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I took a micro-vacation last week--nine hours in Sun Valley before an evening speaking engagement. The sky was deep blue, the air crystalline, the hills green and not yet on fire. Strolling out of the Sun Valley Lodge, I found a tiny tourist village, complete with Swiss-style bakery, multi-star restaurant, and "opera house." What luck--the boutiques were displaying outdoor racks of summer clothing on sale!
But things started to get a little sinister--maybe I had wandered into a movie set or Paris Hilton's closet--because even at a 60 percent discount, I couldn't find a sleeveless cotton shirt for less than $100. These items shouldn't have been outdoors; they should have been in locked glass cases.
Then I remembered the general rule, which has been in place since sometime in the 90s: If a place is truly beautiful, you can't afford to be there. All right, I'm sure there are still exceptions--a few scenic spots not yet eaten up by mansions. But they're going fast.
About ten years ago, for example, a friend and I rented a snug, inexpensive, one-bedroom house in Driggs, Idaho, just over the Tetons from wealthy Jackson Hole. At that time, Driggs was where the workers lived, driving over the Teton Pass every day to wait tables and make beds on the stylish side of the mountains. The point is, we low-rent folks got to wake up to the same scenery the rich people enjoyed, and hike along the same pine-scented trails.
But the money was already starting to pour into Driggs--Paul Allen of Microsoft, August Busch III of Anheuser-Busch, Harrison Ford--transforming family potato farms into vast dynastic estates. I haven't been back, but I understand Driggs has become another unaffordable Jackson Hole. Where the waitstaff and bed-makers live today I do not know.
I take this personally. I need to see vast expanses of water, 360-degree horizons, and mountains piercing the sky--at least for a week or two of the year. According to evolutionary psychologist Nancy Etcoff, we all do, and the need is hard-wired into us. "People like to be on a hill, where they can see a landscape. And they like somewhere to go where they cannot be seen themselves," told Harvard Magazine earlier this year. "That's a place desirable to a predator who wants to avoid becoming prey." We also like to be able to see water (for drinking), low-canopy trees (for shade), and animals (whose presence signals that the place is habitable.)
But the gentrification of rural American has a downside for the wealthy too. The more expensive a resort town gets, the further its workers have to commute to keep it functioning. And if your heart doesn't bleed for the dishwasher or landscaper who commutes two to four hours a day, at least shed a tear for the wealthy vacationer who gets stuck in the ensuing traffic. It's bumper-to-bumper westbound out of Telluride every day at five, or eastbound on Route 1 out of Key West, for the Lexuses as well as the beat-up old pick-up trucks.
Then there's the elusive element of charm, which quickly drains away in a uniform population of multi-millionaires. The Hamptons had their fishermen. Key West still advertises its "characters"--sun-bleached, weather-beaten misfits who drifted down for the weather or to escape some difficult situation on the mainland. But the fishermen are long gone from the Hamptons and disappearing from Cape Cod. As for Key West's "characters": With the traditional little "conch houses" once favored by shrimpers going for a million and up, these human sources of local color have to be prepared to sleep with the scorpions under the highway overpass.
In Telluride, even a local developer is complaining about the lack of affordable housing. "To have a real town," he told the Financial Times, "Telluride needs some locals hanging out"--in old-fashioned diners, for example, where you don't have to speak Italian to order a cup of coffee.
When I was a child, I sang "America the Beautiful" and meant it. I was born in the Rocky Mountains and raised, at various times, on the coasts. The Big Sky, the rolling surf, the jagged, snow-capped, mountains: All this seemed to be my birthright. But now I flinch when I hear Woody Guthrie's line, "This land belongs to you and me." Somehow, I don't think it was meant to be sung by a chorus of hedge fund operators.
Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed (Owl), is the winner of the 2004 Puffin/Nation Prize.
© 2007 The Nation
http://www.omniture.com -->
52 Comments so far
Show AllI urge people to demand land to create self-sustaining rural communities.
As wangman said: "Private property is theft." The private ownership of land is morally indefensible. Humans did not create the earth; they cannot justly claim ownership to any portion of it.
Draft the rich.
"The population isn't increasing, it is just that Pittsburgh, behind the times as always"
And somehow we were voted "most liveable city" again. I was in 5th grade when that happened last.
