Getting out of Lewiston isn’t a problem for me, but it still makes sense for me to stay right now. My kid is 25 and works as a tuna fisherman in-season, and I’d like for him to keep doing that because he really loves the work. He can also make really good money, especially working charters for rich guys who tip well. He got a nice payday when they came in third place in a major tournament this summer, too. I like seeing him most days and I wouldn’t get to do that if I moved out of the area.
My street is also still in the nice part of town and I’ve only heard gunshots in the distance a few times, but that can change, too. A long-time friend of mine owns several properties in Lewiston and her neighborhood was nice when she moved into it six or seven years ago, right by the high school, but now she hears gunshots several times per week most weeks, sometimes really close. She’s only maybe 1,000 feet up the hill from the mosque that has had two separate shooting incidents in the last year or so. Random violence is also increasing, with a home in Auburn across the river being shot at by a passing car with no apparent motive other than being a violent asshole. The bullet missed the guy’s head by inches while he was just sitting in the chair watching TV.
When I think about the state of Lewiston Public Schools and our abysmal literacy rates, it leads me to believe that the city will continue to decline both economically and socially. The state went all-in on Social and Emotional Learning, clearly stating it was the priority over academics, and has a vast bureaucracy that’s heavily vested in the status quo. It’s a complete mess right now by any objective measure, unlikely to be pumping out future members of the middle class. LPS was a well above-average public school when my kid was enrolled in elementary school there, and now it is probably in the bottom 5 percent in the nation.
Lewiston’s future will really will depend on local, state, and federal policies. Had Harris won and presumably continued or accelerated the mass migration machine, it would have continued to go downhill much faster. That can still happen in the future, depending on who wins the presidency since the executive branch controls immigration policy. The mass migration machine can get spun right back up, as long as it gets funded.
With voter ID shot down last week, I don’t foresee any relief from Democrats’ current policies and it is likely they will continue to pass even more radical ones, as Democratic Socialism is really on the rise in Maine. Portland just voted themselves up to $19 an hour minimum wage, which won’t play out the way they think it will since the true minimum wage is actually zero dollars when businesses can’t stay open. As of today, all of the vast and poorly-administered welfare programs and social transformation nonprofits are still heavily-funded and continuing to attract troubled, needy people from other states to vote for continued Democrat governance, even without an open border. A revaluation is coming up next year that will hammer anyone who has owned their home for longer than 20 years and really hammer the folks still around who bought in the 80’s or earlier. I expect even more Republican voters to be fleeing, which has been happening for a while now.
I don’t know that the entire city will ever be unlivable, but downtown already is by my standards, and the zone of dysfunction continues to spread. It’s easy enough to avoid, especially now that all of the good restaurants and bars are closed. I rarely go downtown unless I need to go to city hall and I just stopped using the library.
Demographically, it will probably be majority Muslim within 20 years or less. Muslims are the majority at Lewiston Public Schools today, sitting around 55 percent or so, when 20 years ago there were maybe 10 percent and less than 1 percent 30 years ago.
It has been a dramatic change to live through, only possible with vast public funding, lots of lies, lots of accusations of racism against anyone who objected, and a concerted effort from the city and state to shape public opinion with lots of gaslighting and “sweeping things under the rug”, hoping nobody finds out about the latest fiasco.
New Hampshire is looking increasingly likely for me, but no plans to move at the moment. I may even go back to Indiana, which is very affordable and I have a lot of family and friends who are there.