Who Is Killing the Towns of Western Massachusetts?

[Torie]

Perhaps the future of Western Mass is serving the bourgeoise. Hubbardton Forge is just up the road in Vermont, but it is an example. They make artistic unique items. I just bought a pair of forged metal sconces from them (see below). In the other direction, at the other end of the Birkenstock Belt, in the NW corner of CT, I went to an artisan who reclaims century old antique wood from demolished barns and the like, which is re-milled to make new flooring. I wanted aged oak wood because it has a patina that new wood just does not have, and the rest of my units in Hudson have it, so I wanted it in the new unit above the garage. And the folks who run these places, and do the work, are of course urban cosmopolitans with a sense of artistry and romance. And then there is the very expensive farm to market food, that one can buy directly, or savor in restaurants. There is a big movement to subsidize these micro farms. If the huge grain farms in the midwest can "harvest" the federal subsidies, why not micro farms in the hard scrabble land of New England, and the Hudson Valley?

That I suspect is the future of the region - the fabricator and the playground, and the retreat for and of the bourgeoise. But no, you won't see that message in the marketing ads.

[Torie]

Well, if the place is depopulating, it's even better for the bourgeoise, as it becomes more park like. Too many people, is a big negative, particularly if their cultural habits are discordant. Columbia County losing people is just so reassuring that the place will remain relatively pristine.

Well enough of the jive. I think the real answer is the splendor of the region will attract folks, who can work over the internet. So high speed internet, plus good schools, seems most realistic to me. Heck, most of Hudson's downtown shops sell most of their stuff over the internet. That of course doesn't do much to offer higher paying blue collar jobs. Maybe those jobs are just gone forever, and if you don't get quite well educated, you are just screwed, and headed for subsidy dependency, with no escape.

Moving right along, what pray tell, is Springfield's main tourist attraction? And speaking of poor urban planning, I defy you to find a city that f'ed it up more than Albany. What a disaster that town is. I don't even know where to begin, in listing its multiple sins. And it's so bad, that it is really retarding gentrification of blocks of these magnificent brownstones, that are deteriorating so badly now, that the wrecking balls cannot be far behind. And the metro area is this hideous, featureless sprawl. The main street running from Albany to Schenectady, Central Avenue, is this horrific eyesore, every stop light of the way. Sad!

[Torie]

Moving right along, what pray tell, is Springfield's main tourist attraction?

Their welcome sign - "Hey, at least we're not Hudson NY"

That is just because they're jealous. I don't blame them. Few can match our creative dynamism.

[Torie]

Western Massachusetts seems like a very decent place. The thing with areas in decline is that the turnaround is rarely planned. People were trying to turn around Detroit for nearly 50 years and they just couldn't, until a few years ago when whites, seemingly out of nowhere, started moving into the city. Who foresaw it? What policy laid the groundwork for it?

Housing being basically free helped in Detroit.

[Torie]

What does ALATT mean?