From Alex at Somebody Should Do Something
Progressives (and, the RINOs) in Colorado all but ensured that many people can no longer afford to start a family (or to keep their family comfortable), as it is way down the list of the Best & Worst States to Raise a Family.
While ranking 18th overall, unsurprisingly, it ranks 40th in Health & Safety and 36th in Education & Child Care. Furthermore, if one looks at Massachusetts (ranked 1st):
“Massachusetts is the best state to raise a family, in large part because it provides a good blend of economic opportunities and safe conditions for children. The Bay State has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and lots of job opportunities relative to the labor force, which ensures that parents will be able to provide for their children. It’s not the cheapest state, as housing and childcare costs are relatively high compared to most of the nation, but residents make up for this with fairly high incomes.”
And Minnesotta (ranked 3rd):
“Minnesota is the third-best state to raise a family, at least if you’re not averse to its harsh winters. Minnesota is a great place to find a job to support your family, as it has one of the highest median family incomes after adjusting for the cost of living and one of the lowest unemployment rates. In addition to good pay and job stability, residents also receive reliable long-term benefits, as Minnesota ranks at the top for employer-based retirement plan access and participation.”
Even looking at other states in the top 10, the theme is common, “the housing is expensive, BUT, the people living there have much better economic opportunities, being able to secure better pay relative to the cost of housing and, in turn, being ale to pay for the housing, regardless of it being expensive.”
In the meantime, Colorado’s common clay of the new West has spent close to a decade destroying the economic potential of the state. They finally succeeded – “Colorado’s economic growth fell from 5th in the nation to 41st, according to new report.” It is as if only focusing on building “luxury apartments” and metro-district infested suburbs is not the way to create a vibrant, multi-faceted state economy. Colorado now has an imbalance of well-paying jobs vs. some of the most expensive housing in the country. A single person in Colorado needs an income of $106,579 and a family with two children, an income of $272,314, just to ‘live comfortably’ in Denver.
The common clay of the new West has decided that we need gobs of boxes ensuring profit for the corporate entities, under the guise of “if we build more housing, there will be more jobs”. What jobs? While adding thousands of Metro-District-fee-paying and rental units, Lakewood, one of the largest cities in Colorado, has lost jobs.
The common clay in the Jefferson County, Colorado, not only rolled over for the developers, but all but ensured that large swaths of the county are now setup for an economic failure (and a potential wildfire disaster).
When I was a director on the Board of one of the water and sanitation districts in Jefferson County, after inquiring about the insufficient water pressure in some of the fire hydrants in parts of the District, I got the good-ole-don’t-worry-about-it. With some follow-up claims of how “pumps would keep pumping if needed” or something to that effect. One now wonders if such assurances were made to the residents of Pacific Palisades?
In the meantime, Jefferson County’s common clay of the new West ensured that thousands more houses have been built on the other side of the hill from the said district, in a high fire risk area, with “interesting” wind patterns and with questionable water availability. Nor did they seem to study the findings of the report on the Marshall fire, with one of the findings being that the structures were placed too close to each other. Who wants to place bets on who and what will be blamed if another calamity takes place?
To add ever more icing on that shit-cake, Colorado’s common clay of the new West (namely, representatives from Lakewood and Morrison) also turned what should have been a job-generating development with public transit options, in to a sea of houses. Even the developer-provided study showed what a shit deal it was for the county.
Instead of wisely allocating water to the purposes of driving economic development, the common clay handed over the precious drops that remain to the big business interests to bolster their profits, while the rest of us get told to conserve.
Not to be outdone by Morrison in the “we have no clue what economic development means” department, Lakewood’s common clay of the West has been working overtime to ensure that one of the largest cities in Colorado is set up for an economic implosion. The signs are all over the place:
