In case you didn't know, there was just a "panel discussion" held on the topic of "addressing the affordable housing crunch in Port Angeles." If that's an issue you're concerned about, I trust you'll be able to keep your hope in check when you check out who was on this panel.
First, you've got Mary Budke, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club. You know, the group that just got a sleazy, backroom deal done that diverted tax dollars in what could generously be called an "unnecessary" manner.
Second, you've got Mike Chapman, rising/back-stabbing political star of Clallam County. You know, the guy with no fixed political affiliation or moral compass.
From the City, you've got Nathan West, who sold his soul for pennies on the dollar years ago. Ever since he's been proposing and propping up some of the most ridiculous ideas ever to sprout from the deeply poisoned soil of City Hall.
Then there's Kevin Russell, the first vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington. Why the hell was her there, you might ask? Well, to rail against the stringent (wink, wink) regulations that people like Nathan West (wink, slink) put in place that make it so hard for guys like him to "do the right thing."
And then there was Doc Robinson, director of Serenity House, an organization whose ownership of property has been somewhat controversial in the past.
Missing from this panel: Any discussion of the negative effects of bad policies coming from local governing bodies - such as those represented here. In other words, the elephant in the room went unremarked upon. (A baby elephant might be the exorbitant utility rates the City charges...Nathan?)
Also missing from the panel: Anyone who is right now, currently, struggling with housing issues. You know, someone with real, lived experience on this topic. Instead you got a collection of the usual (well-off) connected (corrupted) suspects, blowing a little hot air around in the middle of summer.
Isn't this exactly what the "machine" of the system of governance does, with just about everything?
ReplyDeleteGo through the motions, and accomplish little. And year after year, nothing changes.
And, of course any new housing that is built with "relaxed regulations" sells for an "affordable" price. Well below what any other house sells for, right?
It would be nice to see these meetings populated with more than the same faces. Invite people who are living the topic at hand at a variety of levels. Except they work during the day when these meetings are scheduled.
ReplyDeleteThere is a housing crunch, period, affordable or otherwise, renting or buying. The small houses get snapped up and turned into Airbnbs. Rents are high for what you get, and even people with solid jobs are struggling to find vacancies. Sales prices are way up over a couple years ago, which is good for the seller, of course, but challenging for buyers. And if you have even a whiff of past legal troubles, landlords won't talk to you.
Where are the developers? You'd think this is when we'd see more construction, with low inventory and high prices. And what's stopping all those downtown building owners from converting upper floors into revenue-generating apartments?
Since they pulled off the recent high-dollar scam with PHA involving federal tax credits to undisclosed third parties, they just want to duplicate that scam model with other potential entities. It's not about people who need housing.
ReplyDeleteHow many houses here are still owned by banks (in receivership)?
ReplyDeleteHow expensive are permits here (compared to other places)?
How likely are local banks to fund not-owner-occupied projects?
Why are these people the ones talking?
Which ones of them have any experience at all with housing anyone? (With the exception of Doc, the rest of them wouldn't have a clue if it bit them on the dick.)
Chapman is about Chapman, nothing more. Russell is all about $$$, and more $$$. Charge what the market will handle. Not much more. He'd like to see all the wetlands restricted, along with all the other water restrictions (who needs to plan for the runoff, not me). Because the less restrictions the more they can slap up houses, right?
Nathan's department permits are high because the city needs the money to pay the huge monthly payroll nut. All city services cost too much. Trash dumping is high (might be highest in state). Electric and plumbing connections cost too much. Its whatever the market will take, and then MORE MORE MORE. All these things factor in to the cost of building.
Personally, I am shocked at who isn't on the board. What about the esteemed carpetbagger, Mr. Rainwater and his much touted "Pennies for Quarters"? Where is Scott Nagel? What about the Real Estate boys and their choke-hold on the area with much, much, much too high prices. How about the County Assessor? What about all of the houses owned by that old man Westrem (who died a few years back. He thought PA was his personal monopoly plaything and had hundreds and hundred of rentals. He owned a big chunk of downtown, and has some of the waterfront property -- with big car lots for ferry traffic. He owned all kinds of stuff -- six or more pages if you searched his name on the county property tax rolls. His heirs are selling them all and many are off-market because it's easier to leave them vacant in hopes the prices will rise).
What about First Federal and the other local banks, where is their responsibility here? They are very hesitant to loan for anything other than "owner occupied". Ask them...they hum-and-hesitate to answer.
Why do you think the Housing Authority fell for the LIHTC (pronounced: Lie-Tech) housing tax credit scam?
And, what the hell..nothing good comes from the local Boys and Girls club. Nothing.
Garbage in, garbage out. Pat yourselves on the back, then go back to your nice houses. Mission accomplished.
ReplyDeleteThe only comment on this on the PDN: No money, no jobs, no industry, why? Up through the 70's there was plenty of all three and then the environmentalists came onto the scene.