I too prefer living in the city. I've lived in Brookline all my life and wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
The suburbs and exurbs are nice, beautiful even, but I like neighborhood. I like walking down the street and seeing people. I like having neighbors, even if I rarely see or talk to them, just knowing that they're there. I like being close to everything. Worse comes to worse, I can catch a bus to and from work.
And get this...
I've never been mugged.
I went to an urban high school. Never had a bomb scare or shooting when I was there.
No one's ever tried to break into my house (well my parents'. :) )
I urge people to move to the city also. Neighborhoods are destroyed when people simply give up and leave.
Barbara is right on. Over the past two years I've been living in Georgia, and have only been able to get to a beach when I rented a hotel room in Hilton Head. Again, they are privatized, walled off and made the province of the big-dollar condos. I've camped and hiked in about half the states, and over the past four years I've noticed more and more trail-head parking lots, national forest camp sites, national parks and federal monuments charging for parking and admission. Last weekend, while in the Chatahoochee National Forest, I asked a ranger about the Federal Government's annual pass and she told me it would do no good, since these areas are now run by commercial entities and they don't have to honor the Forest Service or Park Service annual pass. So, in other words, our National Forests and Parks have been privatized, sold off to the highest bidder in multi-decade contracts that restrict access to those able and willing to pay. It's a national disgrace and a facist philosophy, but there it is: there is nothing for the people, but everything for the corporatists and the wealthy.
PJD: my brother moved to the North Shore (Mexican War District)approx. ten years ago and he and his wife restored an 150 yr old Parsonage that has historical status. He is committed to buying and restoring some of those very properties you talked about and is a strong proponent of urban life and culture.
Myself, my temperment is not suited to urban life. As The Firesign Theatre said some 30-odd years ago, I find it a little like having bees live inside my head. So, I'm presently involved in rebuilding my (rural)home into a passive solar structure. Actually, "recycling" would be a more apt description. I'm going to disassemlbe it and recover all of the usable materials to realign it for maximum solar exposure and lower it. This aproach will accomplish three objectives: I can't afford to build a new home with new materials from scratch, I eliminate the need to dispose of the old (but perfectly servicable materials,) and I reduce the carbon impact by requiring as few as possible new materials.
Bureau of Mines? I've done some strip mine reclamation work in Pa.
"...They call it paradise,
I don't know why...
You call someplace paradise,
kiss it goodbye."
"The Last Resort" The Eagles (Hotel California; 1976)
Now you know how the native americans feel about what we did to the peoples of the nations and the land they nurtured for a thousand years.Very simply the capiltalist have destroyed the land all in the name of profit.
It's all them goddamned richers, we should burn a lower case "t" in their yards. Time to leave richers.
Vince and doll,
Don't blame it on population increase; the population in SW Pennsylvania and N. West Virginia is stable or decreasing.
The population isn't increasing, it is just that Pittsburgh, behind the times as always, is still engaging in white suburban flight. For every McMansion being built in S. Allegheny, N. Allegheny, Washington, or Butler Counties, there is a vacant lot or boarded-up house in the city limits of Pittsburgh. Then every morning and evening, the SUV's stream into downtown and out - even though there are (or were until June 17) plenty of public transit options - at least park-and-ride.
I lived in Bloomfield until my job moved to "Bureau of Mines" in South Park. The quality and sustainability of living in that city neighborhood was better there than any suburb by far.
The first step to addressing suburban/exurban sprawl is not being a subburbanite/exurbanite yourself. Consider moving to the city.
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration_transcript.html
Well, really, Barbara. This land is not your land, it's not my land, it's THEIR land.
