Wheat Ridge’s neighborhoods are diverse and well rooted by its community and character. Generally homes in the city are of quality and affordable. They tend to have large lots sizes and with easy access to downtown Denver and the mountains. Wheat Ridge is centrally located in the Denver metro region and is easily accessible by an extensive transportation system including interstates, state highways, transit routes, and a regional trail system. With the opening of the Gold Line commuter rail corridor that is planned for 2016 (Figure 2), the Gold Line will provide commuter rail service to downtown Denver from stations in Arvada and Wheat Ridge. Wheat Ridge housing can be split into two areas of development. The housing grew outward from east to west from Denver’s core. On the east side of Wadsworth there is an aging Post WWII housing stock with a median year built of 1940. In contrast to a younger west side of Wadsworth having a median year built of 1960. Housing characteristics on the West is smaller, mostly one bath ranch style homes. This housing stock is unappealing for affluent households looking for larger homes, whereas other areas of Jefferson and Adams Counties offer a variety of this housing type. There is little to no undeveloped land in Wheat Ridge it is land locked and most available land is already built out. Leaving the city’s options for infill housing projects and or retrofitting the existing housing stock. There were only 15 new home building permits between 2005-2011 due an unavailable sites and inability to assemble any sites for development. There has been an increasing demand for Single Family Conversions to Rentals In the 9.5 square miles of Wheat Ridge, the principal land use in the community is reside... ... middle of paper ... ...K with renting it. Homeownership is on the decline, and home rentership is on the rise. But the trend isn't limited to the housing market. Across the board—for goods ranging from cars to books to clothes—Americans are increasingly acclimating to the idea of giving up the stability of being an owner for the flexibility of being a renter," writes Gross. A possible interim solution to help revitalize community is a tool called “Blot” is being used to encourage homeowners to clean up neighborhood. The use of “blots” or “side lot expansions” is a technique that gives homeowners with vacant land adjacent to their home the opportunity to purchase that property as an expansion to their own for a nominal cost. Blot may not help with density but may help to aggregate for acquisition of property and at least helps take the responsibility of maintenance away from cities.
Keli Goff declares in her article, The American Dream is Dead and Good Riddance, that the original American Dream is no longer on the minds of most Americans. She insists that most Americans no longer pursue the ideology of a nice house, educated children, and decent car that once fueled the ambitions of generations that have come and gone. A large number of people live alone in the U.S today with no children. With that being said, it’s statistically spoken that the dream is dying even though most of those loners want to direct their dream in the direction of a partner and children. Goff proceeds to ridicule the home ownership portion of the dream by pointing to a mortgage “meltdown” that came from the pursuit of home ownership by those who
Lately I have noticed numerous abandoned buildings around the Battle Creek area; the sight makes our city look run down and cheap. I believe something must be done about this issue such as turning the buildings into new city attractions. Two vacant buildings that come to mind are the run down State Police Station and the dilapidated Family Fare store.
drops increasingly low. Houses are built with cheaper, less expensive materials and are built with the same model of construction
Because of the amount of overdeveloped areas that are now vacant, the desire to renovate old vacant properties and land plots has all but disappeared. What if there was a beneficial solution to unused land plots in need of rehab and redesign? What if, instead of paving over every leftover inch of grass and dirt in urban areas to make room for more parking for our daily commuting polluters, we instead reinvent that land for a purpose that is both beneficial to our
On January 30th of the year 2018 the Shasta County Board of Supervisors conducted a meeting to cover a broad range of topics concerning the county and its citizens. The meeting began with the discussion of agritourism in the county. Richard Simons, the Resource Management Director, gave a presentation that highlighted his goals and suggestions to improve viability and the functionality of agritourism in the county. The board members were very engaged with his presentation and asked many thoughtful and provoking questions. They were especially concerned with how the citizens and land owners involved in agritourism would be affected by these new propositions. After the supervisors were satisfied and their questions were answered they unanimously supported the decision and the next topic was addressed.