ReplyDeleteSome real, clear-headed 21st century thinking on display there. Yes, the environmentalists are to blame for the big polluted messes on our waterfront, for example. If not for those damned environmentalists, we'd have a pristine stretch of shoreline here.
I suppose those same environmentalists are behind the numerous boondoggles and outright thefts of public monies here. Yep. I hear that it's the environmentalists who are selling drugs, too. And convincing kids to drop out of school.
This guy says things have been sliding downhill since the 1970s, and environmentalists are to blame for it all? Time for grandpa to run for city council I think. Put up or shut up, old man.
hahahahahahahahahaaaaa-hahahahaa.
DeleteYeah, the "environmentalists" started selling our logs to China. (The log brokers are still doing a good business, though.)
The "environmentalists" polluted the harbor with PCBs. (The city, county, state and feds can't decide who's going to pay, because the polluters will keep this in court until we are all dead.)
The "environmentalists" started outsourcing jobs to overseas and Mexico. (Multi-national conglomerates who bought up all the small businesses, that they didn't run out of business,...that is.)
The "environmentalists" squandered every grant that the area got. Every single windfall went into the pockets of a very few... (Haguewood, Rogers, Campbell, Munro...) and didn't benefit any of us.
The "environmentalists" set up the EDC which has been swindling the area for decades.
The "environmentalists" have rigged elections, and run businesses out of town (that wanted to pay a decent wage).
Yeah, right..lets blame the "environmentalists" not the real cause the old time local thieves that populate this area.
Gosh, Anonymous 6:41 PM...I think you...May be on to something there. Corporate America and their cynical political minions set up "The Environmentalists" as a convenient boogeyman, and the not-too-bright types go right along with it.
Delete"Yeah, yeah! I saw an environmentalist stealing my mail! And an environmentalist gave me this bad haircut!"
No, folks. Corporate America just sold you out (again) in order to line their pockets a little bit more (again).
There are 33 homes owned by the Peninsula Housing Authority already boarded up and fenced off in anticipation of crushing and sending to the land fill. This is how they approach the housing crunch. Tear down perfectly good homes in the hope that the Chicago non-profit will one day decide to build back something in Port Angeles. Someone should go out and "squat" those homes they have fenced off. Move in and live there until such time as they are actually torn down.
ReplyDeleteRussell's full of it. Nationwide housing shortage, but in P.A. it's caused by stormwater requirements? What about Tucson or Vegas, huh? Sheeyit. Spec builders just aren't building little starter homes anymore, pure and simple. There's more profit in McMansions.
ReplyDeleteY'all crack me up. There are no living wage jobs in Clallam but you want homes that people can afford?
DeleteDo you see the irony of your crazy thoughts?
I cant afford to live but build me a home i cant afford to pay for.
T'ain't US that should be making ya'll laugh, it is the EDC and their affordable housing forum.
DeleteWelcome to hicksville, bubba.
we could promote ourselves as the best shanty town in America
Delete"Our low quality of life shanty be beat!"
DeleteAnd you can have someone from the Chamber of Commerce hand out a free blue tarp to every visitor...
Get a flippin clue, folks. The population of Port Angeles has only grown by something like 600 people in the last 20 years! (And that number is from before the Nippon Mill closed) The houses sit unsold for months.
ReplyDeleteHouse prices here are in the pits, compared to the region.
No ones building, because there's no market.
Stop listening to the bullshit, and look at what is going on. You gunna believe your own lyin' eyes?
On a different topic...Specifically, the mental illness that seems to infect almost all former mill towns:
ReplyDelete"Currently, the nonprofit has $20,000 saved for the construction of a replica Timber Town, logging museum and heritage site — a figure “not near enough” to consider building, he said."
Yes, Timber Town, the long (and I do mean LONG) promised and totally unwanted 57 acre logging "museum" and...Whatever it's supposed to be. "Heritage site," or some such old white guy BS. They've been flogging this idea for well over a decade, and yet only have $20,000 raised. All to build an "attraction" that will attract almost no one.
These old mill guys, they always seem to have SO MUCH of their identity tied up in their former (note: FORMER) occupation. So much so that even their kids, who have never even worked in a mill, still will hold on, and drop out, waiting for that mill job that will never come.
Timber Town people, please, get a grip on your personal nostalgia. Realize that very few people share your passion, or even interest, in the "good ol' days" of logging and mill work. No one - NO ONE - is going to make the trek to some desolate spot between Port Angeles and Forks to see your proposed Timber Town. Especially since, at the rate you're going, it will finally be built, let's see...Somewhere around the 12th of Never.
Consider putting your remaining time and energy into something that is a little more realistic. Something that might actually get done, and might, just might, be useful to your community. Because this white-knuckled clinging to the past is a key element of what is HARMING your community.