Vince Lawrence
You are so right about that Jack Nicklaus golf course. I used to drive that road on my way home from the commissary because it was beautiful. Not any more. The McMansions have made it an eye sore. Now I go through Rennerdale which is still a picturesque village (so far).
re: the beautiful California coastline. Far more of it was visible and accessible to California citizens and tourists until Pete Wilson (Chicago Mafia) became (Republican of course) governor... he also caused California's public schools to plummet from tops in national standard to the bottom, through intentionally sabotaging them in order to push through for the Privatization Jihad (holy warrior Worship privatization, the only way, one way). And he destroyed and gentrified public health care and medical education as well via privatization of university hospitals. Wilson was from Illinois, Schwazi is from Austria.... it's time that California and maybe other states should start insisting that Governors be natives, so they will understand the needs of the people of the state they govern, and they will not use their political office to syphon off the state's resources and ship them to another state. No doubt it's happened elsewhere too. Is your governor serving your state, or the business interests (corporate, real estate, mining) of another? Pete Wilson should be recorded in California history as 'Governor Plunder'. Schwazi should not be recorded, as he wasn't any more legitimately elected than was GeoBushBoy.... and he had help plenty of help from Chicago and Vegas Mafia too, who probably own a big chunk of the park lands real estate stolen from people of the state. Foreign McPigs eating Pacific pearls at their seasonal McBeach-houses, blocking the view. Oink oink... squeeeeeal!
Real estate or property, the land coveted to build row house mansions on, is actually a foundation, opon which rests most of the guilt and shame of this planet.
Saila, little wonder you are confused, Icertainly am when I see what is being constructed with chip board, two by fours and seling for a million or more.
As a Professional Land Surveyor I could no longer use my skills to enable those practices Ms. Ehrenreich talks about. I've dropped out completely. There is a Jack Nicklaus golf course development on the south side of Pittsburgh where the $100 million French-style chalets sit shoulder to shoulder within 30 feet of each other. Picture that ridiculous image in your mind. I am Sooooooooo impressed.
What a funky article. Ms. Ehrenreich should be taught to find the relief in beauty of simple things. This confusing the spectacular with the beautiful is mind-bogglingly materialistic. I grew up surveying for my dad in every season of the year in the humble foothills just west of the Ohio River. There is nothing on this planet that will ever impress me more than the simple beauty of my simple home. I've seen the mountains of the west, I've seen some of the nicer shores of the east and they are impressive. But are these places any more beutiful than walking in the simple woodlands of the east in a summer rain? I don't think so.
You have to be really jaded to consider only the spectacular as truly inspiring. OH! I forgot; conspicious consumption is a sign of wealth and taste.
To LeeAnnG:
As a native-born West Virginian I must say you've let the cat out of the bag. Parts of WVa. are still gorgeous.I wondered for many years why more filthy rich hadn't bought up large tracts of land there. They haven't extracted all of the coal yet. Not that the new method of topping off mountains isn't earnest in that regard. Unfortunately after these energy companies are done will there be any beauty left? For those of you who have never spent any time there-Daniel Boone described part of northern West Virginia as the most beautiful land he had ever seen.That part of the state[including my hometown]is no longer beautiful-but much of southern WVa still is.Will an ever exploding population condemn the still pristine parts to ugliness? Almost certainly.
Private property is private?
I think one of the worst offenders wasting the West after hedge funders is the national association of home builders. Their right up there on the list with Realtors, and the likes of Jack Kemp and Tim Blixseth. What you end up with is the clear-cutting of a track, sell off the trees and the topsoil, and then subdivide it into houses 50' apart all for self-interests.
The reality today is that timber companies are selling off their land to hedge fund groups who aren't interested in the protecting the land. They are interested in percentages. Quarter returns. Selling the land off to the rich vacationer or suburbanite- or whoever is dumb enough to buy raw land at inflated prices brings more capital to their stock portfolios. It's a sad, sad time in the American West.
There's your example of pure, free market capitalism.
Property is theft
I don't know about Ted Turner and the land around Yellowstone in Montana. But, I do know about the land he and Jane bought in Big Sky Country: thousands of acres, including a road they could not fence because it led
to a Public Recreation Area.
My in-laws lived in Gallatin Gateway for 40 years, so I visited this area with my husband frequently. One summer, we were in the area and doing a bit of ridge running with our Corgi, so we headed up the road to the public area, intending to picnic and hike a bit.
Poor old George W. Hayduke, the Corgi, was pretty tired of riding, so we pulled over along the way to let him out a bit - On lead in case he scared up a rabbit and took off.
I swear, we no more then got out of the car and headed into the brushy pasture [no cattle] then along came a security goon and ran us out, like that 35 pound dog was going to sully Ted and Jane's great wilderness area.
