AUGUSTA, Maine — The next wave of Maine homebuyers will value cellphones more than cars and prefer to live in communities where they can walk to work, shop and socialize, according to Evan Richert, former director of the state planning office.
Speaking to a crowd of more than 400 municipal officials, business leaders, development professionals and planning specialists Tuesday during a GrowSmart Maine summit at the Augusta Civic Center, Richert said the maturation of Gen Y — which he defined as people born between 1983 and 2001 — will alter the way Maine communities grow and function in the coming decades.
About 301,000 Mainers — 23 percent — fall into the Gen Y category, compared with 381,000 baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, according to Richert.
“In 2006, the leading edge of Gen Y was just entering young adulthood,” Richert said. “This is a longtime market that we are talking about.”
Richert listed four key changes that have occurred since 2006, when GrowSmart Maine first released “Charting Maine’s Future: An Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity and Quality Places.” The great recession, higher gas prices, greater online connectivity and the initial influx of Gen X into the “household formation” market are driving changes in how Maine communities should prepare for the future, he said.
“Wherever they go, they will demand choices — technology in affordable homes, places where they can experience life in a different way than the low-density suburbs,” Richert said, citing data compiled by the Urban Land Institute.
GrowSmart Maine had commissioned the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program to complete the comprehensive report on how Maine could adapt government, education, business and other institutions to position the state for success in the 21st century. Tuesday’s summit provided an opportunity to provide status reports and consider revisions to that plan.
Richert noted that the nation plunged into a deep recession soon after the report was released. Two offshoots of that recession, higher gas prices and a deflated housing market, combine to make smaller, urban residences more appealing to Gen Y and other homebuyers, he said.
The value of living in suburbs with lower property values rather than in service centers diminishes as the cost of travel increases, according to Richert. That has triggered a serious reconsideration of suburban living in Maine.
“The break-even line is shifting inward, as travel costs erode the benefit of lower land cost,” he said. “In Portland, the point of equilibrium between travel and housing costs has shifted inward by 4.7 miles. In the Bangor area, the shift is probably … a little over five miles.”
The ability to connect online also affects value and lifestyle decisions that Gen-Y members will make as they decide where to live and work.
“They are growing up with computers, cellphones and instant online communication,” Richert said, noting that Facebook first offered public access in 2006, the same year that the Brookings report was released. “They expect instant answers. Smartphones are probably more important to this generation than cars. Connectivity is the lifeblood of this generation.”
For that reason, communities built only to accommodate travel by car will be at a disadvantage to those that offer “walkability” or other transit options, Richert said.
Coupled with the fact that Gen Y is coming of age during a period of sustained economic instability, these changes further emphasize the need for “smart growth” strategies, Richert said. Among his suggestions are changing zoning restrictions to allow more multi-use developments as Scarborough has done, reducing minimum lot size standards for new homes and mixed-use redevelopment of former industrial properties.
GrowSmart Maine and Brookings released revisions to “Charting Maine’s Future” on Tuesday. Among six lessons included in the revised report are to “respect local knowledge;” look outside government for solutions and to spur change; view the state as a collection of diverse parts rather than as a single unit; accept the cautious nature of Mainers and factor it into change strategies; recognize that investment takes sustained commitment; and that a long-term strategy requires patience.
Nancy Smith, executive director of GrowSmart Maine, described Tuesday’s gathering as an opportunity to “re-energize Maine to keep doing great stuff … and to show that successes happen when people in a community come together.”
In introducing Richert, Yellow Light Breen, a senior vice president of Bangor Savings Bank who served with Richert in former Gov. Angus King’s administration, said, “It’s not enough to grow smart, you have to grow trust. I don’t think our values are fundamentally different. I think we have to understand the different milieu” in which Mainers live and work.
Just where they want people, unable to even pump their own gas… the dumbing down of america
Based upon reading most of your comments, I’d say some Americans are already at dumb.
Kettle, meet pot. Pot, meet kettle.
Ooooo, burn!
LOL!
opposing opinions of my own, are better then the liberal talking points book you use.
