Fwd: Boise's Disinvestment Study

["bill london" <bill_london@hotmail.com>]

Another aspect to the constantly-widening circle of suburban development in 
any town--Moscow included--is the devaluation of homes in established 
neighborhoods that are situated along major traffic arterials.  As the 
traffic goes up, the value goes down.
Here is info about that effect at Boise.
Below is a posting on that subject from the statewide "Smartgrowth" list.
If anyone has info about that relationship of growth/home value in Moscow, I 
would enjoy reading it....
BL



> >
> >=====  A message from the 'smartgro' discussion list  =====
> >
> >Statesman article dated August 16, 1999, "Study on disinvestment in Boise
> >neighborhoods nearly done", by Ellie Rodgers
> >
> >The article states that the Boise City Council wanted the study to 
>determine
> >if there was a connection between increased traffic in neighborhoods and
> >disinvestment.
> >
> >I think there is a serious management problem for our community if the
> >Council does not already recognize and understand the blight and
> >disinvestment occurring due to traffic impacts.  Hundreds of citizen
> >testimonies and respected studies on traffic related disinvestment in 
>other
> >communities have been submitted to the Council for many years.
> >
> >ACHD has identified more than 35 Boise residential streets in crisis due 
>to
> >excessive traffic impacts.  I hope the planners include ACHD's list of
> >streets and interview a half dozen old timers on each for their study to 
>be
> >released in October.  Too often neighborhoods are written off without any
> >recognition of human lives or what they might contribute to the cities
> >character.  The worth of healthy neighborhoods seems to be under valued.
> >
> >The article mentions reduced-cost school lunches as an indicator, but it
>does
> >not describe the flight of parents or the shredding of social fabric as 
>they
> >flee areas that they believe are becoming too dangerous to raise children
>in.
> > Lost students result in lost school funding.  Degraded housing results 
>in
> >increased crime, then increased costs of enforcement and legal system
> >expenses.  The social development decline issue also belongs in this 
>study.
> >Disinvestment is known to be difficult and expensive to correct, and is
>often
> >equated with cancer.
> >
> >More than $7,000,000M is currently needed to mitigate traffic blight in
>Boise
> >neighborhoods just on the streets ACHD identified.  That doesn't include 
>the
> >millions needed for more stop lights and more enforcement, nor the ever
> >increasing number of streets needing mitigation.  Additional millions 
>will
>be
> >lost each year permanently as property tax values drop from thousands of
> >traffic impacted homes.
> >
> >Other costs are property and vehicle damages, increasing insurance rates,
> >hospitalization, funeral expenses, lost work time, sleep deprivation, and
> >related illnesses from toxic noise levels and air pollutants.  It would
> >probably be safe to say that traffic induced disinvestment is costing 
>Boise
> >several tens of millions of dollars, not to mention future economic well
> >being as the community becomes known for its lost quality of life and
> >diminished character.
> >
> >According to the article the statistics in the study weren't compiled in 
>a
> >way to identify neighborhoods in crisis so corrective measures might be
>taken
> >by the Council.  The ACHD list might help, depending on what the study 
>will
> >be used for.
> >
> >I urge you all to write in your experiences or knowledge of disinvestment
>and
> >ask that it be attached to this study.  Those might include strangling 
>loop
> >roads in Phoenix, the destruction of Overton, Los Angeles type problems,
> >properties disappearing as our 84% lost heritage increases, child 
>fatalities
> >on Cloverdale,  elderly wishing to die to escape the traffic invasion in
> >their homes, or whatever else you feel is significant.  Ideas for 
>reducing
>or
> >avoiding disinvestment might also be beneficial.  The study is due to be
> >completed in October of 1999.
> >
> >Cherie Cole
> >
> >
>


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