"Ken Finney" wrote in message
...

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_...lds_WA_SW.html

I never went to Evergreen, but it was poorly located to deal with urban
sprawl (e.g. it couldn't have been more in the prime area for development
if they tried). But I wonder what might have happened if they had tried
to bring in a bunch of businesses that needed the airport to survive?

The housing explosion here...

Household income must be $80,000 to buy a house in the Portland/Vancouver
area now. In 2001 you could get a pretty decent ~1800sq ft house in the
area for under $150,000. Now it's about $300,000. A lot of developers and
house-flippers made great money but the problem is, the working class can't
afford to buy houses out there so there are over-priced apartments springing
up all around. If you were to do a short approach at Evergreen now you'd
have to make sure you didn't clip the red beacon light on the roof of the
apartment complex, or the traffic liht.

Meanwhile, of course, there aren't really any new jobs, let alone
aviation-dependent ones. Freightliner closed down production and moved it
to Mexico and HP and Intel sort of expand and contract. Lots of jobs for
TGI Friday and Target employees, pavers, carpenters, etc, but those jobs
don't rent Cessnas and the developers make a lot more money off a thousand
immigrants than a few dozen private pilots.

Grew up here. If I leave, I won't be able to afford to come back.
-c