If we'd been with the original Hayduke, the goon would have been on the losing side, But, he was armed, and we really were just out seeing the countryside, so we left - not meekly, but 'run outta Dodge' anyway you look at it.
I now share my life with Woody Guthrie, and like his Great Uncle Hayduke, he's peed on his share of fancy real estate!
I experienced something similar in the place I grew up, where I saw the forests I had once played in, the wetlands I had once admired, turn to private, 300,000 housing developments where people yelled at me from their back decks for walking through the forest and picking blackberries. The wetlands dried up due to global warming. The second place I moved to was already destroyed, but in the process of worsening; where the wealthy, right wing population rule out low income housing, and even managed to close down the library and local public transportation to protect their tax money.
It isn't all overpopulation; it is also poor urban planning, sprawl, and simply an expanding of the inequality between people's lives. Truly conscious, kind people who did not grow up being subjected to violence, hate, and exploitation would be able to create sensible, environmentally friendly, equal communities of any size.
http://www.dreamingearth.net
Barbara is so right, I moved to NE Miami in 1947 as a 7 year old. My father was a carpenter, my mom a "Housewife" remember those? We (4 kids) lived in a motel for a bit then in a trailer in a park just east of US 1. We could walk to Biscayne Bay and never see anything but birds, Raccoons and FISH FISH FISH. The entire area from US 1 to the bay was swamp, mud flats, creeks, and mangrove. My siblings (3 more arrived later) all went to school barefoot and were never called out for it nor were my parents. The point of my rant is that development comes and life goes. That area I just described is no longer. It has been gone for years. Now it is home to car lots, condos, and who knows what all. All stuff that has "real value" as compared to what I saw there in the 40's and 50's.Any reader living around there now know where Arch Creek is? We swam and fished it and one friend drowned in it. Let me know if you do know the creek and the area. I'm at davesgamble@yahoo.com. We also would walk out on US 1 and hitch rides to Sunny Isles Beach and hitch back at age 7, 8, 9. Never a problem (no priests ever picked us up I guess).
Wow. This article just reminds me that in this country, if you're not well-off, you just aren't welcome in more and more places. Is seems as if neighborhood are alternately being turned into gentrified playgrounds or slums. You either can't afford to live somewhere, or if you can, you'd better watch your ass, or at least get used to noise, pollution and urban neglect.
Barbara you are so awesome and one of the very few people who gets it and speaks out for the other side. I read everything you write and am thankful for you more than any other commentary writer of our time and there are many great ones..... but you are the only one that forces everyone to recognize that poverty is alive and well in the land of plenty and growing every day , it's something people never want to talk about either.......we are actually not the land of plenty anymore, we are the land of huge debt, imaginary equity, and we are bankrupt, yes, the United States is bankrupt, I know, our leaders haven't told anybody yet, the Fed plays the little game of pretending the economy is in trouble of doing so well that we could have run-away inflation anytime now, but they are actually trying to keep the dollar propped up enough to keep the Chinese and foreign investors still sending in real money- ( they don't mind the game either, it's so much better to bankrupt an adversary and own them - than to war with them) but the house of cards we have built will unravel soon and many who thought it could never happen to them will find themselves wishing they had thought differently about a few practical social programs that helped the weakest among us. We could have kept every program that was ever cut or reduced over the last 50 years instead of this trillion dollar war our country's Supreme-Ego bought into. Imagine if that money had been spent on education instead- we could be having a Renaissance, perhaps bringing the solution to the world's energy crisis to Market instead. I would have had a lot more patriotic pride out of that...... anyway..... I kept wondering for a long time who was buying all those $500k or more houses in Calf, then I got into mortgage and have read mortgage apps for several years now....most of the "haves" are not "haves" at all - but have huge debt through imaginary stated incomes.....we had a whole generation of young people out there that bank on equity increasing - most of the "haves" are juggling debt at an alarming rate- we are a country of debt-jugglers and pretend we are doing so well......in Florida, they had a mini- surge in Real estate market for about a 1 1/2 years, but taxes tripled and every county is crying poor, no one is demanding to know where the money is going, government employees did not reap huge raises, the taxes are pricing people right out of florida or anyone thinking of coming there, but no one is demanding to know where the money went. It boggles the mind.... before I left Calf 2 years ago, I realized you could give me a house for $700K and I would have to work full time and part time and might still not be able to pay taxes and eat and pay car insurance. .......... Anyway, soon our country will reach critical mass and the "Gated-Community"-mindset may not be enough to save them from 2-bucks an hour and working weekends!!!
