I've mentioned before that the local newspaper upgraded their website and noticeably more comments have appeared below articles, columns, and letters to the editor. Often these comments are a source of entertainment for me (hey... there is no movie theater here in Kingman so entertainment sources are limited).
So today I won't be cutting, pasting, and responding to an article, column, or letter... instead I want to share a couple comments that appeared today below today's article about the NYTimes article that appeared over the weekend.
Here is the Miner's article about the NYTimes article.
Now keep in mind that when you read the contributions made via Internet below the article that the oldest comments are at the very bottom and as new comments are made they are stacked on top.
So the first comment of the day...
Posted: Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Article comment by: .
Who are the one million people anticipated to move here? Could it be that when the NAFTA/CANAMEX highway opens our borders, all new residents will be non-citizens?
The first question the contributor asks stems from... I guess... the following from today's Miner article...
In the article, Mardian predicts an additional million people will migrate to the region over the next decade, then asks rhetorically, "Where are they going to live?"
I'll guess that writing a news article about another news article isn't all that much fun for a staff writer at a paper. Normally that kind of thing is left up to us amateur writers with blogs and such. I don't think the Miner or the staff writer were trying lead anyone astray... in fact the staff writer (James Chilton) and the Miner included the link to the NYTimes article so that any Miner reader could read the entire NYTimes article.
I suppose the context from the Miner's article alone could lead a reader to believe that a million people will migrate to the region over the next decade... but what is meant by region?? Which region?? The Arizona region?? The Mohave County region?? The Kingman region?? The 'sacred street of Seneca' region?? It isn't necessarily clear.
But if contibutor '.' (BTW... '.' is short for being too lazy to even make up a fake moniker to use when leaving a comment on the Internet) would have read the NYTimes piece for the complete context, he/she might have a better understanding. From that NYTimes article...
Both Mr. Mardian and Mr. Stevens say their companies are undeterred by the weak housing market, even as Las Vegas and Phoenix suffer some of the nation’s highest foreclosure rates and steepest home-value declines. Las Vegas in particular, they note, is on the cusp of yet another boom, with 50,000 hotel rooms expected to be added to the resort corridor by 2012.
“We can’t say we’re in a bad cycle right now so we should just stop what we’re doing,” said Mr. Stevens, whose company has about 500 $2,000 deposits on the first wave of Pravada houses and has billboards advertising houses starting around $140,000. “We can’t do that. You have to just recognize that we’re going to go through down cycles and up cycles.”
The anticipated Vegas boom translates into an additional 113,500 new resort-related jobs alone, according to calculations by Bill Lerner, a Deutsche Bank gaming stock analyst.
“There’s going to be another million people here in the next 10 years,” Mr. Mardian predicted. “Where are they going to live?”
Clearly the developer (Mardian) believes that Vegas is due for another million people moving into the Vegas region over the next decade. Mr. Mardian is also wagering his money that some of the people in the Vegas area could possibly move to his new proposed development located in Arizona, which is not located in Kingman and is actually closer to Vegas than Kingman.
The entertainment for me is that the comment contributor assumes the worst with his/her first question (OH NOEZ!! A million people will be moving next door to me)... and of course follows that up with another doozy question aimed to scare others that this million person migration will consist of ILLEGAL ALIENS. OH NOEZ!! And not likely.
My question... why do anti-growth people use scare tactics to try to make their points??
Onto the next comment...
Posted: Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Article comment by: NIMBY
here we go again, pimping us to New York now, and all points west - we better get better traffic control if we are going to stuff more people in this town. And more officers in the Gang Task Force and more police & sheriff officers.
Stuff more people into this town?? Here are some rough estimates. Kingman city boundaries cover about 30 square miles. There is an estimated 14,000 rooftops (think residences) currently. I quickly did the math and there is basically one rooftop for every 1.37-acres of land within Kingman. Really 'stuffing' them in aren't we??
But 'NIMBY' is onto something, Kingman sure could use some more traffic control... namely for Stockton Hill Road. I suggest some new infrastructure projects that connect other parts of town over or under the Interstate. This would offer up some new access routes and possibly even take traffic off of what many Kingman residents think are overused roads right now. Problem though... I'm willing to bet that the aptly named 'NIMBY' and others like him/her are against such projects.
That again leads to the scare tactic... "OH NOEZ!! We'll need more police as the population grows". Come to that conclusion on your own there Sherlock??
I guess that about does it for the scissors for today... What's that?? You thought I was going to take on the latest column from a RAID PAC guest columnist you say?? Why would I?? I basically agree with her on this from her column...
We, all the people in Kingman, not just the merchants, business owners and realtors, need to join in to create the personality that will draw in tourists driving past Kingman on Interstate 40. We need them to stop in our city and bring money to our businesses and additional sales tax to our city.
Sure I realize she is speaking of the downtown Kingman area and not new commercial districts actually located off the Interstate located further east that could not only attract business opportunity from passing through motorists on I40 but also provide more services (shopping and entertainment) for the folks that live in Kingman (not to mention improved access routes for local motorists, emergency services, and a new hospital)... but I agree in general.
However somebody still is going to have to pay the bill for any improvements made no matter where they are located. For now I'll just say (again) that I'm in favor of public/private partnerships as a means to get that bill paid for needed improvements throughout the community.
Scissors Seacrest out...
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