Commentary Series (VPR)
7:55am and 5:55pm Weekdays
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Wednesday May 7, 2008
My Vermont: Patty Minichiello
"Don't Jersey Vermont." The first time I heard that saying, it offended me. Maybe because I grew up on Long Island, forty-five minutes from the George Washington Bridge and I felt guilty by association. Or maybe because there's this mindset in Vermont that if you're not from here, you never will be. But I realize now, "Don't Jersey Vermont," is less about tolerating out-of-staters in small-town life and more about refusing to embrace a landscape that resembles Hoboken or Pascataway, strip malls, big box stores, and all.
My Vermont will never look like New Jersey or Long Island, but it will in the future, I hope, attract more people under 30, offer them jobs that pay well and decent choices for affordable housing.
My Vermont in the future is a state with open doors and open arms, a breeding ground for opportunity, a place where downtown businesses do not go to die.
My Vermont is resilient. It's about making a livable wage, affording my own home, putting groceries on the table and gas in the car.
My Vermont is resilient.
My Vermont will not swallow up its middle class.
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