Are you familiar with Charlotte Iserbyt? A national treasure she is. Check her out if you haven’t. Youtube interviews are great, as you can listen to them while doing something else.
whole story is a lie, trying to convince the youth that agenda 21 is the wave of the future
Yeah, because who needs sustainability and local control in the Tea Party’s vision of an overpopulated, resource-starved future controlled by transnational corporate oligarchs?
You people are nothing short of galactically stupid. Surely, you could not coherently articulate the elements of Agenda 21. Still living in that conspiracy theory world of a takeover by the UN. Where environmental policies are evil.
The Tea Party once again demonstrates its galactic stupidity.
Move to your cluster then and become a 100% comsumer without knowledge of wear food comes from..
Funny, I live right in the middle of Bangor, walk to work, walk to most of my shopping needs, and drive maybe twice a week at most. I grow a very large garden in my backyard (there’s very little yard left actually). What gaps there are I suppliment through farmers marets, CSAs and farm-direct purchases. I’d wager that I know a lot more about where my food comes from than you do.
I grow alot of my own food. shop from maine farmers., been a mother earther all my life, yet am a teaparty democrat, you funny
Well, good for you – I’m honestly glad to hear that. But my point is that in-town living does not automatically make you 100% consumer. In fact, I find it to be considerably more liberating in that I don’t have to buy gas, a car, car insurance, car repair, etc. if I don’t want to. Its a luxury not a necessity.
If you want to live in a beehive, go for it Dave.
What I see is young people have much more ambivalence over the issue of home ownership.
Economic insecurity gets reflected in a unwillingness to commit to expensive mortgages that lock people into the whims of the local tax man. Educated Y-gener’s are not as attached to the idea of home ownership and consumerism.
Without some expectation of economic prosperity and security I can’t see why anyone would want to yoke themselves to a mortgage and the uncertainty of banks and local taxes.
Most of the people I know are struggling to pay mortgages on homes that they owe more than the house is worth. Most of them have a belief that the housing market will rebound, but I think that is wishful thinking.
I just pulled up the listing for my former home in Maine which has been on the market for 6 years. I bought it in ’79 for 30K, the taxes were $300/year. It is currently listed for $180K and the taxes are $2300/year.
“On the market for six years”? Asking too much, ya think?
He said “former home”
It is my former home. The point I was trying to make is the cost of home ownership has way out stripped wages.
Richert is an old left winger who has pushed zoning and other top down government schemes through the years as head of the State Planning office, all designed to strengthen centralized control. You don’t hear much about him lately with Republicans in the majority in Augusta, but if the liberals get control again Richert and his ilk will be back with their supply of red tape, ready to go to work on us!
Every municipality has zoning laws. Explain how they are bad?
They usurp property rights.
So you advocate for no zoning laws?
Generally yes. If someone wants chickens, why not?
In that instance I would agree.
But zoning laws protect property owners by limiting the usage of space for specific purposes. This allows for long term municipal planning of economic and residential development.
I think you would agree that we shouldn’t mix industrial property with residential?
Remember, if you disagree with how something is zoned you can work with a municipality to change that zoning. It happens all of the time.
I don’t agree that municipalities should be in the business of economic and residential development at all. That is not the function of town governance in my opinion.
Then you should read this http://www.maine.gov/legis/const/#a1 and point out to your legislator what you disagree with.
wait til you have a walmart who wants to build beside your chicken coop and change everything YOU have worked so hard for.
Neighbors might not like them and have property rights ,too?
You’d think differently if your neighbor wanted to construct a garbage incenerator next door. As they say, “one hand giveth and one hand taketh away”. People are way too fixated on the taking away part and have little awareness of the giving part.
No they PROTECT property right equitably , when followed.
This article shoud be titled ” how to develop another Boston ” that would have made the flatlander feel more at home !
Or, how to develop what every community in maine looked like prior to 1960. This is not some new idea, it is the old way of arranging our population.
Arrange our population. Whose population? Who is the “we”?
