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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

#141

Post by deagle50 »

robotnikman wrote: post #69
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…

Sounds like a place I wouldn't mind working if I can find a remote position again. I'm a big introvert, and I would like to move somewhere more greener (getting tired of living in the middle of a bland hot dessert)

Don't fall for it. I had family in Cumberland for 20 years and I know it well. It's a very dark place, most people there barely finished high school and drug abuse is really bad.

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

#142

Post by al_borland »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #131
jhawk28 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get always get starlink if the fiber/cable is bad.

Sure, if you don't mind regular drops while you're handed off between satellites, and many areas being oversubscribed so badly that people are getting performance worse than DSL.

I only know one person with Starlink, but they seem happy with it. With the previous local provider they paid for 30Mbps, but were getting 15. With Starlink it’s around 230Mbps.

While that’s slower than my cable service in the city, for him, it’s a significant improvement and a big quality of life upgrade.

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

#143

Post by ghaff »

whiterknight wrote: post #123
iancmceachern wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthcare is huge. It's amazing how terrible access to good care is in many rural areas. It's something people often overlook but it's just so important.

All the doctors want to live in LA and NY. This problem only gets worse as medical school, etc becomes more competitive and costly.

It's not quite that bad. For example, the Boston area is arguably as good or better than those two cities. And some higher-income relatively small town/rural areas are pretty decent. But it definitely becomes a bigger consideration as you get older--although you can of course get unlucky at any time.

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

#144

Post by ghaff »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #129
whiterknight wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the doctors want to live in LA and NY. This problem only gets worse as medical school, etc becomes more competitive and costly.

The problem is a mix of people leaving rural areas which increases per patient overhead at facilities, plus mergers and private equity takeovers. Hospital chains and healthcare systems have been consolidating like crazy for decades and it's still going strong - 80 or so hospitals merge every year. PE has also been snapping up private practices like crazy, too. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/ten-things-t…

Though the consolidation is something of a mixed bag. My community hospital network had some pretty good docs but lab work, appointments, and so forth was pretty much faxes and phone calls which sometimes worked. Now they're on Mass General Brigham's electronic records system and it's a lot better.

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

#145

Post by ghaff »

codersfocus wrote: post #138
ghaff wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At some point, many people start thinking about things like access to good healthcare, various types of trades, ability to travel without it being a huge hassle, etc. Doesn't mean you need to live right around a big city but I doubt I would want every task or appointment to be a big undertaking.

Telemedicine / remote surgery should solve this.

I doubt it. Physicians (and nurse practitioners, etc. at urgent care clinics) could arguably do more remotely but I'm not convinced that reducing the involvement of trained humans would be a positive move.

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

#146

Post by ghaff »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #118
dfc wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cumberland is equidistant (~2 hours) between Pittsburgh airport and Dulles.

2 hours from a central hub I'd actually consider a plus. If you travel for work it's bad, but for any personal trip, skipping a connection is pretty valuable. Not just in time, but generally international / longer flights are higher priority, and are less likely to be randomly delayed or canceled.

I was on the far edge of relatively convenient airport access when I was working and traveling a lot (and, at some point, decided my employer was just going to pay for a private car whether they complained or not, which they didn't). Now I travel somewhat less but take fewer discrete trips so just pay my own transportation out of pocket.

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

#147

Post by j_m_b »

ghaff wrote: post #91
robotnikman wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a place I wouldn't mind working if I can find a remote position again. I'm a big introvert, and I would like to move somewhere more greener (getting tired of living in the middle of a bland hot dessert)

At some point, many people start thinking about things like access to good healthcare, various types of trades, ability to travel without it being a huge hassle, etc. Doesn't mean you need to live right around a big city but I doubt I would want every task or appointment to be a big undertaking.

This is actually a very good point. The family I visited travel 1hr+ to get healthcare services because the local ones are pretty bad. They're not elderly per se, only a few years into retirement but they definitely have health issues that come with old age. They're relatively well-off and live in the nicer section of Cumberland where doctors and lawyers lived. I can't imagine how bad it is for people who are just getting by.

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

#148

Post by ghaff »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #131
jhawk28 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get always get starlink if the fiber/cable is bad.

Sure, if you don't mind regular drops while you're handed off between satellites, and many areas being oversubscribed so badly that people are getting performance worse than DSL.

My brother had it for a while in fairly rural Maine. Eventually got fiber but the Starlink was pretty good if not 100%. I used Starlink on an Atlantic crossing a few months back and it was pretty solid. It's not perfect--or probably as good as my Comcast is these days--but it's pretty good in my experience. But then I'm old enough to remember both pre-broadband and really unreliable broadband.

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

#149

Post by whiterknight »

ghaff wrote: post #143
whiterknight wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the doctors want to live in LA and NY. This problem only gets worse as medical school, etc becomes more competitive and costly.

It's not quite that bad. For example, the Boston area is arguably as good or better than those two cities. And some higher-income relatively small town/rural areas are pretty decent. But it definitely becomes a bigger consideration as you get older--although you can of course get unlucky at any time.

(desirable coastal cities with young people and vibrant entertainment)

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

#150

Post by brucelidl »

Wow, this is fascinating, my family is originally from Cumberland (actually Frostburg, but...). My mom was born and raised there, but left as soon as she could. Everybody did, and I don't think anyone from my family has been back there since my grandmother died decades ago.

It's really the eastern edge of Appalachia, but also very much a rust belt relic that depended on industries that are long, long gone (at least from that region). I think Kelly tires had a plant there when my mom was younger.

I've always wanted to go back and see it, just to compare it with my memories. It was in pretty steep decline already in the 70s and 80s, as even a kid could tell. I remember reading that they built a number of prisons nearby, also some across the border in Pennsylvania, but clearly that has not done enough to revitalize things.

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