Speculators Have Subverted The Sharing Economy
The Los Angeles Times reports from California. “Airbnb continues to promote an image of helping mom-and-pop homeowners raise a little extra cash, but its platform has drawn far bigger operators who buy properties to rent out full-time. Cities from New York to Santa Monica are trying to figure out how best to zone, tax and oversee this new industry. As they do, they’re getting an earful from hotel workers’ unions worried about the effect on their jobs, housing advocates worried about a shortage of affordable apartments, and neighbors wary of strangers on their block every day.”
“Airbnb has responded with a battalion of lobbyists, especially in big states such as California and New York, along with beefed-up PR operations. It has hired veterans of Silicon Valley, the Obama administration and big labor unions. While the company touts ‘home sharing’ — the spare-room rental — in its advertising and political campaigns, nearly two-thirds of listings in L.A. and other big markets are for whole units, according to a recent study by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, a labor-backed think tank. Those units generate 89% of the company’s revenue in Los Angeles, the organization estimates.”
“Airbnb disputes the the group’s study, but observers say its findings suggest the company has little interest in reining in full-time operators. ‘Airbnb profits from transactions,’ said Yassi Eskandari-Qajar, city policies program director at the Sustainable Economies Law Center in Oakland. ‘There’s no incentive for them to put limits on how many people can do this, how much they can charge or how many homes they list.’”
From LA Weekly. “A pair of L.A. city leaders today proposed a law that would ban the short-term rental of units that hosts don’t actually live in. The proposal also would prohibit landlords from evicting rent-control tenants for the purpose of making a unit available full-time on Airbnb and similar sites, a spokesman for city Councilman Mike Bonin said. And hosts would have to start subjecting the rentals to the city’s hotel tax.”
“A statement from Bonin’s office put it this way: ‘As a result of the proliferation of short-term rentals … there has been a negative impact on some residential neighborhoods, which are changed by a revolving cast of visitors and their impacts. In some popular tourist communities such as Venice, speculators have subverted the ’sharing economy’ business model, converting regular rental housing into short-term rentals, significantly reducing rental stock and contributing to increased rents and decreased affordable housing. In some cases, large numbers of units in the same building, or entire buildings, have been converted to short-term rentals, operated by off-site management companies.’”
From Skift. “San Francisco supervisors are expected to revisit a sticky issue Tuesday that has generated impassioned pleas from tenants and home-owners alike — Airbnb regulations. People who rent out space say they need the additional income to pay the mortgage and daily expenses. ‘For thousands of San Franciscans, Airbnb is an economic lifeline making it possible to stay in the city they love,’ Airbnb spokesman Christopher Nulty said.”
From KTVU. “San Francisco Supervisor David Campos joined the protest at Airbnb; pitching an alternative plan up for consideration. His plan calls for limiting the days a homeowner can rent out their property to vacationers to 60 days per year. His plan also calls for homeowners to register with the city, and to share information about how many days the property was rented.”
“Home sharing advocate Peter Kwan says his organization represents about 1,800 home sharers. He agrees that many of them are renting out their homes precisely because the housing crisis has raised prices for everyone. ‘The vast majority of our members tell me that if it wasn’t for home sharing, they’d be forced to leave San Francisco,’ said Kwan.”
From Mission Local. “Poised to make a choice between two competing versions of legislation to regulate short-term rentals, the Board of Supervisors instead voted today to continue the items, delaying a final decision by more than a month. Supervisors Christensen, Cohen, and Kim said they were worried about separating the ‘bad actors’ who exploit homesharing platforms to profit from properties they do not live in from the ‘casual’ homesharers who use those platforms to stay afloat.”
“‘I’ve got constituents who are hanging on by the skin of their teeth,’ Christensen said.”
The Sonoma County Gazette. “I first noticed the effect of vacation rentals in the Russian River area, where home values started steadily increasing as a result of this sharing economy. Those little 2 bedroom 1 bath homes that could only be rented for $1,100 per month because of their distance from Santa Rosa could now fetch up to $5,000 per month if properly marketed and booked up because of their close proximity to the vacation area.”
From CBS San Francsico. “The Bay Area may be a nexus for high-paying tech jobs, but its tough housing market is hurting the entire country, according to a new study. The National Bureau of Economic Research released a paper last month claiming NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) policies that restrict the flow of housing in New York, San Francisco and San Jose are diminishing the national economy. Researchers said that increased ‘wage dispersion’ from 1964 to 2009 had held back the U.S. GDP growth by 13.5 percent largely because of housing constraints in those three cities.”