Our nation. WE are Americans. And until the advent of the automobile a great majority of americans lived in densely-populated urban areas. You HAD to live where the work was. Yes, there were lots of farmers, but there were many more millworkers, shopkeepers, etc – all of whom lived in or around dense commercial districts.
Gee, from my Great Grandfather on back, most of my ancestors (since they settled in this country) were subsistence farmers. They would have twenty to thirty acres and were about ten miles out of town. The time period was the late 1600’s to the early 1900’s. Is this the old way you are talking about?
Until very recently most of the population of america lived in densely-populated, urban areas. If you lived in the country, that was where you made your living. If you lived in the city, that was where you made your living. Pretty straightforward.
Sure it is. They lived in close proximity to where they worked. Pretty sensible to me, and exactly what this article is talking about.
The Idea of living where you work has deep roots in Maine history and tradition. The Idea of driving 20, 50 or 100 miles back and forth every day is idiotic.
This is all such sad wistful thinking. The GenY kids are being paralyzed by crippling student debt. Average kid is hauling around something like 25K on his/her back….. two of ’em together, that’s 50k….. so marriage? buying a home? having any real choice, much less what they will demand? Hello? the vast majority of these kids will be lucky to own a trailer any time before they are forty……
we need to get real and talk about THAT…..not what this guy is rambling on about. he’s on another planet.
You must be missing his point. He is actually agreeing with you. He is saying that Gen Y can’t afford to live out in suburbs so they will want to live closer to urban centers in order to reduce transportation costs. They will also don’t want/can’t afford the large 2500+ sq ft homes that the baby boomers wanted so they will purchase smaller homes.
“Coupled with the fact that Gen Y is coming of age during a period of sustained economic instability, these changes further emphasize the need for “smart growth” strategies, Richert said. Among his suggestions are changing zoning restrictions to allow more multi-use developments as Scarborough has done, reducing minimum lot size standards for new homes and mixed-use redevelopment of former industrial properties.”
So explain how he in on another planet?
You are missing MY point…these kids aren’t going to be able to afford ANYTHING….we are talking even having a hard time with subsidized housing…..Most now — over 50% in the last set of stats == are moving home with Mom and Dad….the new trend is not this guy’s fantasy, but rather a return to the really old way — a large very extended family living in one home….
A little hyperbolic don’t you think?
Median household income for Generation Y ages 25-34 is $58,968. Median Household income of Gen X ages 35-39 $81,107. I think $59,000 is a livable wage don’t you?
Hyperbole?? Your facts are from where?? NOT the Census, NOT for Maine
.Livabable wage ONLY if a house cost $180,000.
Again, that is the point that Evan Richert is making.
Gen Y will only be able to afford >$180,000 homes. So the state and municipalities need to start taking steps to be able to accommodate this generation’s needs or they will go elsewhere.
Did you read the article?
Also my numbers were census numbers for Gen Y and X nationwide.
exactly . Few will be able to afford a home , let alone rent.
Can’t see it. Guess it is the “vision thing” old George Bush talked about.
My Gen Y’s moved to Florida and L.A. one works 20 miles from where he lives, own’s a Lexus, and hates his cell phone which he considers part of his work life. He comes here (where we have no bars) for vacation. I’ve been trying to convince him he could save money by converting the Lexus to run on natural gas (which is available in Florida gas stations) but he likes the power of gasoline, and has heard that N.G. doesn’t deliver the umph.
The L.A. kid lives in Beverly Hills, works in downtown (I don’t have to tell people familiar with L.A. what a nightmare that is) He could take mass transit if he chose, but he drives. Likes driving, and has made several trips across the Country to come back and visit Maine. He plans to retire at fifty, and come back here to live, preferablly somewhere far from the interstate.
Perhaps my Gen y’s are not typical of other Gen y’s, Then on the other hand, maybe they are like Xer’s and baby-boomers, not made from a mold.