Thank you.
OTOH, drive the south side of the airport, and up Eclipse Industrial on the west side. Logs are still the only volume commodity left, even if they're being sold to the folks overseas who will one day rule us, and even if this kind of business takes the profits out of town.
Delete21st century business activity is what creates jobs now, not 19th.
But folks in the area just have no vision whatsoever, and, basically being insane if not backwater, they keep doing and/or allowing the same scams thinking the outcome will be different.
The only thing that can improve the quality of life there is to think long and hard about each move, each decision, and its impacts. Not just grab that next grant to make the payroll nut (nice phrase). But the local yokels have failed the town in a huge way. Because they're all to blame, it cannot be fixed. The culture in PA not only refuses to change, but is incapable of change.
TimberTown, Old Lincoln School, Carnegie Library, Lincoln Theater...you name it, and, we have these large monuments to epic failure.
DeleteUnfortunately, even the Arts Center seems to be heading in that direction -- and will (in the near future be deemed a "white elephant).
When the arts fail, so does hope.
More monuments of dashed hope and futility will be built, promoted, and languish.
The skills center is an example.
Then there are the big dreams and hoopla (like the fiber optic, MetroNet -- free wireless for all, and the recent 3-star hotel to be built on the scam-purchased Niichel property, or the composites recycling fiasco)promoted by the PDN, never with any autopsy, never with subsequent articles to describe just how desperate, corrupt, or pathetic the idea really was. (We have dozens of these -- from, the plywood mill, to the co-generation plant, to the big dam removal tourism that was to be generated).
Big promises, nothing of substance -- egos and bullshit instead of logic and planning.
Just like the new "arts center" being dreamed up for the waterfront will be as underused, and illogical as taking out the fixed basketball hoops at the Vern Burton -- touted as a success (but it still did NOT make it a "convention center" promised).
Look at the how useless wind turbines spinning at the fake beach are an homage to futility. The sprint boat track was going to attract lots of tourism. The next big thing, our lucky break...is just around the corner.
Hell, even Moran likes to say that the Lefty's "galvanized the community". (Really, numbskull, how is that?)
The "sky tram" concept of one man, and the other promoted and failed ideas plague the area.
Con artists, flim-flam men, and carpetbaggers love to come here because this community is like an old spinster who will believe any beau who provides a bit of swapped spit and a lot of grandiose promises to believe the profession of 'true love' and happily-ever-after.
The reality is that some failures are too big to disappear quietly. They stick around — for years, sometimes for centuries.
They are simply ambitions which paid no attention to reality.
Grandiose homages to inflated egos... and promises made to desperate people.
Welcome to Port Angeles...
While a viable town depends upon investment predicated on a constant stream of development dollars,a dying town relies on a trickle of grants, and over-burdening the residents with fees, taxes, and other "going to the well too often" ploys.
What we are feeling, seeing, witnessing is a sad case of sustained failure of professional, civic, legal, academic, and other institutions upon which society depends for responsible public affairs.
The most recent drop out of a candidate to allow the "chosen" (by nefarious old-timers and power brokers) candidate to be a shoe-in is one troubling indicator of corruption, and a dying community.
That pretty much sums it all up. A village of idiots.
DeleteUltimately it was an EDC forum so now the EDC can add it to their list of accomplishments and "deliverables" in order to extract more dollars from local agencies that ultimately you the public are paying for. Apparently they consider just holding meetings and talking about issues to be akin to solving them.With a new director they're out there as we speak trolling for your dollars again.
ReplyDeleteIf you cannot afford housing in Port Angeles, good luck. It's one of the most affordable places in the U.S. unless you like the Deep South. Maybe if you learn another language and have skills they need elsewhere in the world you could find cheaper housing.
ReplyDeleteAnd why exactly is it so affordable?
DeleteBecause it's a dump.
It's riddled with junkies.
Skid row.
"A distressed community."
Nothing to brag about there.
And, we see how "In Touch" candidate Jake Ohole is with the phrase on his campaign signs: "The best small town in America".
DeletePort Angeles, with it's well documented history of stupid decisions from the city leadership like the CSO project, the failed seawall landfill project, the failed Incubator project, the failed Skills Center, the failed Transit Center, the failed HarborWorks project, the failed Rayonier clean up project, etc, etc, etc. The stupid waste of taxpayers money on the fake beaches, and failed downtown events? And the un-American leadership as displayed by Cherie Kidd and the Fluoride Four?
The years of decline as foundational businesses closed down, and the properties sit unsold for years. The scams foisted on the local citizens, most recent example the $900,000 Boys and Girls Club project to destroy 33 homes, while the civic leadership discuss the "housing affordability crisis"?
Yet Mr. Ohole demonstrates how he is just part of everything that is destroying Port Angeles, as he ignores all the above, as he panders to the boosters and scamsters in describing all the above as "The best small town in America".
