Sigh... another beautiful day outside. Oh, well. At least the rain stopped.
Housing costs are out of control--but we knew that already. Unfortunately, the problem of affordable housing won't be fixed until we get a handle on municipal property taxes, and THAT won't happen until we can find a way to cut down education costs for towns. Which isn't happening any time soon. I haven't heard too much from the gubernatorial candidates on this issue. Maybe we'll hear more soon.
Connecticut leads the nation in fuel cell development and production, which could be a big boon to our economy when fuel cells become affordable.
Power failures are plaguing Amtrak today, causing headaches for some Connecticut commuters.
What else is going on?
6 comments:
Bluecoat,
Special education. Private schools don't have to deal with it. It's very, very costly, and getting more so every year.
Destefano's response to his school superintendent's performance is interesting:
Reggie's World
...Mayor John DeStefano, who says Mayo has "done a terrific job."
If it rains this weekend, I'm going to freak out. I went out for lunch and it took all my energy to walk back into the office.
Ugh...I wish I could make a living blogging.
The reason that housing is expensive here has to do with two things: 1) supply, 2) demand.
To make housing cheaper, you either need to increase supply or reduce demand. Reducing demand is not a realistic option: make Connecticut a less desirable place to live. Raise taxes, chase out employers, don't improve the infrastructure. Well, we might be doing some or all of these things, but really, we shouldn't, because we have to live here.
So the other alternative is to increase supply. However, there's a lack of space to build on. In a place like Dallas, Texas, you can pretty much keep sprawling in all directions, taking over farms and various underutilized space. However, in large parts of Connecticut, geography prevents adding new housing. You can't sprawl into LI Sound. And many of the towns have little developable space.
Another thing that prevents the addition of new housing is the present owners of housing, who elect local governments that put into place strict zoning laws to prevent more supply of housing. In Fairfield county, almost every building project that will add residential, retail or commercial space is going to be met with some sort of organized local opposition. Build a high rise residential tower in Stamford on a half acre lot? There's an organized protest. New neighborhoods, new apartments or condominiums, office buildings, Home Depots, groceries, all are met with some sort of local opposition citing traffic, quality of life, open space, whatever. Some of the claims have more merit than others, and some projects make it through the approval process, but it's a difficult and time consuming project. In the end, developers are going to seek to make the most money they can on the little space, and thus they're going to build higher end homes first.
Open space laws have the effect of increasing housing prices. It's basic economics. And sprawl is going to continue: there are more people that want to live in a house with a yard than in a dense urban setting. Southbury, Shelton and other exurbs are the places that can still add houses, so they are.
You are right results can be judged by more than standardized testing. I went back to school school (Southern) and have some of these students in my classes. So, I do not speak just based on the tests. Too many are not prepared and that is just the truth. And, I have had interactions with Dr. Mayo that have not been satisfying ( and I was actually trying to offer some services).
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