I am 22 and a senior in college. I actually purchased a foreclosure this past year from the sale of a lawn care business I started when I was a freshman. I plan on being self sustainable(eventually) and doing my own farming. I think that the U.S. has gotten out of control with the idea that “we can grow forever” like “pushtheredbutton” obviously believes. To all the baby boomers I would just like to say.. Not all of us so called “gen Y” people are the same. I don’t even have a facebook because I believe in talking to someones face if you have something to say to them. I also believe in small local business and local trade. It seems as if you baby boomers only care about where you can buy the cheapest “stuff.” Well let me tell you something. When you go to WalMart to save $10.00 on groceries you are hurting your local economy. WalMart’s employees might be local people but they are making minimum wage. When you shop at these places you take business away from local farms and groceries that will in turn go out of business. So unless you want everyone in the world to work for WalMart(where we are headed) I would start thinking about the bigger picture. When you shop local the money stays in local business owners’ hands and will be redistributed through the LOCAL economy, not into overseas bank accounts. I am in disbelief by the baby boomers overall stupidity (no offense to the baby boomers that aren’t as narrow minded). You have left us with this huge mess to clean up, you have shipped all of our jobs overseas (which is why we have no jobs) and you fail to see what is happening to our soils, air quality, ect (you call us left wingers hippie environmentalists). What is wrong with caring about our environment? It is all that we have, and I would rather be safe than sorry because WE are the ones that are going to have to deal with the decisions you folks make. It seems that you guys only believe what your respective party tells you. If the republicans say global warming is a hoax it must be! I feel that we as Gen Y members don’t have a lot to look up to with so many baby boomers going out getting plastic surgery, lack of leadership in Washington, ect. So before you go trashing my generation you need to take a look at yourselves..
I think you have a bright future ahead of you Mathew.
wolfndeer, apt name for you, tell the truth, be honest here. You are benefiting in some way, are you not?, by Mathew’s brainwashed view of living. What have you done to promote freedom, individuality, self-growth, etc? Sustainability, green, all lies to make money for criminals. Caring for the planet means taking personal responsibility to care for ourselves by planting gardens, selling farm produce, producing goods for our communities, using Maine woods for production of firewood, lumber and paper, maintaining what we have not tearing down to make new boxes to live in. Look around you. Wake up.
I agree with much of your post. Most of those baby boomers are now or have been “liberal hippies” who have voted for politicians that created the mess you describe.
Ironically, environmental laws that the “hippies” supported are one of the causes (possibly the major one ) that “shipped all of our jobs overseas”
Have you looked into Piscataquis Village Project piscataquisvillage.org ?
Frank, I haven’t looked into the Piscataquis Village Project but I will check it out.
Excellent comment above, Matthew. However, regarding the Piscataquis Village project, don’t be fooled! This project promotes unnecessary greenfield development – the destruction of virgin countryside instead of the revitalization of any other existing village center in Piscataquis County.
… and when you move into a project, you become part of it, no independent say, no freedom and no rights, right where the globalist crowd wants you, happily in the prison you helped make.
Baby boomers built what you have. Don’t believe the lies being spoon fed into you. Baby boomers are about to “come out” and save the mess as we were also lied to, but we can see it because we have life experiences to draw from. Best read through Agenda 21 which plans on ruining your dream with your help. The joke is on all of us. Sorry to disillusion you.
I haven’t read through Agenda 21. You do have more life experience than me, I can’t argue that. But I do know that we can’t keep littering and treating the planet like we do. When I see animals on the discovery channel swimming in oil and caught up in plastic I feel like changes need to be made. Is that wrong? I never said I agree with any agenda other than keeping this planet from being owned by WalMart.
Mathew, I am glad you are open to learn how this whole sham went down. Hippies were the ones who actually started the original low-impact back to the land, anti corporate movement, then the movement was c0-0pted by people who had other ideas. So which came first, the chicken or the egg? the back to the earth stewards, or the Algorian multigazillionaire hypocrites? The US or the UN? Look into it. You are on the right track.
Blame Bush and Cheneys ( oil men all) created behind closed door “energy “policies .
