This Land is Their Land

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 ID, 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 can not 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.

Comments

[Hattie]

This is so sad. Relatives of mine who have a vacation place in McCall, Idaho, sing the same sad tune. There affluent outsiders are even driving out the affluent locals!

[Arwen]

Speculative housing bubble has gentrified everything. Compton, for crying out loud, with 900 square foot homes going for 300K. Not sustainable. Real wages are not keeping up. Rent, if eating 60% of the median and below working stiff's budget removes their money from the economy in other places. It's a shaky house of cards.

Every boom followed by a bust.

[Arwen]

Sorry, that's 60% of the budget of the working stiff making the median income or less.

[Laura]

I'm a Peace Corps volunteer in Romania and all I can say is if you want to live inexpensively and still get to see earth and sky - Come to Romania?

[Curly Earl]

What about the economic impact these "outsiders" bring to these "off the beaten path" areas ?

The locals, like it not not, welcome the influx as it drives property values higher, provide higher paying jobs and puts more money into the pipeline.

All these properties changing hands ?. Someone had to sell them. They are not squatting or asking for a free rides.

I don't get your point.

Take Hawaii. Do you think the natives there were complaining when mainland cash started to flow in ? Not a chance. Time to cash in .

Telluride. They did this to themselves.

[Justin K.]

...................sad

[A Canadian]

I agree with Curly Earl. The land must have belonged to some locals at some time. They sold out, I guess. When you sell out you no longer have any right to complain....

[Monica]

They may not have a right to complain legally, but they may have, morally. It depends on the circumstances.

Capitalism is good at making people lose their rights through legal means, just because they can't afford not to do so. For instance, someone who can't afford to buy a home may have to put up with conditions they don't like, such as allowing the landlord to enter their apartment by giving a 24-hour notice. Some other landlord may say no pets, or no smoking, or something else. For financial and location reasons, it may be impossible to find an apartment where there are no conditions that the tenant does not quite like. But it is by signing a lease that the tenant loses certain rights, or acquires certain obligations. He is not exactly forced to sign. Same thing for employment, or for some sale transactions. Maybe some of the people who sold their property were pushed by economic forces, such as the need to get money to feed their family or the inability to pay mortgages or get them renewed at a cost they could still afford. There are ways to make people lose their rights and property and even sign that they agree. And there are, or there used to be, cultures without proper papers that could be taken advantage of by someone from a more sophisticated legal system.

[buena]

Barbara, I live in a town like the ones you describe. It's a very sticky problem. Locals hate the newcomers but have no qualms about subdividing their open land into small ( 1 or 2 acre) parcels and making a killing on it. Then they bitch because it's getting so ugly here with all the development!

And just try to enact some sort of smart-growth zoning requirements and you'll hear the ranchers and developers squeal like stuck pigs. We've been trying to develop some sort of reasonable subdivision regulations since I came here 14 years ago. The ranchers and developers have money and they pack the commissioner's meetings, and nothing ever happens.

Bottom line, there are too many people in the world, and there's not enough world left. We all want to slam the door on newcomers as soon as we've found a beautiful place.

[lc2]

Well I now live in an expensive rural-ish area and grew up in a cheap truly rural area ... and I can tell you it's better to be broke in beautiful surroundings. Couldn't agree more that even if it's not a biological imperative to crave the solitude and tear-rendering quality of the sticks ... it's better for the soul. Give me open space over skinny lattes any day (although to be honest, we have both in my area ... and that's why our 800 sq.ft. house is appraised at $200K). But you have to have aggressive anti-subdivision zoning, and real, not just token pro-farming and ag.land protection policies to make it work. Tax breaks for families who vow to keep space open, even if it's not being actively farmed. Grants for up-and-coming farmers. Etc. And also the vacationers have to accept that if a place is affordable, trailers and double-wides will dot the horizon ... and that's all part of being in the country.

[Hattie]

Where I live trailers are banned. And billboards. We struggle along without them somehow.

