December 4, 2003
THEY CLEAN UP NICE ANYWAY:
Middle-class families flee Massachusetts, study finds: High costs, especially housing, could create wide income gap (Jay Fitzgerald, December 4, 2003, Boston Herald)
"The middle-class flight is a disturbing trend,'' said Ian Bowles executive director of MassINC, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank that commissioned the study, which was released yesterday.
"You can certainly see an erosion of competitiveness'' if the middle-class migration continues, said Michael Goodman, the study's co-author and an economist at the University of Massachusetts' Donahue Institute.
Middle-class families are the "bedrock of community life'' with strong roots here, the report says. "We let these vital contributors to our communities and our economy slip away at the Commonwealth's peril.''
Over the past 12 years, the study found, there was a net "domestic migration'' from Massachusetts of 213,191 residents, many of them Bay State natives moving to sunny climates or lower-cost New England states. [...]
New Hampshire was the No. 2 destination, with a net 78,201 heading there during the same time period. The migration pace to New Hampshire has dramatically increased in the past few years, the report said. [...]
Goodman said people fleeing the state tend to be middle-class families with children, with workers less likely to be managers or professionals. They're well-educated, but usually don't have the advanced graduate degrees held by more mobile professionals coming into the state, the report said.
Once we teach them some manners--like not using their car horns--they're actually decent folk. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 4, 2003 9:49 PM
If I didn't have to commute to downtown Boston, I'd move to New Hampshire. But would I really have to give up the horn? How about the speeding?
The Boston motto is "Live free or the pedestrian dies."
But we can still drive on the sidewalks, right?
Posted by: David Cohen at December 4, 2003 10:00 PMHey, I've got one of those refugees in my office here in the MidWest. I don't know what his car horn habits are, though.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at December 4, 2003 11:54 PMBe carful, Orrin. Traditional Vermonters were once equally welcoming and now their economy is restricted to ski hills and craft shops. And how are you going to keep the Supreme Court Justices out? I'm afraid we may soon see "Live Comfortably or Protest" on your license plates.
Posted by: Peter B at December 5, 2003 6:01 AMOJ: One of my wife's bridesmaids relocated with the whole family out there. Good news: Her dad and mom are solid Republicans. Bad news: She only didn't vote Nader because she didn't think he could win.
Like Peter said, be werry, werry careful.
We have a couple of those refugees down here that I know of; one works in my firm. Another came down here after being briefly kicked out of the Mass. Bar for drug and alcohol... issues.
Posted by: Chris at December 5, 2003 8:27 AMThe one difference between the VT and NH immigration is that the NH immigrants are middle-class but not "wealthy" and therefore need to make
a middle class wage. Therefore I predict the
anti-commerce mentality will be much tempered
compared to VT.
The other benefit is that NH has no noticable
public services to offer (other than roads)
and therefore attracts the "right" kind of
newcomers.
However, in a nod to Chris, it is encumbent upon
every right wing NH resident (native or new)
to thoroughly indoctrinate the newcomers.
(I am also very skeptical of these free-state types)
Posted by: J.H. at December 5, 2003 9:19 AMPeter:
VT took the wealthy who bought second homes. We're getting the middle class who actually live here.
Posted by: oj at December 5, 2003 10:12 AM