“The study also found the aggregate growth of New York, San Francisco and San Jose was so little that together the three cities contributed as much to U.S. GDP growth as places that suffered negative local growth like Detroit. ‘How can New York, San Francisco, and San Jose start pulling their weight?’ news analysis website CityLab asks.”
‘While the company touts ‘home sharing’ — the spare-room rental — in its advertising and political campaigns, nearly two-thirds of listings in L.A. and other big markets are for whole units’
I’m surprised that with this much attention more focus hasn’t been put on the rising prices angle. I kinda doubt that very many people would be buying houses at these prices to become a motel clerk, maid and cashier. I’d say the appreciation must be a factor, maybe the most important factor. And we hear all the time; high income people can’t buy a house here or there, so how are all these broke people hanging on by their teeth by renting out their treehouse?
Oh and BTW California, you’re pulling us down, OK and it’s time to get with it:
‘The study also found the aggregate growth of New York, San Francisco and San Jose was so little that together the three cities contributed as much to U.S. GDP growth as places that suffered negative local growth like Detroit’
The treehouse thing isn’t a joke. One of my cousins rented one during her time in CA.
Oxnard, CA Housing Prices Fall 23%
http://www.movoto.com/oxnard-ca/market-trends/
Castro Valley, CA Housing Prices Fall 10%
http://www.movoto.com/castro-valley-ca/market-trends/
‘a battalion of lobbyists, especially in big states such as California and New York, along with beefed-up PR operations. It has hired veterans of Silicon Valley, the Obama administration and big labor unions.’
This sharing economy has BS written all over it. I’m a libertarian, but I can see inconsistencies. I’ve long thought taxi’s were a rip off because of the governments involvement. But why do I need to make some jokers in California rich with my new sweet ride? Oh, they’ve got in somehow. And while it’s fine and good to rent out your room to strangers, in the big picture, what has been added? Isn’t there a cheap motel down the street that has an empty bed?
Let’s bring out the competition; put the municipal-regulated taxi’s out of business and let the independents fight for customers. But let’s not pretend it’s something new or that what was before wasn’t rotten. And I sympathize with the people fighting the Airbnb speculators. (I mentioned before that everybody would want in on the act, and now these companies are crawling out of the woodwork all over the world). But I suspect that one day these people will be cleaning the toilet for a stranger, hear prices aren’t skyrocketing on the radio and think, “I’ve had a good run, maybe I’ll cash out.”
This isn’t my original thought, but I don’t like how the word “sharing” has been appropriated by for-profit businesses, much like the word “passion” has been transformed into a meaningless resume buzzword. A commercial transaction is not sharing and never has been.
Not to mention that the so-called sharing economy is based on fraud. Think those indie operators have the same kind of insurance that hotels do? Or cab companies? Think again. You get into an accident and you’ll see how screwed you really are.
What’s interesting to me is what they are NOT talking about with respect to AirBNB.
My intuition is that with AirBNB (and others), hotel occupancy should be suffering. However, hotel occupancy is currently at least at a 15-year high.
I think for some folks, AirBNB is a lifeline for a situation they were already in (they didn’t buy the home to rent via AirBNB, but now are renting a room here and there to help make the payment). I think for others, they are using AirBNB to rent their whole house while they are away.
Personally, if I were to rent my house, I would rather do so in whole while I’m gone, than have someone bunk in the spare room while I’m there with my kids.
However, there are definitely some who either purchased their house in order to rent out short term…but potentially even more who have decided NOT to sell when they moved and opted for short-term rentals.
I’m curious…do these “all-the-time” short term rental properties represent 1,000 units in a place like LA? 100? 10,000?
My concern is that this is simply the next red herring on which people focus their attention without solving the real affordable housing problem. In other words, I doubt that forcing those full-time short-term landlords to sell their units (by restricting their rentals) will add enough supply to make a meaningful difference.
‘the real affordable housing problem’
Is the housing bubble.
There would be no affordable housing problem absent this bubble.
Gilroy, CA Housing Prices Fall 7%
http://www.movoto.com/gilroy-ca/market-trends/
Camarillo, CA Housing Prices Fall 14%
http://www.movoto.com/camarillo-ca/market-trends/
‘Ride-hailing firm Uber plans to formally open a new customer service center in Phoenix that is expected to eventually have several hundred employees. Gov. Doug Ducey and Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton are set to headline Thursday’s opening of the downtown Phoenix office.’
