Posted on 06/02/2012 8:22:52 AM PDT by thackney
Without trying to excuse all the cost, you should understand the run-up of costs for everything in a true boom.
Hjelmstad said needs include new buildings, additional staff, more buses, support for a growing special education population, teacher housing and equipment.
There is NO available housing. Cost of teacher includes not only inflated wages, but actual housing, not just a housing allowance.
We had stories of some areas of the Bakken production paying $15 for fast food workers, just to keep them.
And right in the heart of the oil boom sits Williston, North Dakota, in the center of the Bakken Shale Formation, a massive oil reserve. Because of the oil boom, the city has seen its average wages increase from $32,000 in 2006 to about $80,000 today; unemployment drop to around one percent; and monthly rent for a one bedroom skyrocket to $2,300
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2012/05/rent-bubble-day-2300-one-bedroom-north-dakota/2106
...there are deals to be found. A 36-foot trailer: $1,000 (but only if you’re tired of “MAN CAMP HOUSING”). A 320-square-foot, soon to be built apartment, in a building that looks like a dense apartment building in Tokyo: $1,000. And if you don’t mind a bit of a commute into the city, a 400-square-foot one bedroom apartment 60 miles from Williston will only run you about $850 a month.
Absolutely! It would be an excellent time to take the bold step of privatizing education. Now that would produce some real progress. The worst thing that happened in this country was when government took over education. Innovation stopped dead in its tracks.
The problem wasn't falling population but lack of jobs to keep the kids there. North Dakotans have big families. As the joke goes, what else is there to do on long, cold winter nights?
But I remember the "Buffalo Commons" idea well. We hated it! It was considered a conspiracy of our eastern overlords to depopulate the state. If you Google "Prairie Empire" and "Rural Depopulation" you might even get an article I wrote explaining the politics of conservative states like North Dakota only sending Democrats to Washington to maximize their take of federal pork.
The current oil boom finally ended that. When Comrade Conrad retires at the end of this current congress, there will be no more Democrats in North Dakota's congressional delegation.
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