Brown makes the point Barbara doesn't seem to appreciate.
It's POPULATION!
If there were 4-5 billion on the planet, an affordable time that most posters here nostalgically refer to, there would still be pretty places the rich don't want.
But, at 7 billion, the numbers of the rich increase (very disproportionately, Barbara would say ) to the point that there just isn't enough choice property left to gratify both rich and non-rich, so the rich take it all.
But, beautiful home sites should really be the least of our concerns. Gaia is making it increasingly difficult for many to have permanent homesites, period. Has anyone checked the situation in Australia, now in a "thousand year drought"? Lots of beautiful properties available there, real cheap.
And how long will this desireable beach front property hold its value? Speculators who swarmed into the Gulf Coast following Katrina were sometimes surprised that prices weren't higher. Those who bought are white-knuckling their arm chairs until hurricane season is over.
All those rich Californians who have migrated to Colorado are going to find that all the fresh water they want is not available at any price.
Money can buy many pretty blouses at inflated prices, but it can't buy a quality of life that is the result of clean water, a predictable climate pattern, and a peaceful society in which your gated communities are not being stormed by mobs with torches and pitch forks in a time of environmental and political chaos.
You rich people can run, but we poor people will find you and bleed on you anyway. The stench of our rotting corpses will definitely reduce your quality of life.
If she seriously wanted an outdoor experience in a beautiful place all she would have to do is strap on a backpack and head into one of the many wilderness areas in the western United States. Of course, there would be no multi-star restaurants. And there are still plenty of little towns that are close to great views. But those little towns don't have multi-star restaurants either. Ehrenreich should cook some hotdogs over an open fire and sleep under the stars with the coyotes howling nearby. But i personally think that she is an elitist herself and wouldn't think of doing something like that unless it was a multi-starred guided trip with everything done for her by the right kind of people.
These places have become so popular nobody goes there anymore.
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
words and music by Woody Guthrie
Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!
Chorus
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.
Chorus (2x)
This land belongs to George W. Bush.
Years ago I roomed with a guy from Oregon who had built his own house on a patch of woodland and had been very careful not to disturb anything he didn't have to. At the time, ten years after he built, the Californians had bid up the price of land so much he couldn't afford property taxes.
About 8 years ago I was talking to a guy from the wheat growning area of Montana. The same thing is happening there. Local people can't afford to buy property anymore because the Californians have bid it too high. But then they can't hack the winters so they sell out after a few years, to other Californians.
In Oregon in the 1960 and 1970s it was still nearly impossible for an African-American to buy a house or land. Even after the Fair Housing Act, African-Americans had a very hard time acquiring
private property in Oregon.
Ah, private property, is said to be a true measure of the American dream. Did you know people can purchase tidal rights in certain coastal areas? That means, I could be walking on the shoreline, and be told to get off. Where the hell am I going to go? Backwards, forward, out into the water?
Most of the time people don't come down and hassle. I've been on Islands where all the beach front property is sold. The beach is allegedly public from the high tide mark down. But, I have to trespass to get to the beach. God knows what I'm supposed to do when tide comes in. Some BLM land is nearly impossible to get to without crossing someone's property....
Funny world.
In 1967 we bought a 7A lot on the side of the Blue Ridge, just above the Shenandoah, for $8,000, and in 1972 bought an additional 5A for $5,000. First we built a weekend cabin, and then in 1976 moved into our 1,300sf retirement house(the cabin now our guest house), with a view of our own private waterfall. We're just 65 miles from the White House (but lately haven't been invited to drop in) and live with deer, bear, foxes, turkeys and many other birds.
Now, land prices exceed $20,000 per acre and the house we built for $40,000 is assessed at near $200,000. Our county has strict zoning regs that discourage extensive development outside of the towns, so our privacy,views, forests and critters are fairly safe.