‘Ducey signed a bill overhauling rules for ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft in April. The new law removed regulatory roadblocks to the new and growing services. In January, Ducey stopped state regulators from citing ride-hailing drivers for violating regulations requiring commercial insurance and licenses. He said the policy wasn’t working and was hampering job creation.’
http://www.fox10phoenix.com/story/29294084/ducey-to-headline-opening-of-new-uber-center-in-phoenix
How long til someone comes up with an app that gets around the UHS monopoly?
I’m in AZ. And, let me tell you, if you want to see desperation, go to a meetup for prospective Uber drivers. They have them in Downtown Tucson, and I’ve been to ‘em.
What? Slim with no car is at an Uber meeting?
Well, I can explain everything. I belong to an organization that has its meetings right after Uber’s weekly cattle call.
From my perspective, it looks like Uber is going after the same beaten-down folks who are often attracted to MLMs.
You don’t need a car. Uber will be glad to network you with its predatory lenders to get you in an unaffordable lease for a car to drive, with payments/garnishments coming right out of the ‘paycheck’ you get.
Yup. And I’ll bet that those unaffordable leases are being pushed on the Uber folks I see in Tucson.
Never thought of this angle. Great for the auto industry. They’ll be Uber supporters, if they aren’t already.
How about a simple rule: No Airbnb for absentee owners. Or hotel tax out the wazoo.
There are ways to make it work.
what makes airbnb so special? why do you need them? If I wanted to rent a room couldnt I just do it myself? what kind of protection are they offering homeowners? Are they renters somehow screened and is airbnb taking responibility for evicting them if they dont leave?
Sure there are. Just make it legal. But gatecrashing the laws isn’t some big “tech” innovation. I could have done the same thing on Craigslist but I doubt a bunch of lawyers would have rushed to my defense.
Get government out of the way and let people use their property to make money! Libertarians have been saying this for a while. Here’s an example though. I grew up in a town that didn’t have zoning. Oh boy the wild west right? No, there were deed restrictions. In my neighborhood no one could have started a B&B without the consent of surrounding owners. Get them to agree, pay them.
So let’s consider how this goes; I want to open a food stand on the street out front. Tacos! Don’t dare shut me down. The cat is out of the bag, I really need the money. This is a new paradigm of the sharing economy. No one has thought of food trucks in residential areas before. IPO baby, I’ll get a web page.
It’s just silly. Sure, let’s break down too rigid and over taxed barriers to capitalism. But don’t tell me this is a new thing. And as I said, I have my doubts that these investors would be buying up dozens of California condos if prices weren’t skyrocketing.
No Airbnb for absentee owners ??
What about private property rights ?? You can rent it for a month but not for a week ?? You can rent it for a year but not for a month ?? You can’t rent it “at all” ?? Slippery slope as always when the government starts regulating…Personally, I think the cry is from the motel/hotel associations…Particularly the Flee-Bitten, stinky rooms some of the operators offer at ridicules prices…
As I mentioned, deed restrictions have been around a long time. Zoning is more onerous than those. We’re a long ways from private property rights. Let’s roll it back. But I suspect this is more about IPO’s and making billions for venture capitalists than a grass-roots effort to re-establish property rights.
AirBNB has made deals in places like Portland to charge and remit the transient occupancy tax (like hotels).
Are the airbnb and Uber services all due to the advent of a smartphone segment having access? What other services are possible then?
Probably with uber, airbnb not so much IMO.
BTW I looked into making this blog smartphone capable. The problem is compatibility with this old version of wordpress. The last time I updated it, it was a monumental task because of the database size. I am hesitant to take that on, but will continue to look at ways to make it happen.
Yup. You are using an elderly WP version. But we love you anyway.
I read the blog more on my smartphone than I do on my laptop…
I guess I’m showing my age, but my smartphone is most often used for making calls and texting. If I want to look at websites, I use my desktop or laptop computer.
Reason: That phone screen is too darn small!
I got one because my old Blackberry died. Although I can moderate this blog on it, I admit I haven’t used 5% of the whiz-bang features it has. Mostly because the screen is too small and the input (I have an S Pen) is too clunky. I can’t imagine having to rely on my fingers only.
