Monday, January 22, 2007

It's Just How You Look At It

Come on let’s get real about the value of experience in understanding alternative economic development. Living in other communities doesn’t condemn one to never understanding what it is to be a Tucsonan. Oldtimers and newtimers alike can relate to a military friend of mine who returned from overseas and said we must be thankful for our way of life. Transplants to Tucson are a prodigious influx of fine minds from all over the world. The quality of their experience is not to be underestimated.

Take the late local real estate boom and the hovering specter of deflation in housing prices as viewed by the speculators. It’s kind of like buying petroleum at $70 a barrel and looking at current prices at $50 a barrel while wondering where the investment went. Speculators and small owners are keeping home prices higher while holding out for a surge in home buying when the only people left who want to buy are wealthy or credit risks. It reminds me of Houston during the 1980s where empty subdivisions sat molding on mud while buyers avoided the area.

New Orleans residents are being charged high insurance rates while insurance company profits mount and payouts lag. New Orleans is an example of how local conditions can affect the local housing market in that too many expenses to the buyer can prohibit a sale. Many sales are lost as costs like interest rates, taxes, insurance and utilities rise. Potential buyers vanish in the wake of these floods while citizens pay more for expected conditions, some forced to pick and choose, eliminating discretionary spending in luxury and service areas. Credit card and home mortgage defaults rise as credit charges accumulate. Some of this applies to Tucson as well.

Tucson real estate? Just think what would happen to the existing market if a water emergency were declared amid water shortages or even if water rationing were instituted! The bottom would drop out of the housing market as these longed for emigrants fail to arrive to buy the new houses because they don’t want to live out of a gallon jug of water. Some people might even pull up stakes and move out, leaving behind inflated mortgages for the credit people to absorb. If property values drop, tax valuations must also, leaving the government with less money generated and a horrendous water problem to solve.

We need to seriously discuss issues that affect property values and taxes. The quality of life and the open spaces upgrade property values in Pima County. The possibility of another copper mine in this area brings to mind a long time strategy of preserving our natural resources whenever possible. What happened to that idea? Is there a copper shortage? Let’s see what our congressmen and women and senators can do to save the Santa Rita Mountains from becoming another mine dump. Shall we sully Davidson Canyon in order to sell more cement to build more houses to bring more population who will use up the water supply? Public policy needs to reflect common sense.

I suggest that people sit back and think about what there is about Pima County that either brought us here or kept us here. I am a Tucson native who returned home because I learned, like the prodigal son, that there is no place like home. My idea of home is the wide open spaces, cultural events, multicultural atmosphere, and proximity to Mexico. Our future Tucson is in the making and citizens have the freedom to speak out. Elected officials and policymakers need to listen or find another address.