PSA: Monday Meeting to Raise Taxes to Fund Housing that Won't Require Work
THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS
The Troika of Bradshaw/Breen/Hamilton, (abetted by Cordovano and Hutchinson?), have decided that you should subsidize housing for anyone who wants to live in Ketchum—whether they work in Ketchum, or not. Actually, they think you should be subsidizing housing for the entirety of Blaine County, whether or not people work in Ketchum. Or even work at all.
Sound like I am making this up? I wish I were.
I would put up a link to this, so you could see for yourself, but I bet that almost none of the 636 people who get this have any idea how to access this information. That, on its face, tells you how much respect your Council has for you.
Please show up at the City Council meeting at 4 p.m. on Monday to tell them to STOP.
At that meeting, they will have a first reading of an ordinance to put a tax increase on the November ballot to build scores of more Bluebird-type units.
There was no warning to the Ketchum Community that this ordinance was up for a vote on Monday. Also, in this meeting they will reveal a SECRET housing plan that will build 33 units on YMCA parking lot, 27 units at Lift Tower Lodge (land that YOU own, worth over $7mm—for housing that won’t require work?), and a whopping 108 units at a massive project that is 2x larger than Bluebird that they plan to build at an undisclosed location they call “Trailcreek.”
How do our elected officials think that hiding their intentions from the electorate is “good governance?”
Do you know how they plan to get the ballot initiative passed? At a previous meeting, the Mayor said it would require organizing a door-to-door campaign to get it passed. Of course, they cannot do this in their “official capacity,” as that would be ILLEGAL. But they will do it in their personal capacities, and they have done in the past. And they will get people from OUTSIDE OF KETCHUM to be part of this campaign.
Do they bother with door to door campaigns to get your input to the Comprehensive Plan? Of course not.
Everyone wants to live in Ketchum! Why wouldn’t they?
WHY DO THE KETCHUM RESIDENTS AND TAXPAYERS HAVE TO PAY TO HOUSE ANYONE WHO WANTS TO LIVE HERE?
Do you know what else the City did this week? They started using Ketchum taxpayer dollars to house people who neither live nor work in Ketchum. They have decided that Ketchum taxpayers need to pick up the tab for all of Blaine County’s housing problems. The City of Sun Valley contribution to their program? $0. The City of Hailey contribution? $0. The City of Bellevue contribution? $0. It’s all on you, Ketchum!
KETCHUM’S BUDGET HAS BEEN HIJACKED.
None of This Helps Ketchum Residents
The worst part of this? It won’t address any of the challenges facing Ketchum. It won’t fix our workforce crisis, our traffic crisis, our parking crisis, our shortage of first responders, teachers and health care professionals—none of it.
There is no prioritization in their housing plan for essential workers
There is no work requirement in their housing plan
There is actually a prioritization in their plans to accommodate retirees!
No Tenant in Bluebird Will Be A Full-Time Essential Worker in Ketchum
I know that sounds crazy. Didn’t the Mayor write an editorial in the INE promising that this? Didn’t he imply that anyone opposed to Bluebird was “prejudiced?”
Ketchum put out a list of where all the workers they have lined up for Bluebird are employed. When you work through the income caps, there is no way to work a full-time job as a teacher, nurse, cop or full-time firefighter in Ketchum and qualify for Bluebird. That’s right. Not a single resident of Bluebird will work a full-time essential job in Ketchum.
And the Troika wants to build 200+ more Bluebird units.
Our City Council Has Been Hijacked
On Wednesday, in the next Issue, I will provide a list of all the things our Council should be doing that they aren’t doing while they spend all their time and your money on remaking Ketchum…into the next Aspen. Whose interests do they represent?
I agree whole heartedly with the comment below from Heather Lauer. I too want to Thank you for your newsletters informing us on the direction our city is trying to force us to take. We have written a couple of letters now to the city opposing the LOT tax increase and the very flawed approach to workforce housing based on your informative newsletters. We can only hope that with your efforts and others we will see some common sense soon. Thank-you!
Hi Perry. I’m the new chair of the Blaine County GOP and I just want to say THANK YOU for your tireless efforts to report on housing issues in our valley. I look forward to your newsletters, and I appreciate the amount of time and effort you put into providing thoughtful and well-researched information to the public on this issue that our entire county is facing - an issue does not get enough attention. You’re fixing that. Keep it up!!!