A forward thinking community of people with roots in the past... a gorgeous inspirational landscape. Put the two together and you have a great place to be an artist and to riase a family.

The environment Individuals rights

Continuing to foster our small town communities, maintaining the landscape and being stewards for eachother and the earth.

Continuing to foster our small town communities, maintaining the landscape and being stewards for eachother and the earth.

Fits perfectly. Thats why I live here.

character,green,mountains,beautiful roads and vistas,small,authentic,it has unique advantageous,friendly,assessable... hard to be politically correct all the time because it creates and promotes the individual...always two sides to every issue...hence Act 250

inexpensive lifesyle whereby art can flourish, body can see beauty, breath good air, drink pure water, have plenty of firewoods, garden, bird and moose watching, silence

most of the above, plus respect for different lifesyles

challenges are to cut down consumption of fuel and building fuel efficient homes opportunites are sharing rides, working with others, supporting local artists, farmers etc. Education about health and preventative care

helping artists and young people

My husband and I opened an art gallery in Worcester which exposes a rural community to art. Our home was built of stone and local materials. As Vermont expands smaller towns will grow and provide more services so the need to drive far is decreased

a place to call home. community. taking care of each other and the environment. making a good meal. maple syrup. cold rivers. apples. green mountains and blue sky. the comfort of clouds, and people who know how to seize a sunny day.

hard work, endurance, simplicity, respect, community, creativity.

rural isolation due to cost/availability of fuel --> an opportunity to create a rural public transportation system. lack of availability of non-local food --> learning how to grown sustainable bioregional foods. having to stay put --> being able to call somewhere home.

teaching people how to grow their own food and build sustainable energy-efficient structures. cultivate systems of non-digital communication. provide safe spaces for people to come and release anxiety and fear through physical, creative, or other meditative therapies.

it means i have to come home. because we all need to show up and contribute.

a unique place where there is a spirit of open-ended possibility and a tradition of resourcefulness

tolerance, respect, ingenuity

falling victim to corporatization and the mythology of "the market"........

preservation of unique character and landscape

There is an influx of young people I KNOW "from away" settling here specifically to pursue and help promote Vermont's VERMONT-NESS. These people are interested in preserving traditions and the landscape, while moving forward with progressive ideas about local sustainability.

Freedom and natural beauty

Independence from government

Increased taxes and higher energy costs

Lower taxes and better fuel effciency

I am involved in local activities

Vermont is my home and a place that allows me to raise my family in a safe and healthy environment

Independence and self reliance.

affordable housing, jobs and education

alternative energy and job growth

they all apply

The story is told of the traveler who stopped at the first service station in Vermont on a rainy night to replace a defective windshield wiper. The attendant told him he did not have that type of wiper blade; the station ahead would. The driver asked for a fill up anyway. The attendant said, no, that wouldn't be right to have his neighbor just replace the wiper.

Vermonters remember when community meant neighbors helping neighbors.

As transplants increase and native Vermonters decrease, the challenge is to maintain the character of the state. There is the story of easterners who moved to dessert lands of the southwest to escape the allergens associated with foliage. The fist thing they did was irrigate the land an introduce the types of foliage they were accustomed to.

Economic development ought not to come at the expense of community.

Building community is hard work.

Home. I've lived here all my adult life - forty years - and came here to stay with my brother before that.A place saner than a lot of the this country. It's a relatively quieter and safer place than many. We haven't locked our doors in the forty years since I've been here. It means woods, not malls. Though there are exceptions, most people here are pretty accepting of each other.

Most people living here like the beauty of the state and the relative quiet, lack of traffic jams, etc. But there are wealthy second-homers who are oblivious to the struggles of those of us who work for a living, whether they are "natives" or "non-natives".

Manufacturing jobs going to China/high cost of fuel.Opportunity in building trades to create renewable energy/retrofit homes.State could provide energy related jobs, insulate homes.Should be wood pellet manufacturers in thisstate.Sharemorewineighbors-rides,tools,gardening, visits. Ways that saving on fuel can bring us back to basic values.

Jobs from green energy.Hydropower in small streams.Transportation solutions through trains, buses, carpooling, registered hitchhiking, trolleys.Raise taxes for people with second homes.Use less electricity-figure out how our parents did it&get rid of those gadgets.This will create jobs that can't be shipped to China and are more satisfying in the long run.

2 communities:our neighborhood,our town. Important to prioritize to see how we can use less energy and create jobs around energy usage. Decision makers could hold this as a priority.We need to creatively deal with these changes by working together. Seeing how we can consume less and enjoy the simpler things of life.

Vermont means green mountains, cool summers, long winters, small communities, friendly poeple, good food, great place to raise kids, environmental awareness, small farms. It also means expensive heating bills, high taxes, cars that rust too quick, low wages, and disgruntled natives. But I love this place, and I can't imagine calling any other place home.

Depends on if you talk to native Vermonters, because I don't think Vermonters share a lot of values with the huge portion of the population that are transplants. That said, I think we all share a love of this land, these rolling mountains and valleys of Vermont, and we all want to see it stay relatively the same.

Challenges: High cost of living. Why does Cabot cheese, a local Vermont company, cost more at Shaw's than the New York Shaw's brand of cheese? Same with local meats versus Perdue. I can't even afford to support local business on my salary, and yet we have this huge local business moving going on. How can a person on a typical Vermont salary, which is low, afford to support this movement?

Level the wage gaps, more education, less sprawl.

Montpelier is peculiar in that we have the highest taxes, but most people I know who work decent jobs are struggling with the weight of bills and the high cost of living and childcare. Sure, the schools are great, our community is safe, our downtown is thriving, but I know it is hard to keep it up.