Demographics
Shouting About Immigration
The Wrong Kind of Fireworks
Tomorrow, as people across the West lay out blankets to watch fireworks displays, Basalt Police Chief Keith Ikeda will be on high alert for inter-racial strife. Last week's drive-by shooting at a Basalt 7-Eleven, apparently by a pair of Latino men angered by a store clerk who likes to wear a baseball cap with "U.S. Border Patrol" on it, has the area on edge – even as immigration reform appears dead in congress for another year.
Security video in the 7-Eleven captured two Hispanic men entering the store June 26 and asking the cashier, Bruno Kirchenwitz, "Hey, where's your cap?" An opponent of illegal immigration, Kirchenwitz says he wears the cap almost every day to promote his views on the subject.
"The main thing I am concerned about," said Tom Ziemann of Catholic Charities, at a clear-the-air meeting at St. Vincent's Catholic Church in Basalt on Monday, "is there might be a potential for problems" between Hispanics and local Anglos over the holiday.
So this is where we've arrived at in this country: the celebration of the birth of the world's first democracy is now an occasion for violent altercations between anti-immigrationists and the people they would throw out.
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Black Helicopters
Federal Raids Spark Outrage, QuestionsSilverthorne Police Chief Joe Russell was out of town last week when he found out that federal law-enforcement officials were conducting a series of raids to arrest illegal immigrants in his town last week. That was the first he'd heard of the sweep. Summit County Sheriff John Minor didn't find out about the raids until Friday, two days after they began, and "Dillon Police Chief John Mackey also hadn’t heard about the immigration sweep as of June 21," reports Summit Daily reporter Bob Berwyn.
The raids were part of a renewed nationwide effort to arrest and deport "fugitive aliens" – illegals who are also wanted for other crimes either here or in their home countries. Hundreds were also arrested in California, Oregon, and other states. It's hard to argue that undocumented foreigners wanted for serious crimes shouldn't be arrested and prosecuted. The problem is that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) conducts these raids without consulting local officials, and agents feel free to pick up other suspected illegal immigrants (known in agency lingo as "collateral catch") in the process.
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Monday Business Roundup
New Twist in “Whole Oats” SagaThe Whole Foods–Wild Oats merger saga took another unusual turn last week when Walter Robb, Whole Foods' co-president and chief operating officer, posted a blistering message on his blog accusing federal regulators of "not doing their homework" and questioning "what world they are living in."
Citing antitrust concerns, the Federal Trade Commission has asked a judge in Washington D.C. to block the proposed $670 million deal between Whole Foods, the nation's largest natural-foods grocer, and its slightly smaller Boulder-based rival Wild Oats. Among other things, the Commission has publicly released emails from Robb to the Whole Foods board acknowledging that the purpose of the merger is to avoid "nasty price wars" and to "eliminate forever" the chance of a mega-grocery chain like Safeway buying Wild Oats.
In other business news: Local institution Robb's Music lives on under new ownership; Fort Collins Brewfest evokes mixed reactions from Old Town merchants; and real cowboys' favorite jeans brand moves upscale.
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Monday Business Roundup
And the Winner is … Grand Junction?The new Rocky Mountain boomtown is not a trendy resort or a mushrooming Front Range suburb, but … Grand Junction!?
The far-western-Colorado town of 42,000 has never exactly been a hub of commerce or culture, but the natural-gas boom in the Piceance Basin, northwest of town, has brought a new vibrancy and new dollars into Mesa County. Home prices, while still a bargain compared to the Denver metro area, have risen 52 percent in the last four years.
One sign of the boom, writes Denver Post reporter Steve Raabe, is the trendy bars sprouting along downtown streets and catering to energy-business executives. Another, less welcome sign: Mesa County has opened a $5 million methamphetamine clinic.
Plus, GJ is actually getting some love from Hollywood: this week a big-studio feature called "The Return," starring Tim Robbins and Rachel McAdams, will begin shooting in town.
