Boomers Head for the Sticks Not the City

This story has some interesting long term implications for Oregon's land use scheme if the trend it covers continues. The Oregon land use system is premised on much higher urban densities to keep rural agricultural/forest areas free of population pressure. One of the assumptions is also that people will retire to urban areas. The emerging trend covered in the story, though, says that retiring boomers are moving to the country, not the city. The potential fly-in-the-ointment for the land use system is that the boomers also have the time, money, expertise, and political savvy to effectively fight back when they encounter the bureaucratic obstacles that have been erected to frustrate use of rural areas for anything but crops or trees. This could be a counterrevolution in the making, albeit one that will be under the radar until enough boomers have made the move.

www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/10/a_generation_of_baby_boomers_g.html