The Interurban, Bob. The Portland Railroads. There was a whole slew of private and municipal transportation companies right here in Maine.

One of the things that would be useful would be legislation tailored specifically to encourage muni or community trusts for transportation, food, manufacturing. Massachusetts did something along the lines of enabling communities to come up with their own "utility standard offer". That being noted, it could also be done within the corporate charter - various restrictions on ownership, etc.... But doing it through the legislative process to charter these trusts like the old Blues is probably more robust. Ownership must stay in the community.

cfm in Gray, ME