In other business news: the airline industry grapples with delays and with pilot depression; Level 3 builds "Wall Street West"; and Frontier adds more seats to make more dollars.
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Reverse Globalization
In Greeley, An Ironic Immigration TwistFor connoisseurs of irony, it doesn't get much better than the news that a Brazilian conglomerate will buy Greeley-based Swift & Co. Swift's Colorado meatpacking plants were the site of the federal immigration raids last December that divided the community of Greeley and resulted in the arrests of dozens and the loss of 1300 people from Swift's workforce. Virtually all of those workers were Hispanic; now a Latin American firm is Swift's new owner.
"It's kind of ironic," Rutilio Martinez, an associate professor at the University of Northern Colorado's Monfort College of Business, told the Rocky Mountain News.
This deal is a leading example of "reverse globalization" – the "uphill flow" of capital from developing economies to the West.
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Guest Opinion from Idaho's Governor
Real ID Implementation Misses the Mark
Some of you might be familiar with my serious concerns about the REAL ID Act. As the potential expense and disruption of this federal mandate approaches, it’s important that all Idahoans be aware of how our state government is approaching the issue. Below is the pertinent text from a letter I sent this week to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff regarding implementation of the REAL ID Act. [more]
English as Official Bigotry
Boise State College Republicans Soil Their White HatsI never thought I'd say this, but I am grateful to the College Republicans at Boise State University. I would like to congratulate them for lifting the veneer of respectability off the state's immigration debate and exposing the bigotry, hatred, and ill will that motivates legislation like S1172, a bill that would make English Idaho's "official" language. Soon, I expect white will be named Idaho's official race, and blond-haired and blue-eyed our official phenotype. [Editor's note: S1172 passed the Idaho House of Representatives this afternoon, 46-20. Having passed the Senate previously, it will now go to Governor Butch Otter for signature.] [more]
Missoula Real Estate
Missoula Housing Market Steady, Housing Prices Continue to SoarThe good news is that Missoula is part of the 31 percent of the country's housing markets that is actually expanding. The bad news is it is becoming increasingly difficult to afford a home here.
The 2007 Missoula Housing Report(PDF) released by the Missoula Organization of Realtors Thursday shows the median home price in Missoula continuing to soar -- largely driven by the rising cost of land in the metro area.
The median home price within Missoula's city limits jumped to $205,000 in 2006 compared to $185,000 in 2005. When you add Lolo into that mix, the median home price in 2006 jumps to $206,850 from 2005's $192,000.
Looking at the records of bare land sales over the past three years, it's not hard to see from where the majority of that growth stems. In 2003, the median price for a lot in Missoula was $75,900. In 2006, the median price for a lot in Missoula was $95,000 -- a 25.2 percent increase.
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State of the Statehouse
Inglés Será Idioma Oficial de Idaho: English Will be the Official Language of IdahoUn comité del Senado de Idaho hoy votó para hacer el inglés el idioma oficial del estado.
(A committee of the Idaho Senate today voted to make English the state's official language.)
El voto era seis a tres. El Senador Republicano Joe Stegner y los Demócratas Edgar Malapei y Clint Stennett votaron el No.
(The vote was six to three. Republican Senator Joe Stegner and Democrats Edgar Malapei and Clint Stennett voted No.)
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a fatality waitng to happen
Safety at May and 13th
When I was asked to write an article to go along with this cartoon, I immediately searched for traffic statistics and research on the effectiveness (and ineffectiveness) of traffic controls. Then it occurred to me that you don’t need to be an expert to realize there’s a problem at May and 13th.
Instead, I ask anyone familiar with this Hood River intersection to take this brief quiz:
1. As you drive south on 13th Street—on your way to Rosauer’s—how often do you pause to watch for pedestrians at May Street?
2. As you drive west along May Street, how often do you pause to watch for pedestrians as you turn left onto 13th?
I’ve spent more than five years teaching and conducting research on pedestrian issues, and even I don’t do well on that quiz. There are just too many other things to be paying attention to—like whether or not you’re about to get sideswiped by an SUV.
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