Agree with Slim completely. About five years ago I was in a movie theater with my wife, sitting through the usual sequence of commercials before the coming attractions came on-screen, when an ad ran showing people enthusiastically watching movies, playing games, etc. on their phones. I said, a little too loudly, “who the #^*)# wants to watch a movie on a three-inch screen?”
Glad to see I’m not the only smart phone skeptic here.
If you have a device with a decent-sized screen, then the device itself is too big to easily go into a pocket.
Plus, if you’re far-sighted like me and have to stop and put on glasses every time you want to see something on the screen, it’s a PITA.
Glad to see I’m not the only smart phone skeptic here.
You have plenty of company. All I use my Android phone for, besides phone calls and texting, is for checking email. I’ve used the GPS/SatNav on it a couple of times, but beyond that, the screen is too small.
Expensive.
Too sensitive. Every time I touch it something turns on or off.
Has 60 or so apps running at all times that I never asked for or downloaded and don’t know what they do.
One thing that creeped me out; I went to a grocery store I don’t usually frequent and noticed they had digital coupon ads displayed. When I got home I turned on my PC and there were ads for that store.
Re: smartphone
Two in the family have ones from Virgin Mobile, grandfathered in at $25 a month. The phones themselves are very old (but can now can be had at $50 or less, LG VM670); ours are still functioning and work fine. Under the grandfathering, if a phone craps out, you can buy a replacement and they’ll still give you the $25/mo rate. I’m going to work that till it’s dead.
I’ve heard good things about Ting, though it’s been a quite a while since I’ve looked at that site.
No, it’s far worse than that. My friend met somebody they had not been in touch with for years at a dog park completely by coincidence.
When he got home, Facebook asked him if he wanted to friend that person. He had not called, emailed, or texted that person, but the googlegods knew that their phones had spent quality time together at the same GPS coordinates.
‘Probably with uber, airbnb not so much IMO.’
I forgot about peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and music sharing sites like Napster. Though they are not smartphone apps so much, the disruption aspect is what I am fascinated about. It seems like a greater degree of efficiency ( maybe cutting out established long-term service providers like medallion taxis, banks, CD stores and hotels, etc) happens and you get lower costs to the consumer but it is either illegal or maybe too risky. Also, we have crowd fund sourcing sites now too.
‘I first noticed the effect of vacation rentals in the Russian River area, where home values started steadily increasing as a result of this sharing economy. Those little 2 bedroom 1 bath homes that could only be rented for $1,100 per month because of their distance from Santa Rosa could now fetch up to $5,000 per month if properly marketed and booked up because of their close proximity to the vacation area.’
Here’s a question; to what extent are these circumstances, combined with increasing prices, driving sales prices up further? The other day I posted an article in which a NY woman said she bought a second house knowing she couldn’t afford it without it being a vacation rental.
Ben,
Thats what the HGTV show Free Vacation Rental is premised on.
‘Your vacation home isn’t free if you’re not earning enough to offset the money you put into it. Blashaw recommends calculating the carrying cost, mortgage, taxes, utilities, insurance, and any other costs on an annual basis.’
“Then you need to renovate and figure out how many weeks you need to rent at x dollars to have your vacation house for free,” Blashaw explains.’
‘Of course, no house is actually free, but by earning money on the home when it would otherwise be vacant, homeowners can essentially get a vacation house that pays for itself.’
“You’re contributing to your wealth and your future,” Blashaw says, “not throwing your money away on Hilton and Marriott. You’re building equity in what I think is the best investment anyone can have, which is real estate. Plus, people want to have a place they can retire to, so it’s a win-win.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/vacation-house-for-free-2014-12#ixzz3cloZHgyA
Nothing pays for itself.
Certainly not depreciating assets like houses.
“Airbnb has responded with a battalion of lobbyists, especially in big states such as California and New York, along with beefed-up PR operations. It has hired veterans of Silicon Valley, the Obama administration and big labor unions. While the company touts ‘home sharing’ — the spare-room rental — in its advertising and political campaigns, nearly two-thirds of listings in L.A. and other big markets are for whole units, according to a recent study by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, a labor-backed think tank. Those units generate 89% of the company’s revenue in Los Angeles, the organization estimates.”
