Bangor to Declare War? (Millinocket, Bucksport: house, to buy, bankrupt)

[TheKezarWoodsman]

How many primary homes will actually be repossed if this were to happen? Particals of land, unused land, and vacation homes dont count. Has anyone actually came up with this number?

[Brodels]

Originally Posted by wolfhelm

Or, make baxter a national park, after all its already reserved land for the state. They want a national park, make the state park national...

This would be the worst of all possible solutions. Baxter is operated per the wishes of its donor, which helps to limit access to some extent and govern its use in ways that protect it from some of the things that plague national parks. Baxter needs to be protected and maintained for the people of Maine so it remains the special place it is. It is not really possible for it to become a national park anyway, which is to the benefit of all involved.

[Revi]

That national park would be an enormous boon to Northern Maine. Have you ever been to Acadia? There are jobs aplenty down there. I live in Central Maine and we counted the number of help wanted signs we could see from the highway on the way down there. There were 18 that were visible from the road in April! On the way back we counted abandoned houses and businesses and came up with 18 of them on the way back to our town. I think I would rather have the economy near the national park.

[AustinB]

Here in Maine, you don't need to go to a park to see woods and flies. I don't think a park east of Baxter Park will draw many extra visitors. That is not saying that that area doesn't need to do something. That's there now is dead.

[bangorme]

Why do people look to federal welfare to bail themselves out of a tough situation? Why would a "federal" park draw more people than Baxter already does? What will you give up when you give Washington D.C. power over that much of Maine? So what happens when the next environmentalist extremist gains power in D.C.? Are they going to stop wood harvesting on "federal lands" like they did oil production? Are they going to stop access to a river to save a minnow? Are they going to decide that you can only access those lands in electric buses?

It's time to stop making the same mistakes over and over again. Government will not solve your problems, and that goes for northwestern Maine. The Millinocket area is destined to become like Macwahoc. That's what happens when big unions and a state that actively tries to drive out business get control. Welfare will not stop this. Learning from our mistakes will stop it from happening again and again and....

[Revi]

You can rant, but it would be an excellent boost to the businesses in the area. The ones closest to the park are going to do the best. People are going to want to go rafting on the Penobscot, spend money in Millinocket, and maybe even up near the park itself. I think the entrance will come off near Sherman, so they stand to gain the most, and they might be wanting business. Millinocket may be bypassed if they reject the park idea.

[Maineac]

Originally Posted by bangorme

Why do people look to federal welfare to bail themselves out of a tough situation? Why would a "federal" park draw more people than Baxter already does? What will you give up when you give Washington D.C. power over that much of Maine? So what happens when the next environmentalist extremist gains power in D.C.? Are they going to stop wood harvesting on "federal lands" like they did oil production? Are they going to stop access to a river to save a minnow? Are they going to decide that you can only access those lands in electric buses?

It's time to stop making the same mistakes over and over again. Government will not solve your problems, and that goes for northwestern Maine. The Millinocket area is destined to become like Macwahoc. That's what happens when big unions and a state that actively tries to drive out business get control. Welfare will not stop this. Learning from our mistakes will stop it from happening again and again and....

I pretty much stopped commenting because of politics hereabouts. Those of us that use common sense just can't compete with the people that feed others the political mantras.

But I couldn't help myself here. NOT ADVERTISING: – Payday at the mill

Now, explain to the readers here, and all of the unemployed ex-millworkers in Mill and E. Mill, how the big, bad unions caused all the problems. And a "state that actively tries to drive out business." Funny, I haven't seen that. Just a majority of Mainers that would like to see resources maintained, jobs and reasonable wages paid by these multinationals that ship all profits out of the State. I'm not big on unions, but the concept of minimum wage is simply the employer telling the employee that ". . . if I could legally pay you any less, I would." Guys pushing broke at some of the mills made upwards of $50K a year back in the '80's ("broke" is tailings cut off the paper machines, loaded by hand back into a hopper, and dumped back into the mix). Good for them. But the Cate Street Capital gang, with Lepage's help, ripped off the State of Maine taxpayers with guaranteed profits and shut down the mill all by themselves. Any unions had nothing to do with it. Ask anyone in Millinocket. Read the article before you rant about blaming the big, bad, unions.

