken off the tax rolls, the townspeople have to pay more in property tax. This state is really Taxationland, not Vacationland.
So are the envirno doing this, or causing it to happen? Ideological greens who want vast tracks of the country off limit to humans or at least development by humans?
Well a little of the enviros, and a little of state land grabbing at the behest of the enviros. Also state laws that make it more costly to log the forest and make the land less attractive to investors and paper companies. So by default the state will facilitate the land purchases with enviro groups. The small towns, with people on very modest incomes, cannot continue to raise taxes, so they deorganize. Then the state picks up more of the cost of education. That is basically why the towns do this.
*ahem Roxxane Quimby*
You can find it, but make sure that it is no where near the proposed North Woods National Park. You might end up losing your land to the "greater good".
And as for Roxanne Quimby, that *itch ought to take her Burts Bees money and shove it where the sun dont shine.
Maine has become a wasteland with vast tracks of property being confiscated by the rich from out of state who immediately post the land. It is so sad to see this state dwindle away. I really love it here but I really hate it here.
I wish a great conservative writer would come to Maine and write a book about what will happen to the country if liberalism is allowed to run amok like it has here. If you want to see the future of America in the care of liberals, take a drive through Washington county.
Did anyone catch #6? Please FReemail me.
Such an attitude is indicative of how they put themselves in their current situation.
Blaming their own faults on Bush is more than stupid.
Yea, I heard that part. Surprised me that the editors of the story at NPR decided to include it!!!
What do you expect when their version of "conservative" is Olympia Snow and Susan Collins?
Is Maine a red state or a blue state?
Maine really needs to get itself straight, it is such a beautiful land, otherwise they will loose to the competitions, to a place like Nova Scotia for example. Cape Breton area is a nice land as well.
Blue.
Now. Now. Let's be sensitive here. You really can't spend a lot of time on local politics when you're busy keeping up with American Idol, Brad Pitt & chick of the week, and time with the environmental global warming group.
Besides, you don't want them to wait 8 or more hours to vote,do you?
Screw 'em then. They can all move to Nova Scotia for all I care.
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