This one liner from Vermont Public Radio's noon-day talk show, Vermont Edition, caught my attention:
Vermont is a small rural state of 600.000 people surrounded by 80 million people (the Boston/NYC metropolis).
We live with the tensions of maintaining this rural identity (Tom Slayton, retired editor of Vermont Life, said Vermont is still one of the most rural states in the country according to the feds) and keeping up with the rest of society.
One of the best laws Vermont enacted (IMNSHO) is the billboard law that since the early 1970s has banned them. As soon as you leave the state in any direction, your eyes are assaulted by big ugly billboards. Unfortunately, the legislature last week passed a bill allowing touristy billboards painting on existing buildings, which to me is chipping away at the clean landscape we have enjoyed for thirty years. It also doesn't do too well addressing sprawl. However, I think that the soaring price of gasoline will take care of that.
The other law that is constantly under assault is Act 250, land use management. A lot of people say it prohibits growth of business and economically accessible shopping (read Walmart and other big box stores) but I still think that is a dangerous argument.
But what do I know? I am nothing but a lowly flatlander; I will be so until the day I am six feet under.
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