RED-HOT RED LODGE
Montana Mountain Town Slated For a Multimillion-Dollar Makeover
By Headwaters News, 7-31-07
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Red Lodge has about 2,500 year-round residents, but the mountain town on Montana’s scenic Beartooth Highway is growing by leaps and bounds.
The Billings Gazette has published a series of articles about growth in the town, detailing the millions of dollars of new building projects, including the addition of 600 new homes.
Construction of a new critical-care hospital, and a new senior center on the hospital campus, along with a new high school is all slated to commence within the next year. Efforts are under way to raise the funds necessary to build a tournament-sized gym and a high-quality auditorium to give Red Lodge the opportunity to host sporting events and to give local musicians and students a venue for concerts and plays.
The Red Lodge Nature Center has begun raising the $8 million it needs for its new facility, and the Carbon County Historical Society is also planning a multimillion-dollar renovation of the building it purchased a few years ago which now houses the Historical Society’ Museum.
All that construction means many more workers will be coming to town, and as in other Rocky Mountain West communities, those workers won’t have many options when it comes to housing. Even with the addition of 600 homes, the price of those homes may be out of reach of many of the workers, with the median price of a home already at $235,000.
The Billings Gazette reports today that affordable housing is already a problem in the resort town, with business owners complaining that potential employees become discouraged by the lack of housing and move on.
One restaurateur is doing what some ski resorts are doing in Colorado: Buying up housing units specifically for his employees. Peter Christ, who needs seasonal employees for the Bridge Creek Back Country Kitchen and Wine Bar he’s run for 10 years, decided to buy two small houses and a duplex to rent to his employees.
While Christ acknowledged that the rental investments don’t really “pencil out,” he said he had to do it to keep qualified help.
Affordable housing is not a new issue, since the Red Lodge Area Economic Development Corp. made it one of its goal in its economic development plan developed in 2004, and discussions on allowing more dense development within the historic boundaries of the town, renovating upper floors of downtown buildings for residential use, and converting the old hospital building to affordable housing units once the new hospital is built.
But some residents aren’t waiting for their employers or their local officials to tackle their housing problem.
When a developer bought the 8 acres on which a 30-unit mobile home park on the north end of town was located, the residents--many of whom have lower-paying jobs in Red Lodge--decided to come up with a solution on their own.
Since the developer wanted just the highway frontage land, he agreed to sell the mobile-home park to the residents.
The residents formed a nonprofit organization, obtained local, state and federal grants, including a $500,000 federal affordable housing grant, and bought the land, with the help of a loan. Residents pay rent to the association, which is using those funds to pay off the loan.
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Comments
It is also interesting to note that the owner of Bridge Creek restaurant in Red Lodge, Peter Christ, claims to be interested in the welfare of his employees. Two legislative sessions ago Mr. Christ personally and passionately lobbied the legislature against passing any minimum wage laws whatsoever.
I actually remember when there wasn't a ski run and the town was a pleasant little burg where the local farmers and ranchers did their business. The pea cannery was a big employer. It was of course also full of tourists in the summer being so close to Yellowstone.
Then more and more outside influence came to town and there was a ski run. In the winter on weekends Billings invaded, development at Cooney Reservoir also played a role. My Dad used to farm that ground around there. It's a big campground now. The locals are gone for the most part.
The town is turning into another Vale or Jacksonhole. No one can afford to live there and the attitudes are big city. It's sad.
I don't think it is Vail or Jackson yet....there is still time to prevent a boring community where you are either being served or serving (I was a server in Jackson for a while....yuck). RL still has a middle class and lots of charm. The good ol' boy club has gotta go.
As for the good old boy system, it's not going anywhere anytime soon. It's firmly entrenched in the city and county as well. This year the city will enjoy a mayor's race for the first time in history between two women. But one thoroughly represents the old way of doing things. The other one combines good sense with progressive thinking. I'm not betting on the latter that's for sure, though I'm voting for her.
It will be interesting to see how things develop here in the years to come.
The town had few full-time realtors and was dominated by backward-looking redneck good-ol' boys. Now the town has more realty offices than bars or churches and is dominated by prophet-driven worshippers of the mythic free market, who are mostly worried about their property values, and could really care less about the people who do the work. This attitude exists not only in transplanted Californians or Georgians, but also in the fourth generation "local" property owners who started making millions in the real estate game.
Change is inevitable, but "progress" as outlined in previous posts is not. The good ol boy network only changes as well: just different boys (or girls) with different sources of power.
It seems fair to lament the overgrowth of the realty offices. It really is sad some of the great old bars are gone. And the locals will always call the IGA (now the Beartooth Market) the I Gouge All. The Gazette articles should have listed all things we miss here and lament seeing arrive.
I do agree the town is not yet a Vail or Aspen, not even close, not yet. The ski area here is practically belly up. The skiing would never support the kind of trade those resorts bring in.
hahaha, and I completely agree that the good ole boy network doesn't go away, it just changes faces. The same is true in national government.
Yup. On the whole, I'd say traildog nailed it.
The world is changing, no way to stop it. There are too many people and too little thought. There is way to much me, me, me attitude and no thinking about what our actions may mean to another or our own future.
Steven Joseph Graham, you have helped to make my point much more than you did to discredit or make me look ignorant. It's that snotty ass punk attitude you display so well that makes me sad. You have no idea what I'm talking about and yet your ready to spout all you know about some ski run. So you lived in Sun Valley. BFD. Calling Vail or Jackson Hole progress is ignorant. And no I have never spent much time in Vail or Jackson Hole. I don't want to.
I have watched what has happened in the Gallatin and Paradise Valleys in the last twenty years, but you wouldn't know about that either.
I hope for the people who still live there someone with some direction does get to be mayor. I know all to well the good ol' boy network also. It will be a tough race and then she will need more than just her ideas to make a difference. Good luck.