Ignore the problems and decline. Keep waving those pom-poms, and shouting "We're the best! We're the best!"
Making Port Angeles Great Again!
DeletePA always fails, because the dregs of society that inhabit the place are's too far gone to ever become worldly.
DeletePort Angeles housing is not affordable. Buying a house in Port Anveles is affordable. You can purchase a 2 and 2 home with a small down and have payments of 525.00 bucks a month but the rental for the same home would easily cost 900.00 to 1200.00 per month. That would be almost 100% of what a single parent working a minium wage job makes. Tack on the 300 bucks a month for electric water and garbage , gas, insurance, car maintenence,medical insurance and a million other things and it becomes abundantly clear that you do not have to be a non working drug addict to find yourself and your children without a roof over your heads.
Delete"If at first you don't succeed, fail, fail again." - another slogan for Port Angeles.
DeleteSuccess isn't even the goal. "Port Angeles: Designed to Fail from the Beginning".
DeleteYou can't get grants if there is no need, and if you succeed, there is no need.
DeleteThere are some strategic decisions a person can make - don't do single parenthood and educate or train yourself beyond minimum wage work. But good choices are not too popular.
DeleteYes and if everyone were exactly like you, born with the same brain cells, the same strengths , the same weakness, same advantages, looks, health, family ... then they would probably make the exact same decisions that you might make. But since the game of life isnt a level playing field I suggest you shut the fuck up if you are going to insinuate that all people who work minimum wage jobs and are single with childen do so because of bad choices. Some people are not given your same choices. And hopefully wont turn into sanctimonious asses like you apparently have.
DeleteHey, Bif, lighten up on the previous commenter. They said "good choices are not too popular," not anything about bad choices...And I have to agree with them to a great extent. Yes, life does not provide a level playing field. There are all sorts of advantages and traps built into our social/political systems.
DeleteBut, even with that being true, I have to give people credit for the ability to observe, to learn. It's not always used, but it is always there, inside us all. And that's why I think it's not asking too much to expect people to look and learn from the situations they see around them - both good and bad.
Let me sum it up very briefly this way: Anyone who pleads poverty and who smokes...Well, gosh, I know a way to save them a lot of money every month, and to improve their health.
Just to point out a factor that seems to often get overlooked in many discussions, not all people have the same cognitive abilities. In the extreme on one side, people are born so severely brain damaged that they will never speak their own names, never learn to tie their own shoe laces, etc. They are virtual vegetables who will live in care institutions their entire lives.
DeleteMoving up the spectrum of human cognitive abilities, there are people who will learn to speak, and live their entire lives with the cognitive abilities of a very young child. Up from there, we have Trump supporters. Then we have Port Angeles leadership.
Up from that rudimentary cognitive level, there are the average people who have a basic sense of "right" and "wrong", "honor" and "obligation".
At the other side of the cognitive spectrum, there are people who speak multiple languages, write operas at age 5, and understand things most of us just cannot comprehend.
Oh! There is that phrase! "Can't comprehend". It isn't a flaw or defect. It just is.
Some aspects of comprehension can be addressed through education, but other aspects are cellular. Just how each of us have been put together by our DNA.
So, it is not reasonable expectation that all people will do "the right thing", if only they have the information required. Look at what keeps happening in Port Angeles.
For the record, I was, in the main, speaking of personal health and/or responsibility issues when talking about the whole learning curve thing.
DeleteAs for how people VOTE...That is a form of cognitive breakdown I can't even begin to fathom. I think that often it activates some primitive, tribal part of the brain. In other words, yes, Republican Trump voters see him struggling, flailing and failing, but, he's on their team, so he must be a success. To even entertain any other perspective might make their head explode.
Scale that down - or Downie - and you have the Port Angeles political scene.
The issue with housing markets is always the same. Whether you want to buy expensive clothes or cheap clothes, the options are there. And you don't ask the seller to mend the cheap clothing after you occupy it.
ReplyDeleteBut if you can't qualify for a loan and want a cheap rent, the market doesn't seem to support that, mainly because of the expenses. Hence slumlords.
Cheap housing must be subsidized in some manner, but then the tax credits and other spiffs attract the flim-flams. (Hello Clallam County, will you EVER see a dime of that $901K you just gave away?)
The solution is to attract a diversity of real jobs, something that PA genetically resists. Mills and tree harvesters and ships waste can't support a 21st century economy. But the townfolk have no interest in other pursuits. Nor any interest in financial management. Just delusions of grandeur.
Nothing there can be done about keeping rents affordable, until the people can afford rent. Hence the stalemate.
Then again, you have the EDC involved in the issue, which is worse than the Yakuza. At least the latter do what they promise. How in the hell the people of Clallam support a gang of hardened criminals is beyond me.