Why is New England so far so old-fashioned and technologically dull?

Question

This paradox has always made me very surprised.
New England, very similar to the western states like California and Washington in it's education level, demographics, and political views, and New England's economy, much like that of the Silicon Valley, Seattle or even New York and Philly is very modern - mainly service-based economy.

Why is it though that New England is so far behind in everything? Examples?
-Old housing, few modern developments, new developments very plain and boring
-Few modern entertainment venues
-No extravagant resorts
-Run down and poorly designed transportation system
-No modern cities, even Boston is a village compared to modern giants like Dallas, Los Angeles, Charlotte, etc.
-Very poor telecommunication networks (only area in the country without fiberoptic cable!)
-Very old-fashioned, boring businesses (unlike the "hipster" businesses out west and mid-atlantic)
-Few large national/state parks, a lot of land getting cleared for no good reason

These are just some examples...but honestly, I don't get it...why is New England so slow to progress? The population is very young, educated and there is a lot of money in the region, so why the heck the region not progressing? It's like...stuck in the 20th century...

Answer 1

The northeast has something called... Winter. It is hard on everything and money is spent to keep up what we have. There is rarely money to spend on new things. We also value old houses and buildings and the charm of what were the original colonies. California is mostly dessert and therefore, it's easy to have more unused land. We have really harsh winter weather and it's tough on much. I love my 200 year old farmhouse. It was updated ten years ago and I'd take it over modern housing. It's not made of partial board, but of huge timbers. You can keep your modern houses. Mine will still be here in another 200 years.

Answer 2

Probably to keep up with their heritage as an american colony. Also, they have Ivy League schools, so technology really has no appeal to them.

Answer 3

you forgot to mention new england and the northeast has all the ivy league colleges/universities, except for university of california..............therefore they are knowledge centers and the best centers of higher education and technology

Answer 4

England isnt as bad as the United Kingdom or Ukraine