» Monthly Archives: February 2008
Closed Denny’s sparks landmark hysteria in Seattle – is it Scandigooginesian?
Seattle’s Landmarks Preservation Board voted 6-3 last week to designate a closed Denny’s restaurant as a city landmark.
The owner wants to tear down the boarded-up building and replace it with a mixed-used, retail/condo project anchored by a Rite-Aid.
But opponents say the building, which opened in 1964 as a Manning’s coffee shop and was a ...
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Land use politics force changes on how developers act
All land use is political, writes Pat Fox, president of The Saint Consulting Group, transforming the way commercial land use projects get built and forcing developers to change how they do business.
Commercial development was once welcomed. Called economic development, it meant jobs and taxes. Politicians campaigned on it, promising to bring tax dollars, jobs ...
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Poll Shows Support Increasing For Power Plant Construction
February 22, 2008 EnergyWashington.com The popular notion of energy security (due in part to rhetoric coming out of Washington), as well as the rise in the price of oil and electricity, may be driving Americans to abide by siting decisions to build new power plants near or in their neighborhoods, according to an international ...
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NIMBYism and multi-family housing — a develeper’s woe in Calgary
Generally speaking multi-family housing is a favourite target for NIMBYism. The problem is, as it has been for a few years now, that communities try to influence what happens.
Politicians, on more than a few occasions, find themselves caught between developments and constituents who just don't want multi-family housing in their neighbourhoods, writes Marty Hope ...
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Zoning and the mortgage subprime crisis — thanks to Volokh Conspiracy
Randal O'Toole has an interesting post rounding up evidence showing that zoning and other government land-use restrictions have played a major role in causing the subprime mortgage crisis. Zoning helped cause the crisis in two ways: by artificially inflating the price of real estate, and by increasing the likelihood of a "boom-bust" cycle in real ...
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Thomas Sowell — new book debunks myths on smart growth
Economist Thomas Sowell has just published a new book called "Economic Facts and Fallacies" in which he sets out to debunk a number of widely-held misconceptions, especially about smart growth and land use planning.
Sowell quotes figures showing people paid a smaller percentage of their incomes on housing at the start of the 20th century than ...
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Overcoming public opposition to quarry development — how to rally support
So, you want to build a quarry? “Not in my community!" That's what 64 percent of Americans said in the 2007 Saint Index survey of attitudes toward real-estate development. To put that in startling perspective, 65 percent said they would oppose a nuclear power plan in their hometown. Only landfills and casinos -- both with ...
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Voters politicize real estate development at the polls, Saint Index survey shows
Development and growth is an important issue for American voters when they go to the polls.
Eighty-nine percent of Americans say a candidate's position on development and growth is 'important' or 'very important' when considering candidates for county and local office, according to The Saint Index, a national survey of American public attitudes that has become ...
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Overcoming Public Opposition To Quarry Development
February 2008 Rock Products So, you want to build a quarry? "Not in my community!" That's the opinion of 64 percent of Americans interviewed for the 2007 Saint Index survey of attitudes toward real estate development. To put that into startling perspective, 65 percent said they would oppose a nuclear power plant in their ...
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Challenges Faced by Land Developers — and How to Overcome Them
Whatever it is that real estate developers propose to build these days, they will run up against some citizens who say, ‘no.’ How developers prepare for and react to citizen objectors can determine whether their projects ever get built. In REBusiness Online, Mike Saint, chairman and CEO of The Saint Consulting Group, sets out an ...
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