As reported in the Portland Press Herald today, the town of Searsport appears delighted to reject a planned a 22 million-gallon liquid propane storage tank in town. This was going to be a $40 million terminal that I can only assume would bring more jobs and business to the town.
But like most Maine communities, there was widespread opposition to the project. It seems that every Maine city and town has it hard-coded to immediately think "no" when new business is proposed. And if it is something major — like a building wanting to expand beyond height limits, or a company wanted to build in a different zoning area — well, heaven forbid.
No, Mainers don't want major developement; they don't want to upset the status quo; they don't want big business if it means any significant change. Don't block my view. Don't cut those trees. Don't increase traffic. Do whatever you want in some other state, some other community — just not in my back yard.
We don't need propane storage tanks in Searsport, or housing developments in northern Maine, or wind turbines Downeast, or buildings that are too tall in Maine's largest city.
Keep things just the way they are. So what if the state is growning older and older, and that young people are flocking for the borders as soon as they graduate from high school. So what if the population isn't keeping pace with the rest of the country, that there are no quality jobs to be found, that state regulations and taxes make practically any other state more attractive to business owners.
No wonder when I was a kid back in the 1960's I was taught in school that Maine has a population of about 1 million people — and now, 50 years later, the population hasn't really changed much.
That's the way Mainers like it. No change feels just about right.
Except of course, that no change also means no progress.
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