Correct me if I am wrong here but in my reading of history - something I do ALOT - when Czarist Russia fell in the 1917 revolution - the marxists moved folks around in a way where if Mr. and Mrs. Smith owned an apartment the marxist authority would pound on the door - introduce Mr. and Mrs. Smith to a new ‘family’ the Jones’s announcing to the Smith’s that your home is now their home - time to pack up and go.
This Airbnb thing - esp. with Otrauma admin hack impremature on it as noted in the post has a similar odor to it.
Really? AirBnB is like Czarist Russia? FFS…
‘Forty people took their three minutes of time at the microphone, over three-quarters of them calling for more regulation, more restriction, stricter enforcement and even the imposition of penalties on landlords who allow violations of neighborhood standards.’
‘A chart of the 822 permitted vacation rentals in Sonoma County (there may be as many as three times more vacation rentals that have not been issued permits, according to county inventory) showed 41 percent of permits were issued in the Russian River area around Guerneville, and an almost equal percentage, around 40 percent, issued in the Sonoma Valley. While the former has a long history as a getaway for families and couples, the Valley’s popularity has been rising in recent years as a vacation destination, paralleling the growth of the wine tourism industry.’
‘That may be part of the reason that Valley residents made a strong showing at the microphone Monday night, voicing their complaints about excessive parties, late night noise, strange cars taking up all the street parking, open fires and, most of all, too much alcohol.’
“It’s like they opened a bar in the middle of our neighborhood,” said Wayne Mehl of the Diamond A subdivision on Sonoma Mountain.’
http://www.sonomanews.com/home/3965478-181/airbnb-foes-speak-out#3rIMbv3sSfofAcMr.99
Do these people have property rights? I lived for a while on a resort island, and spent one year in a 4 plex where I was the only long term renter. The rest were weekenders, maybe a week here and there. For the most part those people were there to paaarti! I knew what I was getting into when I signed on though. Most of the time I had the place to myself, so it wasn’t so bad.
‘Is there a better place in the country for a rustic, romantic, relaxing vacation than Sonoma County? Vacation rentals are exploding. Here’s how hot it is in Guerneville along the Russian River. Tom Lowrie was offered $5,000 just to put his home on an out-of-state rental site.’
“That’s a chunk of change. Which indicated to me there’s a lot of money involved with this,” Lowrie told KPIX 5.’
‘Quaint towns in the Wine Country and along the Russian River are seeing a flood of weekend vacationers. And that’s leading to headaches, literally.’
“It had weddings. And big three-day drumming parties,” said 83-year-old Mickey Cooke, who watches every weekend the steady stream of overnighters from her Glen Ellen home.’
“Bringing dogs and smoking and making a lot of noise. Sometimes we can have as many as 43 people on the road on the weekends that don’t live here, so that’s a little hard to take,” Cooke told KPIX 5.’
‘Tom Lowrie has problems almost every weekend. “Sounds like they’re having some sort of awards ceremony…and its 11 o’clock at night,” Lowrie said.’
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/05/18/rowdy-vacation-renters-headache-guerneville-russian-river-airbnb/
Oh man, drum circles; like shoes in a dryer.
‘The number of zombie foreclosures are rising in the Los Angeles area and other major cities, as banks push troubled homes through the foreclosure process to take advantage of higher prices, according to data released Thursday.’
‘These foreclosures, involving homes vacated by owners, rose over the past year in half of the 183 metro areas followed by online foreclosure marketplace and data provider RealtyTrac. In the Los Angeles metro area, zombie foreclosures jumped 39% over the past year to almost 1,900 at the end of the second quarter, while in the Houston metro area they leapt 38% to 442.’
“Banks realize that because of this seller’s market, they can get top dollar, even for the scratch-and-dent properties that foreclosures represent,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.’
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/zombie-foreclosures-climb-in-la-area-other-major-cities-2015-06-11
‘If you’ve had the dumb luck — and don’t kid yourself that it’s anything else — to have made money in the latest China stock mania, I have five words of advice: Get. The. Hell. Out. Now.’
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-worlds-worst-investment-bubble-will-burst-soon-2015-06-11?page=2
That story isn’t getting nearly enough play. This is the biggest scam in history. More remarkable facts from the link:
“In the four weeks after the government allowed investors to have more than one trading account, individuals opened 12.8 million new accounts. Chinese retail investors generate 90% of all trades, reports Barron’s, higher than the historical average of 80%.
