The housing bubble is about to burst

Dear Editors:

Is anyone aware that there is a serious housing bubble that’s about to burst?

The greedy developers here want to develop at the cost of the pristine land and we already have a housing glut of unfilled domiciles. The only problem is the overpriced costs of houses and outrageous rents keep the average person from being able to rent or buy. And they are debating about building more houses that will never be filled. Only the self-centered developers and realtors would benefit from such a disastrous continuation of this build, build, build attitude.

Wake-Up People!!!

The housing market is crashing, and no one wants to admit it. Just a look at the real news will tell you this.

And when we look at things like what the IMF (International Monetary Fund) is saying, this can be verified by a report which says: “with low interest rates contributing to a continued boom in house prices, which – after adjustment for inflation – are about 30 percent above their previous peak, concerns have been raised that the current stimulus has been achieved at the risk of a future housing bust, which could have a serious impact on consumption and growth.”

In it they also say: “even so, the elevated level of housing prices is a potential risk, particularly if long-term interest rates were to continue to rise sharply.”

What is coming out soon will cast more light on the housing bubble that is about to burst. And then there is the real fact that the dollar is being exchanged now on the foreign markets for those currencies that are backed by gold.

If this city allows the continued urban sprawl and desecration of the land to continue, there will be more unfilled over-priced housing than ever both for sale, and for rent. The question is, who will be able to afford it in a coming depression?

Is anyone awake out there?

– Rose King

via e-mail

Thanks for the hard look at Grandview

Dear Editors:

As a displaced fifth-generation Durangoan and as a journalist of many years experience, I breathed a sigh of relief to see the Durango Telegraph do that which most other media seem incapable: a hard look at the Grandview proposal. (Cover story, Oct. 23-29) I never cease to be amazed at the promotional nature of most reporting on development—any development, no matter how outrageous—in booming Southwest Colorado, which seems to have mucked up growth as badly as any region I have seen anywhere, with the tragedy compounded by what the area could have been. I believe that failure is attributable, in large measure, to the media having failed to hold officials’ feet to the fire.

There has been a way of doing business in Durango and La Plata County for so long that most residents don’t realize that other communities have progressed on to more democratic ways. Residents were blindsided when Mercy Medical Center and the Southern Utes unilaterally decided to move the only hospital to an area remote from Durango and miles into a reasonably pristine part of the county. They were blindsided by the announcement of thousands of homes in a rural area. These were decisions in which all residents should have been given input BEFORE the decisions were made, and any number of “charettes” do not compensate for the omission.

While I am delighted with Durango’s decision to slow a process that will bring sprawl, high-density development, congestion, pollution, wildlife impacts and traffic nightmares to Grandview, I am baffled by Greg Hoch’s and the city’s bias in favor of the development as indicated by his statement, “...this does not mean the city does not support Mercy Medical Center in its efforts to begin construction on the new hospital.”

Planners and planning agencies should be independent administrators who make sure all planning requirements are met, not advocates for or against a development.

The removal of a hospital from a town and the construction of thousands of homes in a mostly rural area in violation of every tenet of common sense and good planning is a clear indication that government, to a degree the residents of most communities have put a stop to, is by and for the developers.

– Kathleene Parker,

Los Alamos, N.M,

PileUp: Wendy Miller takes care of a little fall clutter in her yard near East Seventh Avenue on Tuesday./Photo by Todd Newcomer.

Too much nosiness

Kudos, Mr. Silver.

I am a gentile with blond hair and blue eyes and a big nose yet I applaud your position. It’s absurd to stereotype ANYone in America. We are all descedents of other countries and cultures, (except for the true Native Americans who are exiled to small parcels of land that include only a pittance of what they once owned).

What is wrong with this picture?

– Sincerely, JM Gross

Oakland, Calif.

(don’t hold that against me)