New West Network

My Page: Jonathan Weber

Retailing

Last week I posted a piece about the closing of the downtown Missoula Starbucks, and expressed some ambivalance about the idea that locally owned versus chains was always a black-and-white issue. Today I came across a piece that takes a different kind of look at this issue, arguing that Walmart and Costco are killing the so-called category killer big boxes in product categories such as music, books, electronics, toys and more. (Hat tip to Roger Millar for the link). The story, by Stacy Mitchell, is on the Website of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, not a group I was previously familiar with, and it definitely has a point of view. But it makes some great points, and calls for more vigorous anti-trust enforcement on predatory pricing by the mega-retailers.

Coffee Wars

Author's Note: This story first appeared on The Big Money, a business news website that's part of the Slate group. I write a weekly small business column for The Big Money called "Making Payroll".)

When a Starbucks opened across the street from our offices in downtown Missoula, Mont., a few years ago, a lot of people in this liberal college town were not too pleased. The national behemoth would squeeze the local coffee shops, critics said, and contribute to the homogenization of Missoula.

As an independent local businessman whose largest competitor is a multibillion-dollar national chain, I've always been more than sympathetic to this argument. As a company, and as individuals, we're all about supporting locally owned businesses and the eclectic downtown commercial culture that goes with them.

But last week, we learned the Starbucks would be closing—it couldn't compete with the excellent alternatives. And I don't see that as a good thing. [more]

Live Long and Prosper

If we all live to be 120 years old, we'll have a lot of things to worry about besides land-use planning. But consider this: serious people involved in biomedical research think that such longevity is likely, if not necessarily imminent, and if it were to transpire it would in fact have huge implications for the design of our communities. It would bring huge population growth, far more old people and a far smaller ratio of children - and drive growth patterns towards urban centers and away from the the suburban fringe.

That was one of the more provocative arguments put forth last week at NewWest.Net's 1st annual Planning in the West conference. Keynote speaker Arthur C. Nelson, Director of Metropolitan Research at the University of Utah, said these kinds of drastically changing demographics would alter land-use patterns in ways we are only beginning to understand.

This kind of thinking is more than a little removed from the quotidian arguments over planning that still rage across the West. Just last week, residents of the Flathead County, Montana town of Somers almost came to blows over whether a preliminary discussion of a neighborhood plan for the lakeside community was appropriate. Here in Missoula, a city council meeting on Monday went past midnight as people argued over a new zoning code, and especially whether the city should allows "accessory dwelling units" - which might, not incidentally, be an important type of housing for an aging population, but are considered anathema by University-area residents who fear they will fill up with students.

Yet planning, by its very nature, is all about the long term, and it can be a lot more inspiring than the day-to-day politics of subdivisions and infill and roads and sewer systems. Here are a few of the highlights from our recent conference:

[more]

Deputies Called in Somers

Update: A group of landowners has filed suit over the neighborhood plan process in Somers and Lakeside, check out the Beacon story here.

Flathead County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a public meeting in Somers last week, after a gathering meant to provide information on a potential neighborhood plan dissolved into a shouting match.

The Somers community is in the earliest stages of considering the possibility of a neighborhood plan. Such plans act within the broader framework of the county’s growth policy to offer more detailed guidelines for growth and planning in a specific region of the county.

Flathead County Planning Director Jeff Harris said last Monday’s meeting was the third in a series aimed at explaining how the neighborhood planning process works. “We were there at the request of the community to provide information,” he said.

But after a brief introduction, Harris made it only partway through the first informational slide before audience members upset by the idea of a plan and the process interrupted. The situation quickly became unruly, disintegrating to the point of profanity-laced diatribes. A pair of sheriff’s deputies dispersed the crowd.

“That’s the worst it’s been in my time here,” Harris said. “These people were not interested in being civil; they were looking to hijack the process.”
[more]

Bankruptcy Court, or Divorce Court?

The scene in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Butte on Tuesday, where a hearing was held on former Yellowstone Club owner Edra Blixseth's last-ditch effort to keep control of her disastrous financial situation, was more poignant than dramatic. Edra, looking downtrodden, spent most of the day in the witness chair, trying to explain how and why she had messed up her bankruptcy case by failing to maintain insurance on her assets and filing important court documents late and incomplete.

Meanwhile, in the back corner of the Beaux Arts courtroom - which was packed during the Yellowstone Club bankruptcy proceedings but on this day was mostly empty - sat her ex-husband Tim, accompanied by his son Beau and his new wife Jessica, ready to drive more nails into Edra's coffin.

In the event, Tim Blixseth's presence, and the colorful but harsh 26-page affidavit he filed last week outlining his ex's alleged bad behavior, were academic, at least for this proceeding. The court had already converted Edra's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, in which she would get the chance to reorganize her own affairs, into a Chapter 7, a forced liquidation overseen by a U.S. Trustee. Tuesday's hearing (which I was able to attend only briefly) was her chance to argue that the decision should be reversed. But it seemed like a long shot, and indeed U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Ralph B. Kirscher denied the motion, setting the stage for a fire-sale of the Porcupine Creek estate and Edra's numerous other properties at the Yellowstone Club and elsewhere.