Unfortunately, Chinese investors don’t seem to have learned from their mistakes in the last bubble, maybe because they’re not the same people. And the newbies are hardly sophisticated investors: The Economist cited a study that said more than two-thirds of them left school before the age of 15.
Meanwhile, the so-called ’smart money’ is cashing in its chips: Both Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas recently turned bearish on Chinese stocks.”
Part of my wife’s 401k is in an international fund.
Thinking the same thing, I just rebalanced yesterday. The ratios weren’t all that off-kilter, since I have only a little exposure to China through the funds…if there is a subsequent China market crash, I’ll rebalance again.
‘You don’t have to spend much time in the housing section of San Francisco Craigslist to encounter an off-putting tech industry smugness that’s sadly all too prevalent in the Bay Area these days. “We are looking to live with extraordinary startup founders who have been through the shit and are able and willing to talk,” one housing classified stated late last month. “Not only cool people, but people that would add value to our community.”
‘Though not every housing ad on the city’s Craigslist site reads like this one, multiple posts of a similar vein show up every day. The ads, which sometimes read almost like job postings, seek tech workers with specific qualifications to fill open beds in apartments often packed with their carbon copies. And they lend credibility to one of the most stinging criticisms of the tech industry today: that it’s unwilling to look outside its own bubble, and therefore incapable of solving real world problems instead of minor inconveniences.’
‘Consider this pitch for another Oakland housing arrangement: “24/7 emersion in the the #STARTUPLIFE, bouncing ideas, perfecting pitches, coding, building projects, etc. If you are an innovator with an entrepreneurial mind then you will fit right in.”
‘Another posting titled “Do you work for a start-up. Why don’t you live in one too?” boasted of the house’s “collision factor,” telling applicants that connections it facilitated led to an actual $1 million funding round. An email I sent asking if the ad was a parody was answered with a handful of questions including which company I worked for and my role there. A subsequent email drew a response to the initial question: “Certainly not a parody.” The post has since been deleted.’
‘While tech house posts like these are worth a chuckle, they’re also further anecdotal evidence of the link between tech money and skyrocketing rents in in San Francisco.’
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/these-craigslist-ads-say-a-lot-about-tech-culture#.gx6mW1R77a
People have tried to get similar things going in Tucson. And you know what? Most of them don’t get very far.
If you want to see what’s really transforming our economy, read about the businesses profiled in Edible Baja Arizona magazine. (It’s about our local foodshed.) Or go to a Local First Arizona meeting.
What’s interesting about the LFA meetings is how lively they are. Not a bunch of people staring at their laptops or fiddling with their phones.
Instead, we talk to each other. Face to face. That’s how deals really get done, peeps!
Boy, I’m sure life-long friendships will come from those soulless living arrangements. And having gone through an era of reckless tech investment before, I feel comfortable in saying that, In this era, getting funded says more about the overall economic environment than it does about the strength of your business idea.
The young pups tolerate this because they believethat their startup employer will get bought out by Fakebook or some other deep pockets firm and their stock options will make them rich, rich, RICH! Rich enough to buy a 50 year old house somewhere in the bay area.
You took the words right off-a my keyboard, snake charmer. And I can attest to the fact that no one makes friends in these living arrangements. It’s all about what you can get out of the other people.
A big thing here is “Maker Meetings” where somebody shows people how to solder a few things together and write a little code. I’ve gone to a couple… and the self importance and lack of talent is a wonder to behold.
I would estimate about a 40% poser rate among the techies here. Dumb people looking for dumb venture capitalists with dumb money.
It feels like it’s about to pop. The strong dollar is clobbering the overseas investors and companies with offices here. Fantastically expensive operations are 20% more expensive than they were in January.
I experienced that locally, was invited to an opening party for a maker space by a welder I’d used to do a repair (who was talented). The party was a joke, have seen much better tech demos done by middle school students, was very disappointed as I’d hoped to take a few classes and maybe share some knowledge on my interests (like DIY tube electronics, metal fabrication, etc), have access to expensive tools, etc.
Two years later the place still is not off the ground…
http://chimeraarts.org/about/status/
I’ve gone to maker events. For the most part, I’ve found them to be quite pretentious. They make me want to go home and build another sunken basin for my garden.
Backgrounder on that statement: Hand-digging basins in Tucson is like pounding into concrete. So, in order to want to do such a thing, I have to be pretty annoyed.
But can’t you soften the ground up a bit by watering where you want to dig? Or does the water just bead up and roll away?