Dear HCN,
In driving around the
West for the past five weeks we largely confirmed the picture you
described in “Grappling with Growth,” Sept. 9, of pell-mell,
frantic growth and the growing gap between obvious wealth and
poverty. Not only are the monster “homes’ ugly and in bad taste,
but they are usually located on bluffs, mesa, mountains and
waterfronts where they dominate the landscape. Mega-dollars in your
face.
Telluride manages to capture the worst of
everything, partly because it has such a stunning location. Looking
at the small phone book (Montrose, et al) we counted nearly 100
realty firms – 22 in Telluride – and 108 attorneys. Walking the
main street of Telluride, we thought it should be renamed Realtor
Row, or the town just called Realtorville.
Your
special issue did not point out one aspect of the problem: not only
is the West growing, but many people believe they need at least two
residences, their “home” and their “retreat,” with the retreats
being larger than the average home of 20 years ago. This tends to
double the population, traffic, land, and services impact. Each
family often has two or three vehicles. You publish a fine paper,
although it should be retitled the High Country
Blues.
Bob
Keller
Bellingham,
Washington
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Call it “Realtorville’.
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