- Joined
- Nov 17, 2014
- Messages
- 203
- Reaction score
- 5
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Tennessee
- Vehicle Year
- 1990
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 2.3 EFI Turbo
- Transmission
- Manual
- My credo
- Never attribute to malice things that are better explained by stupidity.
The small, rural town I grew up in the Catskill mountains of N.Y. was just like Mayberry when I was a kid. All of my friends were dairy farmers who's ancestors cleared the land, survived Indian raids, fought in the Revolutionary War and built prosperous little family farms some 300 years ago. These farms were still owned and operated mostly by the families who established them until the mid 80's. Developers came and cast a greedy eye on the beautiful rolling fields with breathtaking mountain views and decided McMansions on 5 acre lots and strip malls for N.Y.C. yuppies were needed in gay abundance. The resulting rise in land value and taxation, demand for yuppie niceties and fluff along with the life crushing school taxes that followed drove all of those families into bankruptcy. Within 10 years time even the most driven and successful die-hards were forced to sell their farms to the developers or loose them. Today a small handful of the old farmhouses still stand as "historic homes", but the 300 year old farm families and mountain folk are long gone and the place looks like every other yuppie shit-hole in America. You can afford to live there now if you have a six figure income. It literally drives me to tears to think about it.Well, in my area, in my 28 years, I can remember my town being more 'mom and pop' like. It was a big suburban town, but it was a place where a lot of people here knew eachother and had stake in the town. Then, it lost the GM bearing plant and other factories and people struggled and started moving away. And many of the smaller and medium size businesses went out or were bought out by big corporations. And a lot of the farms became commerce and neighborhoods. I miss that about the old days, but I guess I wouldn't realize how nice it was, if it hadn't changed.
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