Tim Blixseth's court filing, though, was about more than his ex-wife's bankruptcy. The Yellowstone Club founder argues that the whole financial debacle that enveloped the club last year, and resulted in the club's bankruptcy filing and the eventual sale of the property to CrossHarbor Capital Partners, was Edra's fault. He's now hired a public relations firm to help him make the case - which, as we'll see in a minute, remains a very high-stakes affair. [more]

Farmers Optimistic

After two seasons of extremes – one a bumper crop, the other late and small – it looks like Flathead Lake cherry growers might enjoy a “normal” year, producing about 3 million pounds of cherries worth more than $4 million.

Dale Nelson, president of the Flathead Lake Cherry Growers Cooperative, said growers were nervous after “a brutally cold winter,” but reports of tree damage have been limited.

“Thankfully, our trees are a little more cold hearty because of the climate here,” he said. “We’re looking for a little bigger than average crop this year.”

[more]

June 17-18 in Boise

I've been on the phone much of today with the speakers and panelists for our upcoming Planning in the West conference, and it should be a fascinating event. The session on sustainable design and planning features top-notch folks from Seattle, Los Angeles, Boulder and Boise, providing a great regional perspective. (They told me we shouldn't talk about what cities are ahead and what cities are behind, but we will anyway). The transportation panel will address head-on the political obstacles to transit, with some great perspective from Utah - a state which managed to overcome conventional wisdom of conservative politics and develop a cutting edge rail and bus system. Another session will address agriculture and open space, and how to integrate that into our growth and planning approaches. And those are just a few highlights. You can see more details and register online at www.newwest.net/planning. We look forward to seeing you in Boise!

Tim vs. Edra

The Yellowstone Club bankruptcy may be all but over, but lest the lawyers - or the journalists for that matter - worry that they'll be out of work, we now have what might be called Yellowstone Club 2: The Edra Blixseth Bankruptcy.

Like the original Yellowstone Club case, this is anything but a normal bankruptcy proceeding, with Edra Blixseth initially filing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy that showed personal debts of more than $500 million. Earlier this month, Judge Ralph B. Kircher - the same federal bankruptcy judge who heard the Yellowstone Club case - converted her Chapter 11 filing to a Chapter 7 liquidation - a decision Blixseth is now trying to get reversed.

In a court filing late last week, Edra Blixseth outlined how she hoped to reorganize her affairs and get people paid, namely by developing (and then selling) her Porcupine Creek estate in Palm Springs as a residential golf club, reviving her highly controversial software company, Blxware, and pursuing legal claims against her ex-husband Tim and others. (A PDF of her affidavit is here).

On Thursday, Tim Blixseth fired back in spectacular fashion, filing a court declaration that lays out in great detail his argument that his ex-wife's wild spending and "dishonest tactics" were actually the cause of all the problems. (PDF here) The affidavit offers lurid details of Edra's alleged excesses - including a supposed "divorce celebration" party which cost $90,000 and included "invitations in the shape of a parking meter which, when opened, revealed my face and read 'your time has expired'." [more]

Yellowstone Club Saga Continues

In a mixed decision that answers some questions but leaves many others open, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Ralph B. Kirscher on Thursday threw out a key portion of Tim Blixseth's defense in the Yellowstone Club bankruptcy court lawsuit, but at the same time re-opened the trial and set an August date for the proceedings to continue.

The lawsuit by the club and the committee representing unsecured accused Blixseth and investment bank Credit Suisse of engaging in a "fraudulent transfer" and breach of fiduciary duty in connection with a $375 million loan to the club in 2005. Kirscher last month issued a partial ruling against Credit Suisse, putting the claims of its lender group at the back of the line due to what he characterized as the "predatory" and irresponsible nature of the loan. That ruling prompted a settlement of the main bankruptcy case, with CrossHarbor Capital Partners buying the club for $115 million in a complex deal that assured that all unsecured trade creditors would get paid.

The settlement called for the court to vacate its ruling against Credit Suisse. But the claims again Tim Blixseth, who could ultimately be forced to repay more than $200 million, remain unresolved.
[more]

Planning in the West Conference, June 17-18 in Boise

The dramatic downturn in the real estate market is likely to end sooner rather than later in the Northern Rockies, according to new research from Arthur C. Nelson, Presidential Professor and Director of the Metropolitan Research Center at the University of Utah - and the Snake River Valley in Idaho is especially well-positioned for renewed growth.

Nelson's research shows that surplus housing supply is likely to be absorbed by 2011 in Idaho. Further, the need to replace aging building inventory - especially in commercial real estate - will drive demand above and beyond what population growth trends alone would suggest.

Nelson presented the first cut of his new regional research at NewWest.Net's Designing the New West conference in Bozeman in April. He has now drilled down further on what the mega-trends mean for Boise, the Treasure Valley, and Idaho as a whole, and will present the result at NewWest.Net's new Planning in the West conference, June 17-18 in Boise. [more]