[chris]

Barbara writes:

"This Land is Their Land"

Following that title is a screed that expressed contempt by the gallon for every American, including those who are lucky enough to benefit from the growing popularity of their towns.

She writes:

"Sun Valley...The sky was deep blue, the air crystalline, the hills green and not yet on fire. Strolling out of the Sun Valley Lodge...the boutiques were displaying outdoor racks of summer clothing on sale!

"But things started to get a little sinister - 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."

Locked Glass Cases? In other words, shoplifting deterrents. I see. She thinks we're a nation of shoplifters, especially when it comes to expensive boutique clothing items for women. Nice. She's surprised merchants in Sun Valley aren't worried about theft. Maybe, just maybe, affluent shoppers PAY when they shop.

Sun Valley does have a lot of wealthy visitors and residents. That's one reason many of the locals are locals.

Skiing? Some of the best IN THE WORLD. Thank W. A. Harriman, the CEO of Union Pacific Railroad for discovering the site and building the initial Sun Valley resort in 1935 -- in the Great Depression. I just know the locals hated having work in those tough days. Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and Ernest Hemingway were lured in to give some zip to the place. Awfu. Just awful.

Of course Hemingway did commit suicide in Sun Valley. But I don't think the development of the resort or nearby Hailey caused him to do it.

She writes:

"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."

This is the big laugh. Land prices rise when populations grow. When people arrive, their arrival and presence creates work.

She misleads:

"All right, I’m sure there are still exceptions – a few scenic spots not yet eaten up by mansions. But they’re going fast."

Let's try Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, up in the northern panhandle of the state. In 1980 about 15,000 people lived in the CdA area. Today the population of the area is 50,000.

Why? CdA was once bounded by large agricultural tracts of land devoted to the production of grass-seed. However, as people began moving to the old town, builders sought land on which to build homes for the new arrivals, as well as long-time residents who were ready to leave the old creaky house for a new place.

Guess what? The builders bought the land that had previously been nothing but open flat land used to produce grass-seed, and covered that land with small houses on small plots of land.

These houses were built for working people and their families. You could call these housing developments the Levittowns of the Rockies. They have delivered similar benefits to their owners. These aren't the feared "rich people" who buy these homes. They are the locals and the new arrivals. The tradesmen, the skilled workers.

I know the area well. I've been visiting Coeur d'Alene since 1980.

She writes:

"Driggs ID, just over the Tetons from wealthy Jackson Hole. At that time, Driggs was where the workers lived...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."

and:

"But the money was already starting to pour into Driggs – transforming family potato farms into vast dynastic estates. I understand Driggs has become another unaffordable Jackson Hole. Where the waitstaff and bed-makers live today I do not know."

More lunacy. First, those jobs in Jackson must pay major wages for people to travel long distances over mountain ranges to work them.

OR, there's another reason people go long distances to work lousy jobs. The job gives them something else. Usually, it's a ski pass.

Jackson Hole is another American resort that attracts skiers from all over the world. For many years you could visit any restaurant in Jackson (or Sun Valley or Aspen, and many other places) and you would find almost every employee in the place -- including dishwasher and bus-boy -- was a college graduate. In my ski bumming days, I knew people who took a year or two off from PhD studies to ski. The big attraction was the nearly free ski pass -- and the incredible fun of life at a big ski resort.

Moreover, locals soon realized the resort business was great for them too. They were the builders, the plumbers, the electricians, and the doctors and lawyers.

The commuters from Driggs, however, must have been gratified when Driggs became popular. That house Barbara rented must have begun generating more revenue for its owner as the town's popularity climbed. Local life definitely improved for the locals. And the new arrivals had a reason to arrive. In fact, those who had been traveling over the hump from Driggs to Jackson may well have been able to work in the newly popular Driggs and end their lengthy commutes, unless their real purpose was skiing at Jackson.

She writes:

"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."

Yes. And there are more Americans than ever. There are 300 million of us. In 1965 the population of the US hit 200 million. Thus, it has increased 50% in about 40 years.

