Citizens for Appropriate
Transportation (CAT)
The
Eisenhower Transportation Corridor
NEIGHBORHOOD
DISINVESTMENT
We
have a problem along the Eisenhower Corridor that needs to be
addressed soon. The stories described here are real, but the names are
not. Every person lives within one block of the Ike. The stories are about
homeowners, but business owners tell similar stories.
Kathy
and her husband want to spend almost $100,000 to improve their house. She
worries whether this is a good investment because of the uncertainty about
expanding the Ike. Kathy sees her house as a good place to raise a family and
then provide for a comfortable retirement.
Debbie
says: "My house needs a lot of work, but I am
only going to do the work that is absolutely necessary until I know the future
size of the Ike."
Bob
called to ask if he should buy a condo on
Dan
and his wife Joan live half a block north of the Ike. In his e-mail, Dan says
he is "very concerned about the possibility of the expansion shortening
the distance between our house and the highway, and lowering the value of our
house. I have no faith in the state being concerned for our interests at
all."
We
know that the condition of our aging housing stock is
affected by the hundreds of individual decisions that we all make about how to
maintain and improve our houses. The stories suggest that some people
are postponing rehabilitation work.
Disinvestment
is hard to correct once it starts. We are looking at the potential of lower
demand for houses along the Ike, less rehabilitation work, a slower growth rate
in property taxes, and less capital appreciation in housing values.
We better
deal with this problem before it gets out of hand. It will take a lot of us to
remedy the problem.
Rick
Kuner - May 2002