Mathew you have me all wrong, I want people like yourself to continue to have a choice on how you live your life and where you want to live.. This article written most likely by a German is trying to convince you that cluster living is what you want.. The story just told you the opposite of what you are doing. It stated that you want to live in cluster housing.. I am glad you are doing what you want and moving forward with it.. Good luck.
Thank you and sorry that I misunderstood you. I just want people to know that not all people from my generation are the same.. There are good people that just want to make the world a better place in all generations and I am one of them. I have no second agendas and to be honest, money doesn’t matter to me. I could care less about expensive clothing and vehicles. I just want people to stop mistreating animals(poaching, torture, ect), shop local rather than buying the “lowest cost” option, and think about the big picture in the world rather than what will benefit you individually. “Letsbehonestforonce” can think whatever he wants, that is fine with me. I have nothing to gain from choosing to live this way other than peace of mind. I am not being spoon fed anything, I make my mind up myself.
Does it really say anything about cluster living? No it says urban living. Just like every community in Maine was before the automobile became so widespread. This is not a new idea, in fact, it is a very old idea.
my husband and i are heading in that direction also. we built our own composter out of scavenged materials, and had a successful organic garden this year. we also started bee keeping because they are so vital to plants’ life cycles and are starting to die out. we also believe that to survive in the future, we will have to take a step back and re learn those values and skills that the boomer generation took for granted and threw out. it is true that the boomer generation drove this country under while they were in charge, sold out their childrens’ and grandchildrens’ futures, and now they just blame the next generations for not making life better for them in their old age. i think that we can learn more by looking to the depression era/ww2 generation, as well as the lifestyles of homestead and native peoples.
Well said. I am glad you agree. Albert Einstein once said “we cannot fix a problem with the same mindset that it was created with.” I think this is very true to this situation that we are in.
what baby boomer generation are you talking about?? You need a look at history.See my post above When I was a kid our river were brown with foam –no more, because we passed a clean air and water bill. WE ended the draft so you might HAVE a future., unlike 58,000 of MY generation. Looks like more divide the peopel stuff from the right.
PS They said EXACTLY the same thing about SS and medicare in my youth I didn’t BUY it then. Reagan solved the problem BY increasing taxes on BOTH SS and Medicare It was suppose to be a 20 year “fix “. It’s predicted to work for 40 years
Don’t blame the right.. Both your comments were good until you made it political and divided the people. I know it’s your job to create hate, racism, bigotry, sexism.. but none of it is true.. There is about 3000 people who run this whole world and lead you to believe it’s a right left battle while both sides pass laws supporting the 3000. Liberals sold the people out long ago, then lied to them
Also don’t categorize baby boomers… We are the children/ teens of the 60’s. Hate walmart; love” buy local ” WE didn’t make this mess . BIG banks, , BIG OIL and whacky beholden politicians who support deregulation did .
WE are THE environmentalists .You have a clean air and water bill because of US. When we were kids our rivers were brown with foam. It took a generation but they are clean again. We changed that FOR you. OUR air was filled with smog and our immature lungs were filled with it on our daily WALK to school. WE changed that FOR you. We also ended illegal toxic dumping. WE ended the draft SO you wouldn’t have to be compelled to go to war (against your will) created by arm chair warriors with self interest. We lost 58,000 boys and men in MY generation because our nation believed youth were expendable and easily replaced. We made sure YOU had the vote at 18 (instead of 21) And we passed the voting rights act so people of color had equal rights and could vote too. We ended segregation in the schools and rest rooms and other places by passing the civil rights act . Yup when we were kids most of our world was still segregated by race.( and gender) .We literally put our lives on the line abroad and here at home so you COULD have better choices and a less polluted world.
Lepage and the R’s tried to turn the clock back 50 years on ALL of that The baby boomer stopped them. Stay alert.We are gettuing older and are counting on YOU to preserve what we got for you. What we got for you can easily be taken away in todays’ environment. Be ready to fight for what you value. WE did.