But over the same period, the population of Idaho has doubled. It is now almost 1.5 million. Americans like Idaho. So do illegal immigrants.

Idaho is also a very white state. Census data shows it is 95% white. The overall US population is about 80% white.

Looking at other race characteristics, Idaho is about 0.5% black. Idaho is also known for its neo-nazis and its Aryan Nations church. However, those clowns are feeling the heat. The recent arrivals are driving them out. Or at least driving them to the fringes, where they have little impact and attract no national media coverage like they did in the 1990s. That's good, isn't it?

She writes:

"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."

It is a rare town in Idaho that has no room for low-wage earners. Idaho, by the way, receives MORE handouts from Washington than it SENDS to Washington. In other words, for years it has been a Welfare State. But the arrival of more residents who are better educated and better paid is changing that. The day is coming when Idaho PAYS and RECEIVES its fair share of federal tax revenue.

She writes:

"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."

Please. I can't take it. The whining over a thing that never was. The Good Old Days. No dishwasher commutes four hours to a wash dishes. This is a myth -- unless, as I said, the dishwasher is merely funding his skiing habit.

Meanwhile, it is common for resorts to supply employee housing. I worked on the construction of the Big Sky resort in Montana, just north of Yellowstone Park. At the resort were two substantial buildings of small living units and bunk areas for employees.

Life in those units was like all the best parts of college life without classes. We were the bartenders, the dishwashers, the waiters, waitresses, lift operators, ski patrol, etc. Fun like you cannot believe.

She writes:

"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."

So what?

She writes:

"Then there’s the elusive element of charm, which quickly drains away in a uniform population of multi-millionaires."

Fiction. There's no "uniform population of multi-millionaires." However, some of the NEW millionaires are the LOCAL landowners who are able to sell their properties to arriving millionaires.

The farmers around Coeur d'Alene were ecstatic that builders were offering enough money for the land to allow the farmers to retire comfortably, instead of working till they dropped. I guess that's bad.

Meanwhile, the nature of this exclusivity is appalling. It boils down to shutting the door on property sales and development at some arbitrary point that, remarkably, follows on the heels of the arrival of the biggest whiner in the valley.

Of course these morons never understand economics. Or the forces that keep people on the outside.

This land envy and the selfishness of those who want to increase the difficulty of obtaining some is appalling. It is also deceitful. If the enemy -- affluent buyers -- are prevented from buying land through various zoning limitations, the result is ALWAYS fewer job opportunities for low-wage people. A prosperous community ALWAYS includes a need for more workers. Those are often the people who once traveled far to work at lousy jobs.

The attractive power of prosperity might be the force that pulls illegal immigrants to the US. Yes?

She writes:

"The Hamptons had their fishermen."

Hamptons fishermen and potato farmers are quaint remnants from the past. So what? Now people spend serious money to hire those fishermen to take them out on sport-fishing boats to catch sharks and other deep water fish. Sounds like a good thing.

She writes:

"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."

Oh. In other words, she's taking that semi-romantic view of claiming the characters of Key West have escaped from someone's novel. Actually, before helping to popularize Sun Valley, Ernest Hemingway did his part for Key West. To Have and Have Not was written in Key West. He arrived near the start of the Depression. You can be sure the people of Key West appreciated the fact that he helped to increase tourism, which became substantial while he lived there -- over 70 years ago.

She writes:

"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."

Yeah, well, a century ago, when Key West was nothing, well, it was nothing. The area had mosquito problems that drove off almost everyone.

She writes:

"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."

If Telluride NEEDS some old-fashioned diners for locals, this clown should build one or two. But I'll bet no one has offered to finance the construction of an old-fashioned diner.
Times are changing.

She writes:

""America the Beautiful" -- I don’t think it was meant to be sung by a chorus of hedge fund operators."

There aren't enough hedge-fund operators in the world to populate a dying town in Iowa.

However, for those looking for that Last Good Place, here's the biggest tip you'll ever get: CUBA.

Yet another Hemingway favorite.

