TRICKLE-DOWN COMMUNITY SUPPORT (continued from July 31 post): But writing a check to a non-profit is different than actually “showing up,” which Woody Allen once insisted is 90 percent of life. Audie Blevins, a demographer and UW professor of sociology, has studied community development issues in Pinedale and Saratoga, other areas experiencing a boom in second homes. As he told the Casper Star-Trbune: “We are finding there are substantial increases in the tax base, but with a lack of community commitment,” he said. Traditionally, second homes in WYO were owned by second or third-generation owners “with a strong commitment to the area,” Blevins said. “But the aging Baby Boomers with sizeable incomes who are not even from the state (which I believe we are seeing now) don’t have that commitment. They are in the community but not of it.” Another reason to hate Baby Boomers, at least those with means. This issue is important to the arts. New residents equal new energy in many communities. It also equals more potential funding to build places like Jackson’s new arts center. But where do the rest of us – artists and non-artists – live? Consider Forrest Neuerberg, director of the Teton County Housing Authority. He tackles housing issues every day. First, he has to commute over Teton Pass from Driggs, Idaho, because he can’t afford a house in Teton County, where the median home price is approaching $700,000. Says Neuerberg: “It’s pretty clear it is hard for people with regular, normal jobs to live here.” Read the entire series by Jeffrey Jacquet, who’s writing his UW master’s thesis in sociology on second-home ownership in WYO.
