On February 10, an article listing 11 places in Massachusetts that could be ghost towns by 2100 came across my desk. Five of these 11 towns are in Franklin County. I wanted to highlight the resilience, beauty, and need for investment into the rural communities I represent.
Representatives Natalie Blais and Susannah Whipps and I authored an op-ed released on MassLive on February 26 to instead highlight 11 “ghost town” busters – tide-turners that could strengthen our communities and reverse population predictions.
Read on for the full text of the op-ed.
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The problem with relying on past trends to predict the future is that they bank on the status quo in perpetuity.
When a study predicts future population decline will decimate some of the rural Massachusetts communities that we represent by the year 2100 and media reports amplify these “ghost town” predictions, it is incumbent on all of us to not read this as gospel.
We have the power to reject the status quo and advocate together for a better fate for rural communities which face unique and acute challenges — aging populations and equally aging water, sewer, road, and building infrastructure, combined with a dwindling tax base that cannot keep up.
In linking arms, we’d be joining regional planning agencies and municipal officials already fighting for greater regional equity and fair access to state resources. They know that government shouldn’t only lean into where there’s already growth. Government can and should lean in to create the conditions that foster growth where little is predicted.
Policy and budget priorities are simply choices that governments make. To its credit, the Massachusetts Legislature has made some good choices for rural communities in recent years through dedicated rural school and road funding, support for farms and farmers, and more. Similarly, the Healey-Driscoll Administration has already acted to serve all 351 communities in the Commonwealth, of which 181 are rural.
Time is not on our side. So here are 11 “ghost town” busters — tide-turners that could strengthen our communities and reverse population predictions.
#1 Turbocharge housing development in rural communities. Thanks to regional housing advocates we know there is an aching gap between the housing stock we have and the housing stock we need. The Administration’s Affordable Homes Act is a $4.1 billion promise for more housing statewide, much of it affordable. Let’s make sure an equitable amount is built in rural communities by (1) giving local communities the tools they need to generate housing resources and pro-housing policies, (2) dedicating specific state funds and creating an office for rural housing development, and (3) removing policy obstacles for small towns such as a minimum number of units in a development.
#2 Embrace the potential of regional rail. Right now, there are four rail projects in the four western Massachusetts counties — each in a different stage, each valuable: emerging west/east service from Pittsfield to Boston; a study of west/east service from North Adams to Boston along the northern tier; permanent north/south service via the Valley Flyer; and seasonal north/south service via the Berkshire Flyer. These are not competitors. They’re synergistic, game-changing opportunities for each western Massachusetts region.
#3 Talk about game-changing, expand access to regional transit authorities. The Pioneer Valley and Franklin Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs) are employment, childcare, education, and wellness lifelines. Thanks to revenue from the Fair Share amendment, RTAs are finally being funded at levels that allow them to begin restoring night and weekend service, expanding routes, reducing trip lengths, and piloting innovative microtransit service.
Many are aware of the cost of Boston’s “Big Dig” and the MBTA. Those projects were and remain funded — in part — by western Massachusetts tax dollars. It’s time more transit funding came west to support services here at home. Let’s consider this a downpayment and ask for more.
#4 Address challenges with rural schools, schools with declining enrollments, and early childcare gaps. The center of a small community is very often its school yet many small-town school districts are struggling to remain viable in the face of a school funding formula and state policies that must change. An Act to provide a sustainable future for rural schools (H.3567/S.2388) includes policy proposals that would be a boon for both rural schools and schools with declining enrollments, based on findings from a Special Commission on Rural School Districts. We also need increased state investment in these same districts — as well as investments in early childcare programs.
The Administration recently announced universal pre-K access for gateway cities. No one doubts the benefits of universal pre-K for child development and the workforce. That’s why we need access to it in rural communities. We must also re-open deliberations on the Chapter 70 education formula to help ensure it works for all Commonwealth districts.