Moral, get in early and stay put.
People: It's not only about the billionaires. The NUMBER ONE cause of all these woes is OVERPOPULATION. Until this is addressed, there is only an even darker future for privacy and the "sacredness of the silence".
If you travel backwards in your mind to ANY problem in this country--and others--is overpopulation. BUT as long as there are children having children, two of the "BIG" religions promoting childbirth and non-birth control, and egoes needing to "create" a family (instead of adopting unwanteds) the population will grow exponentially and unchecked.
I live near a paradise that is about to be exploited and destroyed (Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado) due to the addictive greed of "Red" McCoombs, multi-billionaire and all-'round unconscious being. He will be making a "village" for the wealthy while destroying a pristine and beautiful natural wonder. "Eat The Rich"!!!
The last time the French Revolted....it was the rich whose heads rolled. Would that Americans had the courage of 'cheese eating surrender monkeys'.
West Virginia is still, in many places, isolated and beautiful. It is true, however, that you have to drive 10 to 20 miles to get to any kind of job, and pay is rather low for many residents. Jobs are not necessarily easy to find, but the cost of living is quite affordable and housing, by national standards, is actually cheap. People are still wonderful about helping their neighbors, and communities are often close. When people get together, they play music and serve fantastic food. This all might not be universally true, but it sure is where I live on the Western side of the state.
When I get up in the morning, I sit on my porch and watch woodpeckers, rufus sided towhees, finches, cardinals, and a multitude of other birds in my flower garden. There are raccoons living under my porch (not good - but the dogs will eventually get them) and deer grazing outside my fenced-in vegetable garden. The beauty of this place is breath-taking.
But for some reason, this idylic state is just not good enough for the powers that be. When Caperton was governor (not a good time for West Virginia), he decided that our state slogan, "Wild and Wonderful" didn't reflect our "business oriented" communities, so it was taken off the state signs and license plates. For awhile, it was back, although I'm not sure who was governor at that time. Then Manchin got elected (a conservative Democrat with right-to-life credentials and all) and "Wild and Wonderful" has been replaced with "Open for Business."
I just hope West Virginia is too isolated, too mountainous, too full of rural gun owners, and too provincial to be discovered by the wealthy and powerful. Or to be "open for business" as usual. In the meantime, I'm blessed to be here.
Sarvananda, we have a similar thing going on here in Portland, Oregon. As soon as the starving artists find a district that is affordable, the developers move in, proclaim it the "happening" area of town, buy up all the real estate they can. Before you know it, all of the upper class "hipsters" start moving in. The artists can no longer afford to live there, and it becomes just another over-priced commercial district.
sarvananda:
And so it goes!
saila:
It's the west--you never been here you can not imagine the ride over the ridge, to maybe make a buck..'n then ya gotta ride the plain a bit to get to the ridge to make a buck..'n then winter comes..seems all towns in the west eventually dissolve into ghost towns..this too shall be ours again..
ken
I am with Saila. I do not know where the author is going either. I am a Canadian citizen, married to citizen of the United States and will, Homeland Security willing, be settling South of the 49th this year.
(Telluride needs some locals hanging out"–in old-fashioned diners, for example, where you don't have to speak Italian to order a cup of coffee.)
To my knowledge,the Americas, North, Central and South, were populated by, among others, the Italians. Global village, indeed.
The same thing is happening in Woodstock, NY, "Community of the Arts". Once a flourishing artistic community with musicians, artists and writers, Woodstock is being flooded by weekenders who buy million dollar homes. This, of course, drives up the taxes and forces many of the artists, musicians and writers to go some place else.
Areas are definitely in a drastic flux.
In 1974, my parent, sister, and I, moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. We lived there about 9 years.
In 2001, 2002, I went back to visit. Sister was living there still, her best friend was there. Our parents deceased.
I wanted to visit the "old haunts" - the places I used to go to, and live.
I was warned: they had all deteriorated, and were probably dangerous.
I drove down the street we first lived on, back in those days it was upper middle income housing. It was still there, all of it but with clear evidence of decay, lack of care, lack of upkeep.
I drove down what had been one of Charlotte's older but then thriving business districts, mostly retail and restaurants. Building after building was shuttered. It was like one long business ghetto.
