Give me a break. Private property rights are clearly protected under the constitution. If the city thinks that these over 50 year old homes should be preserved then let them "take" them and compensate the owners justly. If this is a "Value" that we as Steamboatians share we should be willing to pay for it.
A basic economic principal is that the market gets what the market wants! Many consumers don't want their profit potential capped and so the deed restricted units lanquish on the market. Funny how the same people who think they should get a hand out at everybody elses expense to buy their home, don't think that they should have to give up the profits.
If the City and Housing Authority are so sure that they have such a great plan for these type of units, they should have no problem buying them back from the developers that they force them on. 18 months is longer than the average time it takes to sell a home in this market. If the developer can't sell that at some agreed upon price in that time, let the City or housing authority put their money where their mouth is and buy the units. Then we can have even bigger, more inefficient government. Maybe we can even create a new position at taxpayer expense to manage it all.
Seriously, if we want to do something about this issue. Let's stop wasting our money on studies and consultants and buy some land at fair market values. Use powers already vested in the city like the ability to rezone land, grant variances, or waive fees and create incentives for free market entrpeneurs to provide the market with what the market wants. The counties Land Preservation Subdivions regulations are good example of how a government can create incentives for the private sector to create development that has the desired outcome. (For those that aren't familiar with this a developer is granted one additional building site for each 100 acres set aside as open space. So a 350 acre parcel that could have been divided into ten 35 acre tracts with roads all over the place is instead allowed 13 building sites clustered on 50 acres with a minimal amount of roads and infrastructure and 300 acres that are retained in open space. Everybody wins.)
Courduroy, While I agree that I was fortunate to get here when I did. I still had to work two or three jobs and still just barely had enough to get by. So luck really wan't the the main issue, hard work and determination were. Don't drink the liberal kool aid that says your entitled to something at others expense. It's death to us all. Start in Oak Creek, Hayden, or even Craig. If that doesn't work, go put your time in down in Denver or some other place where the cost of living is lower relative to the income you can make. You'll get a lot more out of it.
As a nearly 20 year Steamboat local who had to struggle in my early years to make it here, it drives me crazy to see these kind of idiotic proposals. They may sound like good ideas to uninformed voters, but they end up hurting the majority of the people they are designed to help. If 140 new jobs are created (remember when if you created a job you were considered a good guy!) but only 7 housing units are subsidised that leaves 133 other employees to absorb the cost of the cities give away to the other 7. These costs don't just go away, somebody has to pay. When the developer gets whacked for a million bucks, they are going to pass it on. This only drives up the cost of housing further, making it even less attainable for the majority of the new workers. As for all the whiners out there. Try doing what I did. I started with a tiny 30 year old trailer, worked, saved, upgraded to a bigger 20 year old trailer, worked, saved, upgraded to a condo, worked, saved, upgraded to a townhouse, worked, saved, finally got a house in Steamboat.
Let's just keep spending $100,000 at a time until someone tells us what we want to hear. What a waste of the taxpayer's money. If we just spent $216,000 on a similar study, what is the point?
It's time to revisit the library and community center plans. While we're at it lets try to address long term traffic and parking problems that are sure to get worse with the massive redevolpment going on downtown. One solution that would help on all fronts is to vacate 13th street in front of the existing library, combine the library parcel with the Elk Statue park across the street and use this large site to construct a better designed combined community center and library with adequate parking that doesn't make people have to walk across a busy street to get to the library. This would also allow for a connector street between the bridge on 13th street and Yampa Avenue creating a secondary route for those going east to west through or around town. Currently every single vehicle traveling east/west must cross the intersection of 40 and 13th. Imagine if there was a big accident at that location in rush hour! This would also free up the proposed community center site at the transit center which could then be used for additional parking. Building costs are rising, but that is no reason to build projects which will create more problems than they solve.
Way to go Taylor! I'm sure your donation was most appreciated by the person on the receiving end. I'm sadly not surprised if the Pilot's response was "we've had enough of that kind of story." Can we have too much good news? When the paper needs filler stories so they can sell more ad space, I'd much rather see it wrapped around something like this than yet another story about Brittney Spears or Anna Niclole Smith.
Dave Moloney 5 years, 9 months ago on Little common ground in historic preservation debate
Little common ground in historic preservation debate
Give me a break. Private property rights are clearly protected under the constitution. If the city thinks that these over 50 year old homes should be preserved then let them "take" them and compensate the owners justly. If this is a "Value" that we as Steamboatians share we should be willing to pay for it.
