A busy week ahead. Did you read about the Lake City Yearbook? Apparently it has drug references and questionable photos. Any Comments? Also, of course, there are waaay too many other issues:
School district budget meeting tonight, the school public forum TUESDAY at NOON. The MidTown/LCDC meeting is tonight also. Check our calendar in the upper right hand corner, for dates, times and places.
Maybe this is nit picking, but the following quote caught my eye:
“Unfortunately these are very unique pieces of memorabilia,” Brumley said. “There’s no do-over on it.”
From local press reports.
See http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/unique.html for my issue with the phrase. And who is Mr. Brumley? He is the Lake City High School Principal! He has trouble with the English language. Sad.
Comment by Pariah — June 9, 2008 @ 5:55 pm
The mid-town meeting was good. It was well attended by the community and mid-town businesses and feedback was excellent. I’m still puzzled why the LCDC is pushing for housing in what is so obviously a business district.
Comment by Dan — June 9, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
In the mid-1980’s,I used to live in the mid-town area on 4st.in the exact location that LCDC wants to put a strip mall/apts.for affordable housing in.Back then there were also,
businesses on the street level,with apts.on the second story of the building.So,they are just replacing what was there before.Except they’ll have more room because,a shop and a bar were also,taken out.
I think it is a good idea to have apts.in the mid-town area location.
IMO-LCDC has had very little impact on affordable housing and this will be a step in the right direction.Mr.
Patzer mentioned to me that LCDC had helped build some condos on third street which were supposed to be affordable.I don’t consider housing that costs $185,000, affordable for the working man.
Comment by kageman — June 9, 2008 @ 10:58 pm
The price of the “affordable housing units” being planned ranges from $130K up through $300K, if I recall correctly. They’re all 1 and 2 bedroom units, and have 1.25 parking spaces per. Parking was one of the issues people were concerned about and we did bring up that visitors to the housing block would take up lots of spaces away from the businesses, but the businesses seemed not to be concerned about that.
Comment by Dan — June 10, 2008 @ 7:51 am
Parking will continue to be an issue for a number of reasons: the city decreased the number of parking spaces per unit, pay parking on the lots LCDC is purchasing, people seeking free parking will park on the adjacent residential neighborhoods. I also thought the meeting went well. Because this project will impact the residential area on Fifth Street, they should be included in the meetings.
Comment by Susie Snedaker — June 10, 2008 @ 8:38 am
I agree, Susie, parking at 1.25 spaces per condo WILL be a problem. Think about it. Parking is already tight in MidTown. Try going to Capone’s for a beer on a weekend evening and you’ll park 3 blocks away…and they have/had a parking lot. Many of the businesses in MidTown don’t. But the residential parking will be an issue, in my opinion. A 1 or 2 bedroom unit at $130,000-300,000 (quite a large range, and not very “affordable”) will be occupied by two working adults. Each of them will have a car. They will also have friends and family that will visit. On any given night, there will be a scramble for parking spaces on the street to offset the missing spaces. My husband and I had a similar arrangement when we lived in a big city early in our marriage. It was a hassle every evening to find parking on the street for the second car. And the streets were full of parked cars, but it was a residential-only area, so didn’t have a huge negative impact. MidTown has businesses that will be operating in the evening. Where will their customers park? Or any special events?
Comment by mary — June 10, 2008 @ 8:59 am
I lived in that mid-town area for 8
years as I also,rented a house on 6th
street when I was young and yes,5th street does get crowded,as some people tend to circle around the block of the business they are trying to access,because they want to park on a side street instead of parking on 4th st.
Anyway,having lived in the location LCDC wants to put the mall on,I would think there is enough room to make at least a moderate sized parking lot in the back.I think if they try hard enough they could make 2 parking spots for every unit but,will they?Parking lots don’t make money and the land is too
expensive.They have no incentive to make a bigger parking lot.
Also,their idea might be that alot of these apt.residents will be working in close proximity,to these apts.I had a friend who walked all the way down to Sherman everyday,to work.