After Fidel croaks, and that day is getting close, it is likely his brother will liberalize the country enough for the US to end its embargo. Cuba will once again become a great destination. It is an island stuck in the 1950s. Everything is old. But that will change as Americans arrive.

If you want a cheap place, steer clear of Havana. Cuba is the real estate opportunity of the 21st century. You can be sure -- absolutely certain -- that Cubans will welcome Americans and every dollar we spend on the island.

[lc2]

You know chris, this might come as a shock to you, but there are cities other than your beloved NYC in the world, and there are rural areas outside of Idaho too. For a self-professed numbers guy you certainly seem to get hung up on anecdote-driven diatribes. You do actually live in a predominantly rural state ... or were you unaware?

[Justin K.]

Ok Chris I have a number for you. 2055, do you know what that number represents? It’s how many words you typed in your last “comment” and I stopped reading after 100 words. I asked this before and got no response so I’ll ask again. Why are you on this page? What are you looking for? You don’t seem to agree with what Barbara says. Your “comments” are so long that most people most likely don’t read it and your “comments” lose all credibility. So why are you here? Maybe your just here to take the fun out of this page. Maybe that’s your job. Who knows, maybe you’re paid to go to human rights rallies and under mind the validity of the event. But I suppose if that where the case you would never tell us that. How ever I still want to know what you hope to accomplish by posting on this page.

[buena]

Ignore chris. That's the only way to get rid of him.

[realpc]

Barbara, you seem to be unaware of the basic facts of nature. When an environment is desirable, for any reason, plants and animals start moving in. Competition intensifies as the area starts to fill up.

This has gone on since long before humans arrived on earth. You cannot expect resources to be infinite. As long as our population continues growing, the desirable places will be filled with our species, and other species will die out.

You cannot expect the earth to support more and more humans with luxury and beauty for all.

Every species, and every human society, had to seek out its niche. Humans have managed to survive in deserts and on glaciers. We are the most adaptable species and now, thanks to technology and industry, we are crowding out the others.

So rich people can afford to live in nicer places and the poor can't? Don't you see that this is how reality works?

The situation results directly from our great success. If you want an ever-increasing number of people to enjoy the luxuries of modern life, then you can't also expect to preserve the beauty of nature.

[chris]

lc2, you wrote:

"You know chris, this might come as a shock to you, but there are cities other than your beloved NYC in the world, and there are rural areas outside of Idaho too."

Yes, there are towns all over the Mid-West that are suffering the pains of depopulation. The kids who go to college never return. Like my mother, who left Creston, Iowa for Northwestern U and NY City, only seeing it on occasional visits.

You can buy the finest house in Creston for a shockingly small sum. But, believe it or not, Wal-Mart has benefited Creston.

You wrote:

"For a self-professed numbers guy you certainly seem to get hung up on anecdote-driven diatribes."

The numbers support my anecdotes.

You wrote:

"You do actually live in a predominantly rural state ... or were you unaware?"

Do you pluck this stuff from the air?

The population of NY State is 19 million. Two-thirds (67%) of the population of New York State lives in NY City and the six counties around it.

Then you have the cities of Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Utica, Binghamton and Plattsburgh to bump up the percentage of urban/suburban further.

New York State may have plenty of rural countryside. But the vast majority of New Yorkers live in cities and suburbs. The rural population is small.

Here's some numbers for you. The population density of NY State is 402 people per square mile. The population density of the US is 80 people per square mile.

[lc2]

Um, chris, no kidding. I was talking about area, not population. But you've answered my question ... that you have very little curiosity about your more or less immediate surroundings and how it impacts your food supply, water quality, electricity rates, and the like. Thanks for the answer!

[chris]

lc2, you wrote:

"...that you have very little curiosity about your more or less immediate surroundings and how it impacts your food supply, water quality, electricity rates, and the like."

I am painfully aware of food prices, water quality and supplies, electricity rates and all the other costs of living.

What question are you asking?

Are you asking if I know WHY prices for some goods and services are higher in NYC than other areas?

Or HOW the water system works? Or WHERE electricity comes from.