Dave Moloney 6 years ago on Exit strategy debated
Exit strategy debated
A basic economic principal is that the market gets what the market wants! Many consumers don't want their profit potential capped and so the deed restricted units lanquish on the market. Funny how the same people who think they should get a hand out at everybody elses expense to buy their home, don't think that they should have to give up the profits.
If the City and Housing Authority are so sure that they have such a great plan for these type of units, they should have no problem buying them back from the developers that they force them on. 18 months is longer than the average time it takes to sell a home in this market. If the developer can't sell that at some agreed upon price in that time, let the City or housing authority put their money where their mouth is and buy the units. Then we can have even bigger, more inefficient government. Maybe we can even create a new position at taxpayer expense to manage it all.
Seriously, if we want to do something about this issue. Let's stop wasting our money on studies and consultants and buy some land at fair market values. Use powers already vested in the city like the ability to rezone land, grant variances, or waive fees and create incentives for free market entrpeneurs to provide the market with what the market wants. The counties Land Preservation Subdivions regulations are good example of how a government can create incentives for the private sector to create development that has the desired outcome. (For those that aren't familiar with this a developer is granted one additional building site for each 100 acres set aside as open space. So a 350 acre parcel that could have been divided into ten 35 acre tracts with roads all over the place is instead allowed 13 building sites clustered on 50 acres with a minimal amount of roads and infrastructure and 300 acres that are retained in open space. Everybody wins.)
Dave Moloney 6 years ago on Housing ordinance could be adopted June 5
Housing ordinance could be adopted June 5
Courduroy, While I agree that I was fortunate to get here when I did. I still had to work two or three jobs and still just barely had enough to get by. So luck really wan't the the main issue, hard work and determination were. Don't drink the liberal kool aid that says your entitled to something at others expense. It's death to us all. Start in Oak Creek, Hayden, or even Craig. If that doesn't work, go put your time in down in Denver or some other place where the cost of living is lower relative to the income you can make. You'll get a lot more out of it.
Dave Moloney 6 years ago on Housing ordinance could be adopted June 5
Housing ordinance could be adopted June 5
As a nearly 20 year Steamboat local who had to struggle in my early years to make it here, it drives me crazy to see these kind of idiotic proposals. They may sound like good ideas to uninformed voters, but they end up hurting the majority of the people they are designed to help. If 140 new jobs are created (remember when if you created a job you were considered a good guy!) but only 7 housing units are subsidised that leaves 133 other employees to absorb the cost of the cities give away to the other 7. These costs don't just go away, somebody has to pay. When the developer gets whacked for a million bucks, they are going to pass it on. This only drives up the cost of housing further, making it even less attainable for the majority of the new workers. As for all the whiners out there. Try doing what I did. I started with a tiny 30 year old trailer, worked, saved, upgraded to a bigger 20 year old trailer, worked, saved, upgraded to a condo, worked, saved, upgraded to a townhouse, worked, saved, finally got a house in Steamboat.
Dave Moloney 6 years, 2 months ago on Airport consultant chosen
Airport consultant chosen
Let's just keep spending $100,000 at a time until someone tells us what we want to hear. What a waste of the taxpayer's money. If we just spent $216,000 on a similar study, what is the point?
Dave Moloney 6 years, 3 months ago on No quick fix
No quick fix
It's time to revisit the library and community center plans. While we're at it lets try to address long term traffic and parking problems that are sure to get worse with the massive redevolpment going on downtown. One solution that would help on all fronts is to vacate 13th street in front of the existing library, combine the library parcel with the Elk Statue park across the street and use this large site to construct a better designed combined community center and library with adequate parking that doesn't make people have to walk across a busy street to get to the library. This would also allow for a connector street between the bridge on 13th street and Yampa Avenue creating a secondary route for those going east to west through or around town. Currently every single vehicle traveling east/west must cross the intersection of 40 and 13th. Imagine if there was a big accident at that location in rush hour! This would also free up the proposed community center site at the transit center which could then be used for additional parking. Building costs are rising, but that is no reason to build projects which will create more problems than they solve.
Dave Moloney 6 years, 3 months ago on Ralph Graves: A caring young girl
Ralph Graves: A caring young girl
Way to go Taylor! I'm sure your donation was most appreciated by the person on the receiving end. I'm sadly not surprised if the Pilot's response was "we've had enough of that kind of story." Can we have too much good news? When the paper needs filler stories so they can sell more ad space, I'd much rather see it wrapped around something like this than yet another story about Brittney Spears or Anna Niclole Smith.