I went to what was, back then, Charlotte's newest mall. Still in decent upkeep, I felt like I was in Mexico, or some Latin country. Almost everyone around me was Hispanic. Now, I have NO problems AT ALL with ANYONE MERELY based on race, but I DID notice that they STARED at me, a LOT, and rather much with a HOSTILE expression, too. I clearly was NOT welcome.
Sure, there were Hispanics back then, but there was no one mall, newest or oldest, that was SO "taken over" by ANYONE that I ever felt UNSAFE there, back in the 1970's, that is.
And of course, there were places everywhere that simply did not exist at all back then: hospitals, malls, interstates, etc.
Another thing I've noticed, when I read an article in, say Yahoo on realestate, it defines MIDDLE housing as around $300,000.00!
In MY mind, that's a home for the RICH.
I can't imagine that kind of place, or price tag.
The "middle income" bracket no longer exists, except on paper, only. Its official "demise" has not yet been acknowledged, outside of "the poor get poorer and the rich get richer."
Just spent two weeks visiting some very beautiful places in California - Napa Valley, the Mendocino coast, Monyerey Bay and Big Sur. It is all there to enjoy, and practically free, except for gas and lodging. Living there of course is another matter. Saw a smallish 4000 square foot lot in Carmel, on the wrong side of the road, with the sea view blocked by another house. Asking price was $4.7 million! My recommendation, and here I concur with Barbara: You do not have to buy into the neighborhood to enjoy the magnificent beauty of this country!
The last part of that song, the part they didn't teach us in grade school:
In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?
As I went walking, I saw a sign there;
And on the sign there, it said, 'No Trespassing.'
But on the other side; it didn't say nothing!
That side was made for you and me.
I lived in Key West and watched the housing prices double about every 7 years (as if wages can dance to that tune!). What Key West writers shared regarding this phenomenon is relevant. Interesting off-the-beaten-track places attract interesting people, and they DO add much local color. Usually these people are not particularly well off, but they live original lives. AS the money set moves in, property taxes go up and far and away go those rare birds that gave the place its hue in the first place.
Second point: I have a millionaire friend/client who played "modern Medici" several years ago by inviting me to live on one of his properties, the perfect writer's sabbatical. I needed a ride to the LA airport and he ordered a "car" for me, and the driver decided to drive through Malibu. I noticed a mobile home park on the side of the highway facing the Pacific and joked that was probably the only place I'd be able to afford. The driver promptly educated me that in that mobile home community (we are talking single wide trailers!) prices started at about $650,000!!! It was hard to believe, but soon after either on The Discovery or Travel Channel I saw a program about ritzy mobile home parks and that these were becoming quite a trend. There's one in Aspen where investors spend upwards of A MILLION dollars to make their little mobile something special. Australia has similar parks as does U.K.
I also recall a Harper's Index showing the growing number of Americans opting for these (apart from fancy locations!) less costly living alternatives, but how often do we see a Weather Channel tornado that seems to aim at such?
Money loses value when WORTH is forfeited in the bargain.
I was about to suggest that Ms. Ehrenreich leave the glitzy resort towns behind, grab a tent and a five-gallon can of water, and come down to one of the "primitive" campgrounds in New Mexico's Gila National Forest--quiet spots with outhouses, a handful of picnic tables and grills, and views to the ends of the earth.
She might see elk or deer after supper, spot a bear track on her morning walk, or if she got very lucky, hear some of our reintroduced Mexican wolves howl during the evening--all for free or a very modest fee. (I'm afraid we're a little short of "vast expanses of water," but we have a few pretty little lakes and streams.)
But then I remembered that she had better do it soon, as the Bush/Cheney crowd have plans to privatize them, Disneyfy them with "amenities" like electric lights, cell phone and Internet access, and allow the concessionaires to charge exorbitant fees for their use. In some places, like the mountains outside Tucson, AZ, they already charge for parking at hiking trailheads!
For info on keeping the public in our public lands (and the privatizers out), check out the website of Wild Wilderness at
www.wildwilderness.org
---And Bingo- He's a billionaire.--
was meant to read
"And Bingo- He's Soon a billionaire."