I think it’s incredible that LCDC thinks selling units over $150,000 is affordable.Where are the jobs that will finance a mortgage over $150,000 for these working people?I know people who struggle to make the $1200/a month payments on a $200,000 mortgage.All these people who are on the board of LCDC live in a bubble.
Comment by kageman — June 10, 2008 @ 10:43 am
I recognize that one of the goals of urban renewal is not to displace people of low income with preferential housing for the rich. That’s been one of my criticisms of the LCDC: their missing is, without a doubt, to provide high-end housing for the wealthy and part-time residents in Coeur d’Alene. In fact, the only low-income housing money they’ve spent was $5,000 to help relocate someone’s trailer when they bulldozed the trailer park to build the Ice Plant townhomes. That’s pathetic.
So I see the LCDC scrambling to somehow polish their image and provide low-income housing. It’s a desperate move and one that’s honestly out of character for them.
The LCDC acquired land in the 800 block of 4th when the building was arsoned a few years back. (Is “arsoned” a real word?) They’ve been trying to find a purpose for that vacant lot for a long, long time. I read from their minutes that they contacted artist Terry Lee (brother of Councilman Deanna Goodlander), and they tried to work out something the Tom Messina. Nothing could (as Tony Berns put it) “pencil out” for any developer.
Now the LCDC appears to be focused on this housing binge, but it’s not really low-income housing.
The City needs to decide what to do with the 3rd-4th corridor. Right now it’s a mess, as Mr. Altever’s letter to the paper Sunday put so well. Fixing up the 800 block makes sense, but I think the best thing the City and LCDC could do for now is simply to raise what they own and put in a large parking lot. That would help the businesses in the best way. Parking seems to be the number one issue.
Yet, by adding all that housing, especially with the 1.25 cars per unit nonsense, the LCDC will be creating an even worse problem for Capones and The Office and other businesses. Even with the new planned parking lots (which are pay lots, by the way), there will be a huge shortage of parking in midtown. The effect is that the side streets will get even more traffic and residents will not be able to park in front of their homes. Perhaps that’s what the City really wants?
I would prefer a solid master plan for the area first. Get residents involved and determine whether 3rd-4th is a business corridor or a neighborhood. Civic improvements are nice, but why should every business owner from Foster through Harrison pay for what is essentially improvements to only one block in midtown? (I sat with business owners who were primarily from that block, and they’re all thrilled with that idea. No surprise there.)
It’s good that the City is having this meeting. It’s what transparency is all about. I just hope that the meeting is not theater and that someone will actually listen. If so, it’s a good thing. If not, it continues to drive forward the need for change in CdA City Hall.
Comment by Dan — June 10, 2008 @ 11:36 am
Kageman, I lived at 831 North Fifth Street for twenty-five years. I was, and continue to be, an active advocate for Midtown. The problem with the alley in the 800 block between Fourth and Fifth is the design of the alley curves and exits on Fifth and it is unpaved. Drivers looking for parking often simply either drove through the alley (often at high speeds) or parked illegally in the alley. Might the elimination of parking on the east side of Fourth increase the traffic on both Fifth and in the alley?
Comment by Susie Snedaker — June 10, 2008 @ 8:59 pm
On another topic…much attention is given to the high cost of gasoline but there is no mention of the possible impact that the escalating cost of heating oil will have on the economy. How many will be unable to heat their homes next winter due to the high cost of heating oil?
Comment by Susie Snedaker — June 10, 2008 @ 9:02 pm
A riddle…just what happens to the remaining 3/4 of the car?
Comment by Diogenes — June 11, 2008 @ 9:17 am
Diogenes: It gets parked on the street or in the alley. So when 8:00 rolls around and you want to go to Capones for a pizza and beer, you have to park on 3rd Street. It’s called vision. That question was raised at the last meeting. My hope is that those pushing affordable housing have “adequate affordable housing parking” on their agenda as well.
Comment by Dan — June 11, 2008 @ 9:41 am