> One of the neatest thing about growing up in rural ND with roots in small towns is that your network of people automatically extends about 100 miles in any direction.
I guess that might be for you. I grew up on a reservation and knew people from other reservations, but I never had that social network you talk of. I did almost get my butt kicked in a small neighboring town, because I had my high school jacket on[1]. This quaint Mayberry stuff wasn't in my experience. I have noticed that the border towns[2] tended to be happy that we spent our money there and liked to raise funds by setting up checkpoints on the days welfare checks were distributed[3].
My perspective is that there are a lot of new people and some are good and some are bad. Its time to rediscover the folks around you. I’ve noticed that quite a few of the new arrivals are pretty nice people.
> This brings me to my second problem: People don't want to, or literally cannot stay in their home towns.
This is a big problem for any boom area (Hi, Silicon Valley folks). The state needs to get on the infrastructure a lot faster than it has been. All these superficial articles are not doing us any favors. God help us if we get another flood year. I can only imagine what the Army Corps of Engineers will screw up this time.
> We have trains that are blowing up in cities 250 miles away for reasons that may or may not be caused by this boom.
Talk to BNSF about deploying the newer railcars or start talking about pipelines[4].
> There are a dozen oil spills every month and the drinking water has become very questionable for cities that are in the Bakken region.
I would need to see stats and actual enviormental reports, not the fakery done in PA.
> Finally, the state was operating in the black before all this. We didn't need this at all.
Yes, we did. North Dakota was dying and nothing was bringing people back.
More importantly from my perspective, the tribe nearest the oil fields now has a source of money that the state cannot force into “social programs”. The casinos were a moral compromise and the draconian restriction of not being able to pay tribal members with the money as a dividend on a tribally run business was vicious. Besides, reservations were located in places that are not next to the bigger cities[5]. I don’t know what the state is charging for taxes[6], but the tribe is doing fine with its fees.
Better, most tribal members are making money for themselves and not stuck in welfare.
1) I’m white, my biological dad is a enrolled member of a tribe
2) bordering the reservation
3) Without public transit, poor people drive cars that often are not well maintained and often have safety violations
4) amazing about the billionare friend of POTUS that owns a railroad
5) when placing a population that could stage an uprising, it is best to keep it away from the “good folks”.
6) I understand it might be a bit more than Texas which could be a problem with Texas moving to fracking
I guess that might be for you. I grew up on a reservation and knew people from other reservations, but I never had that social network you talk of. I did almost get my butt kicked in a small neighboring town, because I had my high school jacket on[1]. This quaint Mayberry stuff wasn't in my experience. I have noticed that the border towns[2] tended to be happy that we spent our money there and liked to raise funds by setting up checkpoints on the days welfare checks were distributed[3].
My perspective is that there are a lot of new people and some are good and some are bad. Its time to rediscover the folks around you. I’ve noticed that quite a few of the new arrivals are pretty nice people.
> This brings me to my second problem: People don't want to, or literally cannot stay in their home towns.
This is a big problem for any boom area (Hi, Silicon Valley folks). The state needs to get on the infrastructure a lot faster than it has been. All these superficial articles are not doing us any favors. God help us if we get another flood year. I can only imagine what the Army Corps of Engineers will screw up this time.
> We have trains that are blowing up in cities 250 miles away for reasons that may or may not be caused by this boom.
Talk to BNSF about deploying the newer railcars or start talking about pipelines[4].
> There are a dozen oil spills every month and the drinking water has become very questionable for cities that are in the Bakken region.
I would need to see stats and actual enviormental reports, not the fakery done in PA.
> Finally, the state was operating in the black before all this. We didn't need this at all.
Yes, we did. North Dakota was dying and nothing was bringing people back.
More importantly from my perspective, the tribe nearest the oil fields now has a source of money that the state cannot force into “social programs”. The casinos were a moral compromise and the draconian restriction of not being able to pay tribal members with the money as a dividend on a tribally run business was vicious. Besides, reservations were located in places that are not next to the bigger cities[5]. I don’t know what the state is charging for taxes[6], but the tribe is doing fine with its fees.
Better, most tribal members are making money for themselves and not stuck in welfare.
1) I’m white, my biological dad is a enrolled member of a tribe
2) bordering the reservation
3) Without public transit, poor people drive cars that often are not well maintained and often have safety violations
4) amazing about the billionare friend of POTUS that owns a railroad
5) when placing a population that could stage an uprising, it is best to keep it away from the “good folks”.
6) I understand it might be a bit more than Texas which could be a problem with Texas moving to fracking