JOHN WALLER, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 01/05/2008 03:29:29 AM EST
BENNINGTON — Vermonters are still rustic and rugged individuals with a strong connection to the land, but a weakening economy and rising costs have caused many to stray from this romantic ideal and gravitate toward a harsher reality, according to Bennington County residents at a community forum Thursday.
"Vermont Life magazine is not the reality of Vermont," longtime Bennington resident Robert Matteson said Thursday. "It's a wonderful image, and we should retain this image, but it's not a reality."
Bucolic images
Another noted that Vermont's working class is not represented by outdoor recreation and maple syrup.The forum at Southern Vermont College was the third of 14 planned throughout the state over the next year and a half. The forums are intended to bring together Vermonters to discuss what the state means to them and what challenges and opportunities face the state in the future. About 40 Bennington County residents attended Thursday's forum, which was sponsored by the Council on the Future of Vermont, part of the Vermont Council on Rural Development.
Residents also discussed the challenges of attracting businesses and keeping young people in the state.Elizabeth Putnam of Shaftsbury, who is in her seventies, said she still thought Vermonters shared a love for the land, which has built in them a core inner-strength. She said Vermonters also tend to work as a family, helping out those around them who are facing hard times. Another Shaftsbury resident, Scott McEnaney, who grew up on a farm in Cavendish and works for the Orvis Co., agreed. He said Vermonters shared an ingenuity developed over generations away from large populations.
The desire to preserve Vermont crosses political spectrums more so than it does in other states, according to David Sholes, the president of HealthCom Services, which consults for the home care industry. Sholes moved to Bennington from Colorado five years ago.
"There is an incredible awareness of how special Vermont is," he said. "People want to utilize and enjoy the state, but leave it be as much as possible."
Still Bruce Lee-Clark, a teacher at the Southwest Vermont Career Development Center, noted that many people in Vermont are struggling to pay bills and to get an education beyond high school. He said the view most outsiders have of Vermont ignores the poverty that exists in the state.
List of woes
A Pownal resident cited the immediate need to improve the quality of affordable housing that exists in the Bennington area. Others said property tax rates in many Vermont towns are forcing people to leave the state. Homelessness also continues to be a growing problem in Bennington County, said Kendy Skidmore, executive director of Bennington Coalition for the Homeless.
Residents looked for ways to improve the Vermont job market, so as to alleviate poverty. Putnam's husband, Bruce Putnam, said he would like to see the Legislature and business leaders work together to make it easier for businesses to get established. He said there is too much red tape and businesses have to jump through too many hoops.
Jay Hathaway, executive director of the Manchester and the Mountains Chamber of Commerce, agreed that a tremendous number of businesses are struggling and failing in the area. He said he has heard of businesses that want to come to the area but do not think the area has the workforce to support them.
Technical centers and career-oriented education would help solve this problem, Lee-Clark said, especially if state government made it possible to fund education after school hours, when many teenagers and adults would be willing to take courses.
Lee Krohn, Manchester's planning director, said he thought Vermonters needed to look toward entrepreneurial opportunities. "We need to focus on our strengths instead of our weaknesses," he said. He said people tend to focus on the fact that the snowboard company Burton left Manchester, instead of looking for more companies like it to start in town.
Residents also discussed the problem of young people leaving the state.
"You can't have a vibrant state with this problem," Matteson said. "You have got to find jobs for young people."McEnaney said he thought it was important for young Vermonters to be introduced to the state's traditions. And Elizabeth Putnam said schools should urge young people to get more involved with their communities.
Lee-Clark said he would like to see people in the state have a broader sense of identity.
"We don't have to be from Pownal, from Shaftsbury, from Manchester," he said. "We can be from Vermont, or from Bennington County at the very least."