A report released last week makes several recommendations on how to keep Maine’s young adults from leaving the state.

Compiled by a task force created by Senate President Beverly Daggett and House Speaker Patrick Colwell, the report argues for creating cooperation between education and economic development policies, a marketing campaign that highlights what’s good about the state, more internships, lower college tuition and a program to help graduates repay college loans if they live and work in the state.

All of them good ideas. When the Legislature considers public policy, it absolutely should consider an integrated approach that looks at economic development in the broadest possible light.

The other ideas require more than just will, however. They need financial support to become a reality. An expanded internship program could cost $100,000 or more a year. The sky’s the limit on marketing. The state could spend as much as it has, but estimates from the report suggest a $250,000 investment. And the loan repayment program, which might be the single most attractive element of the report, has a price tag in the $3 million or more range.

Where’s that money going to come from? The state is already facing a projected $113 million deficit.

The University of Maine System is being asked to cut $3 million from its budget next year. The community college system must trim $13 million. From welfare to the courts, every state agency is being asked to tighten its belt, again.

Good ideas are just that without the money to pay for them. The budget shortfall must be overcome first.
Lost highway


Interstate 495, we will miss you.

Farewell to thee, exits 12 and 13.

Soon, you will be dismissed.

Beginning Jan. 5, the familiar will be replaced with the new on Maine’s interstate highways.

For those keeping score, here’s a breakdown. I-495 becomes I-95. I-95, or at least the portion that runs closer to the coast from Portland to West Gardiner, becomes I-295. The lost highway, I-495, disappears from the lexicon.

Then, in mid-2004, Exit 12 becomes Exit 75, because the exit is about 75 miles from state line. Likewise, Exit 13 becomes Exit 80.

All this, you see, is for simplicity’s sake. It’s all perfectly logical, and matches the way 37 other states number their interstate exits.

But change is hard.

Exit 75, we predict, will become known, at least locally, as Old Exit 12. Exit 80, you might guess, will be simply Old Exit 13. Eventually, we suppose, the new will surpass the old.

So, to I-495, it is goodbye until we meet again. We’ll see you, we’re sure, when we drive south, near Boston, or even further down the road to Washington, D.C., where your name lives on in traffic-clogged glory.
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