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A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

ci.cumberland.md.us

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Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#71

Post by tunesmith »

rjsw wrote: post #12
j_m_b wrote: post #4

I just got back from a visit with family in Cumberland. It's the epitome of rust belt. What used to be a thriving manufacturing area has become an abandoned service-sector economy with low-wage jobs. Property values are dirt cheap, even for nice houses. There isn't much nearby, you have to travel hours from Pittsburgh to even get there by plane. Tales of theft of items like power tools from relatively remote farms ar…

How good is internet access there?

The brochure says "95% broadband", whatever that means.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#72

Post by silisili »

soared wrote: post #70
tonymet wrote: post #64

Extrinsic monetary incentives are among the worst ways to stimulate growth. Anyone who would uproot their life for $10k is likely not the right personality to restore prosperity. Other strategies have worked to gentrify depressed neighborhoods, like attracting bohemians or entrepreneurs with lower rents and tax relief, based on a strict qualification process.

Yeah many of the other similar incentives provide free land, housing/internet/etc benefits too

This is what I thought of. 10k is nothing. I'd break even or actually come out behind just on their income taxes alone.

But say, 10 acres of land, with utility access/hookups? I may really consider it. By offering free land, with requirement that you build a stick house and live in it, you can ensure whoever is moving there has funds to build a house.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#73

Post by FireBeyond »

spacemadness wrote: post #49

It seems like Zillow is full of people selling houses at 2x to 3x the estimate in Cumberland hoping to sell and run to whoever takes advantage of the relocation program. I see houses assessed at $90,000 in 2023 selling for $300,000. Give me a break.

The next question there would be how many of them had recently bought those properties - i.e. did they have a heads up from their friends on the City Council that this was coming down the line?

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#74

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

yergi wrote: post #43
khuey wrote: post #3

One of the program requirements is that you buy a house there and live in it for five years.

...and at the current admin's burn rate of almost 10% GDP deficit / year via printing of money, that 10K gonna be worth more like 5k at the present clip in 5 years. Honestly, reducing gov't spending by 50% to fit within the confines of the tax base simply isn't going to happen. So, with that in mind, that 5k (in future real terms) to move to a state with terrible rental laws for landlords (if that's the long term goa…

There is no linear relationship between national debt and inflation. There is no possible way to conclude that because of any particular change in the deficit or debt that $1 today will be worth more or less in 5 years. You don't know, and neither does anybody else.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#75

Post by mturmon »

thephyber wrote: post #58
dccoolgai wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the railroad was the internet, it was really the Silicon Valley of its day. Really makes you think.

Categorical mistake. A rural community based on a single industry is always high risk for economic sustainability. Silicon Valley is has cities older than the USA, was grown by the gold rush, the early movie studios, the defense industry (plus some world class universities), NASA contractors, microelectronics, etc. The most recent iteration is software startups. Cities are always more resilient than isolated rural co…

Excellent point.

Longnow.org has a lot of material about the resilience of cities over very long time scales (like, millennia).

Here’s an example on the resilience of cities versus corporations: https://longnow.org/seminars/02011/jul/25/why-cities-keep-gr...

Another example, from a longnow podcast, is the tendency of people to think of themselves as citizens of a particular city (I’m from San Francisco, I’m from Venice, I’m from Helsinki), perhaps even more so than a state/province or a nationality in some cases.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#76

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

keiferski wrote: post #36
Almondsetat wrote: post #30

Mining towns are one of the examples of human hubris and stupidity I can't get my head around. If you build something in a shitty place just because there is a single resource you can sell, and everything else you have to import, then what do you expect will happen when said resource dries up? These places were meant for people to go temporarily, make serious money, and then go back to the city or countryside to buil…

Cumberland was founded as a fort and a transportation hub first and only later became a mining town.

Precisely correct. It is/was located next to one of the most convenient points to embark on a crossing of the Appalachians.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#77

Post by Ekaros »

nroets wrote: post #61
ta988 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. And they are going to reassess your property because you did renovations and get more than the $20k they gave you over time. Not even talking about the local taxes if you get a job there.

If that's case, I'm sure proper economic modeling will show that the $20k+administrative burden is better spent on reducing taxes for everyone in Cumberland.

10k going to renovation might be reasonable economic stimulus to area.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#78

Post by reducesuffering »

rjsw wrote: post #12
j_m_b wrote: post #4

I just got back from a visit with family in Cumberland. It's the epitome of rust belt. What used to be a thriving manufacturing area has become an abandoned service-sector economy with low-wage jobs. Property values are dirt cheap, even for nice houses. There isn't much nearby, you have to travel hours from Pittsburgh to even get there by plane. Tales of theft of items like power tools from relatively remote farms ar…

How good is internet access there?

70% of households in the county have internet speeds >25 Mbps. Is that metric meaningful to you? What would ideally mean "good internet access?"

I'm working on a project[0] where I sourced this from the FCC Broadband data and am curious about what people are looking for in that respect.

[0] https://www.exoroad.com/us/Maryland/Allegany-County/housing

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