Edward Abbey spoke forcefully about his position on this particular subject matter.
BTW:
I checked out the Harrison Ford citation, and all it mentions is the fact the Ford parks his airplane at the local hanger. As I understand, Ford is an environmentalist regardless of his fortunes made in movies. I used to have a prejudicial sour outlook until I started to look into some of the political and environmental issues he's supported over the years. Just maybe, just possibly, Ford might be using his vast wealth to secure the old potato farms before they are sucked up by developers and turned into subtracts.
Reminds me of the time back in early 1990s when Ted Turner offered roughly $10 million to The Nature Conservancy to try and secure a large tract of land from Plum Creek Timber Co. The land was in and around Yellowstone, and was soon to be designated under the endangered species act. Plum Creek wanted to sell it all off for cheap. It no longer had value for the timber company. (God knows how Plum Creek acquired the land...) Anyway, a rich timber/land developer by the name of Tim Blixseth (good friends with congressman Jack Kemp, retired 1993) outbid the The Nature Conservancy, and bought the land in 1992 for roughly $25 million. With in a short year, the federal government agreed to purchase the 100k acres from the Tim Blixseth. And Bingo- He's a billionaire.
Now good old Jack Kemp and Tim Blixseth are creating the environment the above article lambastes. Put some real names to the problem.
Club Med for Multimillionaires
and here is an article on a lawsuit filed by Greg LeMond accusing Blixseth of diverting company funds into personal bank accountslawsuit
Google Jack Kemp and Tim Blixseth to see more of their footprint. Politics as usual?
No, nothing new, just done more efficiently and ruthlessly than ever before in American history. The fall is near, and I'm not talking about the season.
Is this anything new? What did we all think was happening in most of New Jersey? New England? Upstate New York? It is difficult to even tell what the original (beautiful) geography looked like. Every inch is covered with buildings and parking lots. Open spaces are disappearing at a terrifying rate. Even common birds this spring have not returned to regular nesting sites. Why would it be too much to ask that large parts of our country remain wild? It would seem that only a (rich!) few would be denied ownership. Preserving our natural heritage seems like it's part of the "pursuit of happiness"-
As a Floridian for nearly 30 years the place I see Barbara Ehrenreich's concerns most valid is called beach access. Used to be easy to drive a while and find a place to park and go in the surf.
Anymore it is a challenge to find someplace not condoized, or walled to walled with resort hotels.
Then, a time to take back.
Look who's developing property and how it's developed.
The whole process has been commercialized. Huge wealth buys large tracts of land with a plan to "subdivide" it into lots AND UTILITIES.
What has happened to "little boxes made out of ticky-tacky; and they all look the same" has come to mini-ranches that all look the same. It's all in one package of environmentally unfriendly crap. Set up to reap the most profit for the investor.
Sun Valley, Driggs, Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Santa Fe, Taos, they all were left alone because access was tough in the winter, but now we have 4-wheel drives and these isolated places are suburbia on steroids!
One good thing, gas shortages will force people to again live a tough life again like the old days and not vary many people know how to survive under these conditions. Maybe then we will have our towns back.
My property is NOT and investment, it's a nature sanctuary for all wildlife and that includes me!
As I understand it, this is exactly what happened with the elites of the Roman Empire.
For once, I find myself agreeing with Barbara.
I grew up in the "frontrange" area of Colorado. Outside of the door of our ranch was a beautiful view of Pike's Peak and Mt Cheyenne. My grandfather worked the land for over 50 years, raised cattle, and created his little oasis from scratch. Our neighbors were people just like him, little money but also self-reliant and with a lot of heart.
Then, property went for about $200 an acre. A working man could still acquire his own property and make it his own. Now, property in the same area goes for 20k an acre. McMansion mini ranches has replaced the wide open vistas. Regular people cannot now acquire a decent amount of property, and the old ranchers are having to sell out to pay the property taxes. A whole way of life has practically disapeared in less than 30 years. It makes me very sad that my children could not see it as it used to be.
I'm lost. Could someone please tell me what the author is talking about? I thought with Bush/Cheney policies and off shoring of jobs we're all—almost all—going to have a third class living standard, like waiters, bartenders, hospital hands, all low paying service jobs.