I'd rather see Baxter take over Elliotsville. Maine jobs. More localized control. I just think its a laugh riot when someone objects to someone else doing what they want with their land, then take the position in another issue that someone should be able to do anything they want with their land and at the same time be able to use eminent domain to take other people's land for profit, ignoring the desires of everyone else and all the municipalities along the proposed route (E/W highway).

[AustinB]

The nat'l park controls waaay more land than just the park itself. You can't do much to your property if youa re aneighbor of Acadia. The freinds of acadia will see to that.

[bangorme]

Originally Posted by Maineac

I pretty much stopped commenting because of politics hereabouts. Those of us that use common sense just can't compete with the people that feed others the political mantras.

But I couldn't help myself here. NOT ADVERTISING: – Payday at the mill

Now, explain to the readers here, and all of the unemployed ex-millworkers in Mill and E. Mill, how the big, bad unions caused all the problems. And a "state that actively tries to drive out business." Funny, I haven't seen that. Just a majority of Mainers that would like to see resources maintained, jobs and reasonable wages paid by these multinationals that ship all profits out of the State. I'm not big on unions, but the concept of minimum wage is simply the employer telling the employee that ". . . if I could legally pay you any less, I would." Guys pushing broke at some of the mills made upwards of $50K a year back in the '80's ("broke" is tailings cut off the paper machines, loaded by hand back into a hopper, and dumped back into the mix). Good for them. But the Cate Street Capital gang, with Lepage's help, ripped off the State of Maine taxpayers with guaranteed profits and shut down the mill all by themselves. Any unions had nothing to do with it. Ask anyone in Millinocket. Read the article before you rant about blaming the big, bad, unions.

I'd rather see Baxter take over Elliotsville. Maine jobs. More localized control. I just think its a laugh riot when someone objects to someone else doing what they want with their land, then take the position in another issue that someone should be able to do anything they want with their land and at the same time be able to use eminent domain to take other people's land for profit, ignoring the desires of everyone else and all the municipalities along the proposed route (E/W highway).

I don't understand much of what you said, but I know about the unions because I had a relative that managed one of the biggest paper mills in the state, and 40 years ago he predicted that the paper mills would be moved to "right to work" states... and low and behold, they were. 30 years ago Millinocket and East Millinocket were full of people driving new cars. But, they killed the goose that laid the golden eggs, and now they are scrambling to make the transition to just another Maine town with no tax base. I'm not sure what minimum wage has to do with it, but the cost of working with the paper unions wasn't just pay, it was also the massive amount of overhead that comes with running a unionized mill. For example, how many people HAVE to be assigned to each machine. Who can do what and where. Excessive health and retirement benefits. Cost of union officers and union negotiations. Restrictions on hiring and firing. Etc. No matter how bright we all think we are, there is a reason why the paper mills have almost all left Maine (hint: the same reason why non-government union membership has plummeted). As far as Maine's poor business environment, I'll refer you to the dozens of other threads addressing the issue.

I don't really understand the relationship between the topic and your third paragraph. But I agree with you about the east/west highway boondoggle.

[Maineac]

First, there was no such thing as "right to work States" 40 years ago. They didn't move. They divested. You blamed unions for the mill closures. Cate Street Capital made away with millions in taxpayer dollars "profit" without investing a thing. As I recall, the mill was purchased for $1.00. What part of that is complicated? Things have changed for mill workers since the go-go 70's and 80's, and their standards of living decreased dramatically over the years. You are fabricating, defending the corporations that have raped the State of Maine, poisoned the rivers, and packed up and put their capital into other ventures. Demand for paper is GONE compared to 30 years ago. Data storage and online reading has put the binders on paper production. Magazines have shrunk. But I'm sure that's all the union's fault. The relationship between the Elliotsville owners being able to do what they want with their land, and the E/W highway is vivid. The opinions and position just depend on who is feeding whom the political party line for rote recitation, which is why you didn't understand much of what I said. It's contrary to the political regimen.