When it comes to NYC, the answers are often unique.

Just so you know, the utility companies over the entire US must spend a lot of money to provide service to new sites. A growing population leaves utility companies no choice but to spend on new service and new production facilities.

There are 300 million Americans today who need water, electricity and gas. It took 40 years for the population to rise from 200 million to 300 million. Based on the demographic trend of the last decade, I'd say we will hit 400 million in less than 40 years. A lot less.

You seem to suggest that free movement of citizens should end.

Do you think there is some unused strategy that would allow this country to meet its water, gas and electricity needs at costs far below current levels?

There are many ways to cut costs, like open oil drilling on more US land and restarting our nuclear power programs. But that's all political.

If costs of gas and electricity are your concern, then you should realize that the high cost of energy reflects the unfortunate effect environmentalists have had on our energy industry.

Anyway, I think you are pining for a life that does not, and has not, existed in this country.

[Curly Earl]

Hattie proclaims :

Where I live trailers are banned. And billboards. We struggle along without them somehow.

Yeah, OK. And your point is ?

Have you ever ventured upcountry to see how the real people live ? I seem to recall seeing both trailers and billboards, so perhaps in your enclave you wont see too many trailer parks, but isn't this the problem Barbara is lamenting ?

Hilo Hattie, visionary extrordinaire.

[lc2]

chris, I don't have to pine for anything, I'm already living my dream. And here's a hint: it doesn't involve Wal-Mart.

I wasn't really asking for a lecture about electricity de-regulation, I was wondering if you've ventured upstate to see the farmland that's been sold so ya'll in the city can have cheap power. I was wondering if you think maybe it would've been better to keep some of that farmland viable so that so much affordable produce didn't have to be trucked from farther away. Ever stood back and contemplated the reservoirs upstate, or learned about the towns that were sacrificed so you could get good clean water from the tap? But I guess you city dwellers have loftier issues to consider. Just remember not to talk about farmers w/your mouth full.

[lc2]

I have to agree with Curly ... Hattie, what is your point, exactly? Other than that you find your particular area more aesthetically pleasing than those that allow double-wides? You say people struggle along somehow ... are you sure they haven't just been priced out of the area altogether? That sounds exactly like something Barbara E. wrote in "N&D": that the popular consensus is that "surely the poor struggle along somehow ... don't they?"

[Hattie]

The concern trolls are out in force!
If you're looking for authenticity as represented by destitute people, you can find plenty of it around here. This isn't Maui, this is the non-tourist side of Hawaii Island.
I would almost favor trailers as low cost housing here, but county regulations for infrastructure density and services would make it hard for us to have trailer parks. We already have thousands of people living in substandar housing without "the basics" electricity, running water, sewers. Trailer park population densities without services would be a catastrophe.
We have just a very few trailers sitting on large rural lots now.
The island of Kauai bans trailer parks outright. On the East side of Hawaii Island it's more a matter of impracticality.
And thanks to the work of The Outdoor Circle, a citizen's group, all of Hawaii banned billboards many years ago. Can't say I miss them.

[paperpusher666]

Hattie, another factor that discriminates against trailers is that they are considered personal property, even if you own the land where they are placed and you do the necessary site preparation to make them "permanent". If you want to buy one, banks won't lend you the money for longer than a car.

I was the project manager for the construction of an office building in 1996. We could have built 22000 square feet for the same money as 17000 sq.ft. had we used trailers rather than a permanent building. I argued for permanent construction for two reasons: lower heating and cooling costs and the desire to avoid a rehab that would cost half of the purchase price of the building in 5 years or so. Due to the climate in the area, we had run into the need to rehab 4 other temporary structures after that amount of time.

Temporary construction tends to become permanent. Once it's up, people will want to use and keep the building. If you can keep up the maintenance, trailers can be a very nice place to live. The trouble is that many people who live in trailers often defer maintenance, and so the trailer gets run down over the years.

[Hattie]

Interesting. Of course any kind of construction needs maintenance. Our biggest problem here is poor infrastructure.