I am not trying to disrespect the baby boomers. I know you guys have done a lot of good but we have a long way to go. Our air is still filled with smog and I would like that to change. When I hear politicians saying lets open up new pipelines and “drill, drill drill” I sometimes wonder what direction we are headed in, that’s all. Sorry that you took my comment the wrong way, it wasn’t intended to be directed at you. It was intended for someone like Lepage. I don’t take anything for granted and I appreciate all the work the baby boomers (with good intentions) have done for us to get us to where we are today.
Mathew wrote “Not all of us so called “gen Y” people are the same”, and then he proceeded to trash an entire generation. Let’s just say that if you’re the rocket scientist, I wouldn’t want to be the astronaut.
With the social decline over the last few years good luck walking around the neighborhood.The new generation needs to take a serious look at the path being followed in society now.
Relax, Mr. Doom and Gloom.
You let your kids roam the neighborhood? What about halloween does it give you a warm and fuzzy feeling to let your kids out.? How about just a walk to the corner store, feel safe?
Um, this is an article about young adults. What you’re talking about is nonsense and completely irrelevant.
So young adults do not think about kids safety when purchasing a home or renting? Really!
That’s such a tenuous concern. But either way, I think you have some issues of your own if you’re thinking that the sky will fall on your child’s head if he/she takes a stroll to the convenience store. Reading your comments, it seems like you have this deep and unfounded paranoia about a lot of things and I think that’s sad.
Well not being an expert on paranoia like some blogologists on line.My first thought unlike some would be the neighborhood i would be putting my children into. Life must be good to not care about the safety of your children. Alot less stressing. Read the BDN some time and tell me how unfounded my concerns are.the sad thing is a parent that does not care.
Your child will never be prepared for the real world if he/she can’t even walk to the corner store on his/her own.
Funny timmy, I live in a dense urban neighborhood and walk to work, to shopping and for pleasure. All around the neighborhoods that are supposedly so dangerous and blighted. You’ve been suckered by the culture of fear.
Very smart and forward thinking. This is an interesting perspective. This generation just wants different things than the generations before.
Yes, no hope no dreams
looks like they are going to get what they want then.
Housing is too expensive at the moment. For someone my age, which does fall into this supposed Gen-Y category, I can tell you that the #1 thing that is holding my wife and I back is the combined student debt and the lack of decent entry level jobs in certain fields. My wife has a double major in the biological sciences and is working in a job that a high school graduate would qualify for because she’s applying for jobs where there are hundreds of other applicants.
When you consider it, the three major issues facing Gen-Y are all bubbles, from the housing bubble, to the student loan bubble, to a job bubble that was created as politicians promoted this idea that if we just get more education that we’ll create all these new high skilled jobs, while allowing all the manufacturing jobs to be sent overseas. The politicians used the great economic times of the 90s to hide the downfall of jobs going overseas.
Now we’re stuck with kids being told that you can only live a comfortable life if you get a college education for a high price and coming out of school overqualified for the jobs they do get.
Until you address these major issues, the only thing you need to know about Gen-Y home ownership is that it is going to be much less than previous generations as they just work to make ends meet.
All by design, how does that make you feel?
Cluster living with rules and easily controled. Just like in North Korea, allowing the people to think it is their choice.. when they have been fed this crap for years and shopping wal mart.. these people have been feed lies all their lives and now can’t fathom the truth.. Glad I’m a boomer and can think for myself, without being told what I just wittnessed.
LOL, yeah, EXACTLY like North Korea. When population becomes more dense, magically governments transform. It’s such a strange phenomenon! That’s why places like New York, Boston and Chicago all have their own dictators and food is rationed there as well!
http://youtu.be/TzEEgtOFFlM
Thank you push, Agenda 21 for Dummies, less than 10 mins of anyone’s time if they really want the truth.
I couldn’t open the link. Does it say something like, “Hi…I’m the leader of a third-world country and I actually care about my people now. Please help”?
If you can’t open a youtube link, see your IT professional.
Generation Y’ers better look at Agenda 21 and the threat it represents to everyone in Maine. Agenda 21 hides behind names like “GrowSmartMaine” biodiversity, sustainability.
Agenda 21 wants to run everybody out of the rural areas and herd them into cities, destroying property rights and the middle class.
Look out.