The other night I watched a segment of 60 minutes about the Golden Triangle in Mississippi. It basically talked about the resurrection of manufacturing in that three-county area. I was very interested in what they had done. What really stood out was: not once did they mention housing. They were talking about thousands of jobs.
Our local officials should take note: if you have really good, high-wage jobs — housing will happen. You’ve got to have the cash to afford the housing first. My wife brought up another good point: why are officials talking price points on housing vs. affordable three to four bedroom homes? A $140,000 house not affordable on $12 per hour. A recent article alluded to the fact that buying fixer uppers was out of date today. I disagree. Maybe quit tearing down all old houses and figure out away to help renovate them.
I am not advocating a free handout, but it seems the city has been doing that pretty well on their own. Further, the article stated that Prairie City was fretting because they only had one lot left to develop and developer couldn’t get funds until a new study was done ... I say bull. A good developer would have their history to back them and bankers are easy to work with, especially with a good track record.
Now, who thinks that the lights on South Second Avenue are too much? Pretty obnoxious to me. We could have saved some money with fewer. Is this the runway extension we were looking for at the Newton Airport?
Shawn James
Newton