Cocoposts

No Growthers and SunCal

KNME's In Focus segment, January 16, 2009,  has an interesting interview with Mayor Marty Chavez. He was asked what he thought of TIDDs - tax increment development districts.  Not surprisingly, he loves 'em and said TIDDs had been "demagogued to death."

Celebrating

The new president and a new era and the choice of site for a barn building.  

Homebuilders Hurt

Cut and paste from the New York Times:

After riding high on one of the greatest housing booms in American history, the nation’s home builders today face a devastating reversal of fortune.

Although the housing crisis is nearly two years old, many banks had refrained from cracking down on small home builders.

They are starting to do so, and a wide swath of the industry could be forced out of business in the next few years. The trouble is concentrated especially in the Sun Belt, the scene of so much overbuilding.With thousands of small and midsize builders facing similar circumstances, the outlook for the industry is dire. “The downturn that we’re experiencing right now is so unprecedented that there’s really no business model that works,” said Joel Shine, a real estate investor.

Some builders are now demanding federal relief. They want a tax credit of up to $22,000 for new-home purchases and they want the government to buy down interest rates on new mortgages, to 3 to 4 percent.

Some analysts, however, believe such a bailout would artificially re-inflate home prices and encourage further building in a saturated market. “What is the public good for that?” asked Thomas Lawler, a housing analyst and former vice president for risk analysis at Fannie Mae.

Like builders demanding federal relief, SunCal demands tax increment financing in New Mexico.  Keeping overbuilt housing market profits safe. What is the public good  for that?  

Friday Cat Blogging

  Domina is the color of dark chocolate and very strong-willed.   She came from the streets and now enjoys sleeping on fresh linens or a warm lap and likes eating off the good china.   

Developer Trammell Crow

Dies in Texas at 94.  Some called him an innovative developer.  Everyone called him a big developer.

From NYT's obit:

Forbes in 1971 and The Wall Street Journal in 1986 called Mr. Crow the largest landlord in the United States. The Journal said the company he founded was then the nation’s biggest developer.

Mr. Crow once had interests in nearly 300 million square feet of developed real estate, comprising 8,000 properties in more than 100 cities.

Altman's Quintet

I need another sauna after watching this movie - Altman's attempt at Sci-Fi.

California's Anti-Stimulus Program

You gotta love this last quote in a story in the San Francisco Chronicle about California doom.  Such doominess always makes NM seem brighter - that and a massage, soak and sauna at  mid-day. 

Cash-strapped California may halt road projects

The budget standoff in Sacramento threatens to force work crews to shut down construction on road projects already under way across California, including four new carpool lanes in the Bay Area.

Statewide, $1.8 billion worth of work in progress is in danger of being suspended because of California's cash flow problems.

"That has never been done in the history of the state, certainly not in the transportation program," Will Kempton, director of the California Department of Transportation, said Monday.

Many transportation projects are funded by bonds, which the state hasn't been able to sell in part because of the nation's credit crisis and also because of the inability of the Legislature and the governor to agree on how to balance the deficit-plagued state budget. ...

Kempton, Caltrans' director, said he should have a better understanding Friday after the state's top finance officers meet whether the transportation projects now under way will have to be halted.

"We are right at the cliff," he said.

What Will Save the Suburbs?

How can we reuse vacant big boxes and platted but half-built subdivisions?  Thoughtful questions to ask.

Instead, New Mexicans and their state legislators, county commissioners and city councilors, are hearing SunCal tell them we need to build more.  Much, much more.  Up front and all at once. 

Monday cut and paste from the New York Times - Allison Arieff , with a painting by Sarah McKenzie.  

For a long time now I’ve been obsessed with suburban and exurban master-planned communities and how to make them better. But as the economy and the mortgage crisis just seem to get worse, and gas prices continue to plunge, the issues around housing have changed dramatically. The problem now isn’t really how to better design homes and communities, but rather what are we going to do with all the homes and communities we’re left with.

Post Epiphany Party Pics

 

Fire, friends, fashion,
cake, bird, piano player, and punch!

SunCal Wants It Up Front & All At Once

Sounds kinky.

The NM Biz Journal parrots the promise of SunCal without question.   

“Our investment in New Mexico so far has been more than $250 million. It would not be a stretch to suggest that SunCal has already had a positive impact on the local economy,” said SunCal Vice President David Soyka. “What we will really need to create the jobs is a demonstration to prospective employers that we can provide immediate infrastructure. To do this, we need support from lawmakers to enable tax increment financing so we can complete the needed infrastructure in a quality, right-sized way, all at once and up front.”

Times-a-wasting!  Fab high tech companies are banging on the SunCal door!   Infrastructure, and a little legislative TIDD love, is all we need.  Giddy-up front and all at once.

Never mind that recession thingy.