Housing can reach incredibly large proportions and have various on-site features such as large pools or perhaps the house has more than two floors. Obviously, only the wealthy class can afford a property with features such as this. Some may view it as unnecessary and excessive to own such a property. Thoreau described his home in “Walden” not having plastering or a chimney. He only used the home to protect himself from the rain and winters. Also there are different types of communities to move into. Housing a century ago was different in that there were only two types of areas to live in. Someone lived in the large and busy cities or in small, quaint homes in the countryside. Also housing was much smaller and it was less expensive for someone to make their own
People will be more willing and capable of living in denser, more efficient environments only when the underlying culture that sustains sprawl is altered. The sense of the American community needs to be re-established if there is to be any real progress in the battle against sprawl. The REAL problem here then, is that changing the culture of a state, of a nation, is a very long and difficult undertaking…
Rosalyn Baxandall and Ewen, Elizabeth. 2000. Picture Windows: How the Suburbs Happened. Basic Books. New York.
Richard C. Nelson, the author, is a professor in the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning and the Planning Degree program at the University of Arizona. He has made substantial contributions in real estate analysis and urban growth trends. Nelson also created the term ‘megapolitan’ which he predicts the United States will have over twenty by 2040. These megapolitans are the result of the reverse sprawl and creating major economic centers, which will make America globally competitive. Nelson’s background ties in to many of his ideas in the book, with the main points focusing on demographic changes, housing trends, more space for future jobs and the benefits of reshaping metropolitan America. Changing demographics support the notion that more people are choosing an urban lifestyle over sprawl, which means a higher preference of
To appreciate a row house neighborhood, one must first look at the plan as a whole before looking at the individual blocks and houses. The city’s goal to build a neighborhood that can be seen as a singular unit is made clear in plan, at both a larger scale (the entire urban plan) and a smaller scale (the scheme of the individual houses). Around 1850, the city began to carve out blocks and streets, with the idea of orienting them around squares and small residential parks. This Victorian style plan organized rectangular blocks around rounded gardens and squares that separated the row houses from major streets. The emphasis on public spaces and gardens to provide relief from the ene...
As the lease of my apartment is coming to an end it had me thinking of achieving my own American Dream of home ownership but as I do my research I find the dream is far from coming true. I am sure that the issue of housing prices and rent rates are what most of us Bay Area residents talk about and debate. It is an issue that needs to be addressed by the officials of the area, city mayors, affordable housing committees, social justice activists,lawmakers, and even employers. Skyrocketing prices, low inventory, and investors’ bidding wars are not only pushing the middle and lower classes out of San Francisco and the Bay Area out but will completely eliminate them.
This will cause lower income residents to move out of their homes. It is also stated that the action of restoring damaged property would be a positive because it attracts those who can afford the newly renovated homes. This also includes the physical rehabilitation of certain neighborhoods that are in poor conditions. Once these neighborhoods are renovated this will invite those who choose to invest in this area and new businesses will open. However, the negative would be that lower income residents will still be forced to move out because rent prices would increase due to the new demand.(Atikinson, 2004, p.
"Building Partnerships to Revitalize America's Neighborhoods." HBCU Central (Winter 2002): 1-6. Winter 2002. Web. 2 May 2012.
When someone makes the decision to buy or rent a home they must consider the advantages and disadvantages of each. In buying a home the primary advantage is that you actually own it. You can do whatever you want with it. Also, you are building equity as the years go by. “People today have problems saving for their future” (CNN Money, 2014). However, when they buy a home, the money they put down for a down payment is an investment. When the person sells the home they get back the down payment and the amount the property has appreciated in value. When looking at the advantages of renting it is easy to see the disadvantages of buying for some people. Even though you don’t get the money back that you put into it, renting could be a more satisfying option for some. This is because renting allows for flexibility. The person can move wherever as soon as there lease is up. Renters may see buying as “a reduction in lifestyle, moving to a smaller place, and perhaps a less expensive neighborhood.” (CNN Money, 2014). For example someone who rents an apartment enjoys how the complex keeps up the area and all the amenities it has to offer, and it is in an upper class part of town. However, when they buy they looks all the benefits, they have to do maintenance themselves, and move to an area they don’t particularly like to fit their price range.
...cially since the beginning of the subprime mortgage crisis that sparked the Great Recession of 2008-2009. The ever-growing unemployment and foreclosure rates will further compound the affordable housing shortages that were already existent. The declining of the middle-class and increasing of the wealth gap continues to raise the question over income inequality and racial disparity. Bright minds have to wonder when the government will step in to curtail the problem currently spiraling out of control.