Wall Street Journal: Condo Market Unravels

From the 5/7/09 Wall Street Journal: Swig Takes Hit as Condo Market Unravels …Mr. Swig’s battles are a sample of what is happening nationwide in the condo-development sector as thousands of new units keep being delivered into a market in which demand has evaporated… Many condo projects throughout the country are going bust as developers […]

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Our Ad in Today’s Gazette: “How to Avoid Classic Infill Design Mistakes”

Our ad in today’s Gazette (5/6/09) describes how Kohl Construction’s proposed condo development off North Street would commit a number of classic urban infill design mistakes. Download this ad as a high-resolution PDF (432 KB). Concerned citizens are urged to attend Conservation Commission and Planning Board hearings on this proposal on May 14 (see flyer, […]

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Gazette: “Health, fiscal woes seed local vegetable gardens”; Freeman Dyson Sees Future Gold in Green

Today’s Gazette reports that vegetable gardens are even more popular than last year, a good reason not to infill away our urban greenspaces: An estimated 37 percent of all United States households, or about 43 million, plan to grow vegetables, fruit, berries or herbs in 2009, according to the Vermont-based National Gardening Association. That’s up […]

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Video: Planning Board Approves North Campus Hospital Hill Subdivision, Denies Dog Kennel Permit on 4/23/09

Here is a blip.tv video from the Northampton Planning Board meeting of 4/23/09. This recording covers the first hour and 25 minutes of the meeting, and was filmed by Lachlan Ziegler. Here are the agenda items covered in the video: 7:00 P.M. Continuation (not previously opened) of a hearing on the request by Hospital Hill […]

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USA Today: “Why home values may take decades to recover”

This 12/15/08 article from USA Today argues that today’s home prices are still unsustainably high: Why home values may take decades to recover …”We will never see these prices again in our lifetime, when you adjust for inflation,” says Peter Schiff, president of investment firm Euro Pacific Capital of Darien, Conn. “These were lifetime peaks.” […]

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