Transportation | February 15, 2012 |
Maine Man Wants to Build Car-Free Town
by Andrew Meggison
Maine is a state of natural beauty – it is Vacation Land after all. In an effort to preserve the natural beauty of the state a group of Maine residents has started the Piscataquis Village Project. The goal of the project is build a town with no cars allowed.
The proposal for the car free village is simple: create a compact, car free village on 125 acres of land in an area of roughly 500 acres in southern Piscataquis County. The car free village will use narrow roads and paths just like historical layouts of villages from Europe and early North America in which the main form of travel was bicycle, animals, and by foot. Cars would be forced to park on the perimeter of the village.
The entire plan, it does get in-depth, can be found Here.
So what are the odds of this dream coming true? With about 17,535 residents, Piscataquis County is one of the most sparsely populated counties east of the Mississippi. The break down comes out to be fewer than six inhabitants per square mile. So space and a desire to attract more people to the county is not an issue.
The head of the project is Tracy Gayton and has has lived in Maine since the early 1980s. Gayton came to Maine from Florida with the idea of trying his luck at homesteading. He did not last long, but stayed in the state. After taking early retirement a couple of years ago, Gayton started traveling, and the places he saw in Europe and Latin America inspired him to start the Piscataquis Village Project. So far, Gayton reports that he has got $280,000 in commitments from 24 families.
An interesting idea for sure, but is it viable in today’s society? Would you want to live in a town where cars aren’t allowed? Does it remind of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village from 2004? Sound off in the comment section below.
Reprinted with permission from Gas 2.0
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Comments By Readers
I would like to live in a place like this, although not in that area. If Portland had an area which was pedestrian only, I would speedily by a home in that district.
Believe me, I do udrnestand the market. I am in the automobile business in a senior sales position with 16 years experience. Used car prices have risen as more people can't afford a new car. People will always need some form of transportation and in most areas that is the automobile. Vehicles are depreciable and eventually expendable. Yes, it is too bad that these vehicle can't find another home. This program has proven to be a big boost to dealers and the manufacturers, not just the American ones either. Many low cost cars never qualified as their MPG rating were too high. Low cost, good MPG vehicles are the ideal ones for people with low incomes since the cost of ownership is less. A gas hog for the working poor is a bad choice, but sometimes the only choice. This is a perfect example of helping one facet can be at the detrimit of another. The local charities are getting the short end of the stick. But the program is over and it will hopefully be back to normality soon. Many who quailified chose not to sign up for a new car payment and I respect that. I still believe that more good than harm resulted from the program. People with used cars to trade or sell will see increased value for them. The middle class is the driving force of the economy and this program was a success in stimulating sales and considerable tax revenue for the states. People are going back to work at assembly plant and the suppiers that provide parts. Hopefully the economy is starting to recover, or at least not contracting further. It will be quite a while before we may be back to 2007 levels. Again, nothing can be positive for all concerned, just hopefully help more that it hurts and the help will be in a range that affects the economy positively in a broad way.....and cash for clunkers came in under budget---now that is rare for a Federal program!
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