[Vision2020] Advanced Real Estate Question

[Jeff Harkins]

Well, that's all seems rather insulting of our neighbors to the west 
- and the point escapes me.

At 11:20 AM 2/13/2008, you wrote:
>On Tuesday 12 February 2008 23:38, Jeff Harkins wrote:
> > Ken,
> >
> > Interesting idea, but the economics favor a purchase of Moscow by
> > Washington.  Maybe you could spearhead that project.  Pullman has
> > industry, a PAC10 University, an airport, a new four lane highway and
> > a desire to expand their opportunities for prosperity.
>
>You are certainly correct that a lot more wealth resides westward than
>southward, but in whose favor the economics lie is a question in need of
>some further examination.
>
>Both Moscow and Pullman experience the visceral pangs of fiscal life at the
>level of satisfaction of far-away legislatures who see them as smaller, but
>still needed, communities in support of their states' larger enterprises.
>Olympia supports Pullman, Boise supports Moscow, and a fortuitous
>co-location allows some levels of mutually beneficial local interaction.
>
>Washington buying Moscow very likely would remove incentive from Boise to
>continue to support its former property, regardless of the protests from
>sentimental alumni. Analogously, would you council Little Miss Moscow to
>leave Mom and Dad's well-known, if not luxurious, home to marry a wealthy
>westerner with more erratic income and spending habits and questionable
>interest in the young lady herself? The lengthy nature of the relationship,
>and the loss of the southern funding bloom for her major asset would leave
>the former Little Miss Moscow in distressed circumstances unless the
>wealthy westerner decided to replace that funding himself. Is that likely?
>
>Suppose for some fickle faddish reason it became a popular idea among the
>westerner's residents that marrying Miss Moscow is a good idea. Think of
>all the wonderful things we could do together! We could spend a little to
>redecorate the neighborhoods ... say $5,000 per house for 8,000 worthy
>houses, or $10,000 for 4,000 if you prefer ... that's $40,000,000 in
>rehabilitation funds, and then we can flip those houses to wealthy
>westerners who need retirement homes, or Cougar fans who need to be closer
>to their beloved teams.
>
>Oh, yes, about the water. Westerners are so used to lots of wonderful water
>they'll just have to do something about improving it. What could they do?
>They could spend $50,000,000 to build a 20-inch pipeline from the Snake
>River northward to Moscow, and pump water from the river up to a treatment
>facility, and then tie the water into the local distribution system. Won't
>that solve lots of problems for our new western Cougar retirees? They'll be
>able to water their lawns, and it will be just like back home on the other
>side of the Cascades.
>
>Don't forget! Don't forget the engagement ring! Yes, just to round out the
>Redfordian _Indecent Proposal_ to $100,000,000, another $10,000,000
>to "spruce up" the downtown area and add some thematic ambiance. They
>haven't decided just what the theme will be yet, and they certainly haven't
>yet selected the interior designers and decorating consultants, but trust
>them, it will be marvelous, darling, simply marvelous.
>
>And where, in this never-to-appear-at-Sundance movie, is the Jimmy Stewart
>character, standing on a snow-covered bridge, nearly decided to jump to
>avoid more of the terrors of the Potterville that resulted from the former
>Little Miss Moscow's marriage to the wealthy westerner? Where is the
>representative of steady self-reliance, of confident local cooperation that
>benefits locals first, and the remote customers of local exports after the
>locals have earned their wages and profits from their own industry?
>
>No, Little Miss Moscow should not be dreamily imagining an escape from
>reality via marriage to a blue-eyed, blond westerner who promises to solve
>her every problem. The Little Miss needs to be counseled that she needs to
>achieve her maiden name onto a diploma of productive self-sustainability
>before she contemplates marriage with anyone, near or far.
>
>
>Ken
>
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