There are tidal power stations currently in use, so it does work in practice.

It’s only ever done in extreme situations where the baby would not survive or be at considerable risk for the mother. There was a woman who had to travel out of Maine to NY to get these services because her baby didn’t have a skull. It’s a medical procedure for unfortunate things that sometimes happen in pregnancy. It’s not just cause someone is like “oh, wait, nevermind!” at that stage. If you are actually asking in good faith and not just antagonizing people.

Oh yeah, obviously the flag pole, duh 🙄

Just put the extra money towards helping people with housing. This is the biggest issue and everyone knows it. It’s not that hard.

That’s because you aren’t a local and don’t know the spots.

This was in the southwest. I don’t know what the rules are. Humane society may be different than the county shelter as well in terms of whatever system they use.

I didn’t get my dog in the northeast, so it could be regional. And it doesn’t say pitbull, it says pit mix. I noticed that with almost all medium sized dogs when I got my dog. My dog doesn’t even have any pit features. He has a long face and looks like a lab. He does have shortish hair, but not the same kind of hair as pits. So, I remember it being weird. Conversely almost all small dogs were labeled chihuahua mix.

Most shelter dogs get labeled pit mix if they have short hair and any kind of pit feature. Heck, my very clearly a yellow lab mix was labeled as pit mix when I got him. So, just something to consider.

I will say, Maine does have a big problem with off lease dogs that owners swear are friendly and elderly people with dogs that are just too energetic for them. I’ve had my dog snapped at a few times now by untrained dogs owned by elderly people 75-80+ who just cannot control the dog. And, unfortunately, I think a lot of people are also adopting dogs from shelters, and shelter dogs tend to be more challenging and can have unpredictable pasts. I do think people end up with aggressive dogs from shelters that were not forthcoming with the behavior of the dog. I say this as someone with two shelter dogs (not pits before anyone downvotes). They are not aggressive but they are high maintenance dogs that needed a lot of socializing and training, and their personalities were not what the shelter had described.

If I got a dog again, frankly, I’d adopt a puppy of a predictable breed. There’s also an issue with these rover and dog sitting apps because anyone can become a dog sitter because they like dogs and need money whether or not they have experience with training dogs, which, clearly, can be really dangerous.

The current state of UMO and all of the umaine schools is stagnant to declining. So, I just don’t see how it’s surrounding town can possibly benefit unless there is actual intentional growth of the university. In fact, we moved here from out of state and I have a high school aged kid. He has no interest in the Maine schools. Very few of his friends have interest in the maine schools. They lack resources compared to other state universities, that’s the problem. Why would they go there? Especially if they are mid to high achievers that will get scholarships to other state schools with more resources and thriving towns with more people their age?

Given the aging population here, Umaine and Maine should be investing in a medical school. You want people to stay in Bangor and fulfill the workforce needs? Get a good medical program going. It’s already an R1, but doing very little to build on that status. Heck, I had a friend who was told not to apply to their physics grad program by a physics professor that works there because of how bad the resources are, and they really want to stay in Maine for grad school.

Maybe it was better pre COVID though.

Besides what others have mentioned, having worked for the Umaine system, it seems like there is crap leadership within the university system as well as crap investment by Maine into the public universities. I think umaine will continue to hold on and get by rather than flourish.

Universities can bring a lot to an area. And, yes, I know New England has a declining rate of young people, but there are plenty of universities that are doing well across the country, and Maine has a high need for trained medical professionals especially with its aging population. There’s actually great opportunity here in that sense. It really feels like the umaine leadership sees that there are fewer young people in Maine and have just decided to give up, which is pretty depressing. So, I’m just not sure that Bangor will benefit from the college in the future unless the leadership changes and some actual vision is adopted.

It’s 6k over the town of Cumberland not Cumberland county based on what you posted. The median household income is 126k. That’s exactly what I would expect. The median household income income in Cumberland county is $80k.

Caretakers/CNAs

I mean, yes, COL has risen everywhere. But, Maine is seeing the COL rise and it’s the oldest state in America. So, the impact on our workforce is actually unique.

$300 a week is $1200 a month. If you found a rental for $800 a month, which is nearly impossible in any place 1 hour reach of Portland, you’d have $400 left for all of your bills. Heating alone would eat up that $400. Add a car and you are fucked, and the vast majority of Maine requires a car because we have shit transit. At $1000 you’d have $200 after rent. Most rentals are $1.2-1.6k a month.

You are living in a different time and under a rock if you think $200-400 a month is enough to live in after rent. It’s not 1970, it’s 2023 where eggs cost $6 a dozen and gas is $3.50+ a gallon.

$300 a week is not more than enough to afford the current rental prices. Yes, this person has a drug addiction. Yes, addiction causes a ton of issues with homelessness and is a major problem and hurdle for a number of people. But, it’s not accurate to say $300 is more than enough. It’s out of touch with the price of the rentals right now.

I have some single friends in the southern maine area, and the dating scene seems hard and limited.

This is all very optimistic, but the professional jobs here do not pay enough compared to the COL. A great example is nursing. Maine is in desperate need of nurses, but even Vermont which has the same COL treats and pays the nurses better.

I worked for an employer here that’s generally considered a good one, in a professional job, and the pay was just not enough. They also had a very old school mentality about remote days and WFH, and just poor boundaries between work and life. Unfortunately, there are better opportunities for young professionals outside of Maine. The reason we live here is because my spouse works remote and I am finishing my masters. Unless I can find remote work once I finish my degree, I don’t know if we’ll stay in Maine because there are so many career opportunities outside of Maine with better pay, benefits, time off, and policies.

There are many things to love about Maine. The professional opportunities, are unfortunately, not one of them. Maybe this will change as employers get desperate.

The problem is the jobs don’t pay enough.

But young people do flee for economic opportunity. Most of the people moving here are working remote, so they built their careers elsewhere.

It doesn’t help that many people have never left the state or New England. Hopefully this changes over time, but there’s definitely some idea that you should just be glad to have a job and have no problem working overtime simply because you are employed, which is pretty short sighted given the labor shortage…

All these winter sport suggestions, but where is the winter?

Get some shoe spikes.

Property taxes go up in the more affluent parts of AZ. This is true everywhere. Of course taxes are going to be high in Cape Elizabeth, that is the wealthiest part of Maine. But, yes, I’m sure it’s higher in Cape Elizabeth compared to most places.

I do understand that Portland taxes are higher though, and that it doesn’t necessarily correlate with wages because property values shot up. Also, that they continue to increase.

Maine is beautiful, but so is Utah. I love both.

Maybe it depends on the town? Our property taxes are pretty much identical in Brunswick as they were in Arizona, and we were in Tucson, so not Scottsdale or something. I’m sure taxes are higher in Portland and the nearby towns.

The income tax is really about the same. I was very surprised when I got my first paycheck, I assumed I would be paying a lot more in taxes. It is slightly higher, but nothing compared to friends that moved from AZ to California and Minnesota. It’s really not much of a notable difference, except that the K-12 schools are much better funded here.

Food is a lot more expensive, and heating is expensive. Car maintenance is more because of winter. So, in general COL, yes, is higher.