#5 Offer help for small-town governance. This begins by continuing public investments in roads, bridges, culverts, municipal aid, water, sewer, payments in lieu of taxes for state-owned land (PILOT), and broadband and cell infrastructure. We also have to answer the call from municipalities for sustained support for regionalizaton of municipal services. The Administration’s Municipal Empowerment Act addresses some efficiencies but there are more needed, including sustainable regionalization of first responder services. The Administration has also named the first-ever Director of Rural Affairs and has made clear that it understands the disproportionately positive impact of infrastructure investments to smaller, rural communities. We must accelerate the pace of policy change and investment, because the math of local governance simply does not add up.
#6 Afford just recompense to Quabbin watershed communities for all that they lost and continue to sacrifice. Imagine the sorrow and rage of the people of Enfield, Greenwich, Prescott, and Dana — the four Swift River Valley towns disincorporated, dismantled, and drowned — so that, today, more than three million people in the greater Boston region can have pristine drinking water. Water is life. Just as our trees and open land essentially breathe for the Commonwealth as they sequester carbon, so is the non-developed watershed surrounding the Quabbin reservoir purifying the water entering through its tributaries. This recompense must take the form of additional PILOT and community-based payments, affording western Massachusetts a greater say in the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority governance, and studies to determine the feasibility of giving more rural towns access to Quabbin water.
#7 Invest in public higher education. Many of the state’s 29 public higher education campuses are located in or serve rural communities. Not only are these campuses major employers, they are unparalleled engines of equity, innovation, and economic growth. They are the hubs that will train the 21st century workforce. They will incubate and launch start-up businesses. They will answer the call of employers looking to fill positions in every industry from healthcare to green tech, and beyond. The majority of students on our public campuses are from Massachusetts communities. Data shows they will remain in the Commonwealth after graduation — to grow our economy. Let’s make sure they receive the best possible education.
#8 See the potential in post-industrial small towns. The state’s current economic development plan features a commitment to rural communities — from repurposing and transforming their aging mill buildings to breaking down barriers to state economic development support for jump-starting their economies. In the forthcoming Economic Development Bond Bill, we must ensure that there are sufficient resources to fulfill the Administration’s rural development plans.
#9 Make farming viable for generations to come. Farming is inextricably linked to rural communities. As we extol the value of local, nutritious food and its potential to end food insecurity and tackle diet-related diseases, we must also grapple with the fact that Massachusetts farmers lose more money than they earn — making farming a brutal business. When farms struggle, rural communities struggle. There’s a great deal of current and positive focus on farming with the release of the state’s Farmland Action Plan, the newly-created Joint Committee on Agriculture, the 21st Century Agriculture Commission, the efforts of New England Feeding New England, and more. Our job is to ensure that all this focus leads to real, positive, and sustainable change for farmers.
#10 Celebrate what works. Rural communities are home to agritourism, arts and culture, outdoor recreation, and unique small businesses. People who choose to live in rural communities often do so because of their way of life and a commitment to sustainability and the natural world. People who visit rural communities want to experience all this on a weekend. Let’s help them make that happen with a signficant investment in regional tourism and Chambers of Commerce.
#11 Formalize and designate “rural” as an economic sector. We’ve seen the power of designation to help galvanize and drive policy and funding decisions. The state has invested in 26 gateway cities because they’re worthy of that investment. The same can be said for 181 rural communities that — with a public boost — can be stronger contributors to the Massachusetts economy.
It’s worth noting that there are many communities in Massachusetts predicted to be population “winners” by the same study that forecasts the hollowing out of some of the communities we serve. Not surprisingly, they’re mostly in the eastern part of the state.
To demand equitable access to opportunities and growth for our region does not deny our more urban Massachusetts neighbors their potential gains, it simply resists (with all our might) our region’s potential losses.
We began this piece by heralding the work of regional planners and municipal officials. Their advocacy, leveraging public resources in partnership with many, recently has brought broadband internet to almost all western Massachusetts communities. Remember, the reported dire population predictions rely on past trends, but ignore improvements such as these that could revolutionize the future of rural communities. (Think: remote work.)
To win, we’ll need to continue to raise our voices together with unmatched solidarity and strength, so that our colleagues hear us all the way to Boston and are moved to both listen to our “ghost town” tales and to respond.
