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Friday, April 16, 2004

Affordable Housing ... that stays affordable! 

How would you feel about a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with no money down and a mortgage set at $400 a month for the next 30 years? This is the deal I am currently putting together for 17 native Hawaiian families who have been granted 99 year leases to Community Land Trust (CLT) land under the Dept. of Hawaiian Homelands. They are working with Self-Help Housing to build their own homes under the supervision of a construction supervisor (with subcontractors for plumbing, electric, excavation, and masonry) and the mortgages will in fact vary from $256 - $600 per month, depending on family income. This is fact, not theory, so I ask you again, how would you feel about having such an opportunity? How about the idea that everyone you know could have such an opportunity, unlimited right to live someplace?

If you do have apprehension at this idea, you would benefit greatly from taking a close look at your psychological belief in scarcity and the need for "survival of the fittest." I would like to suggest that a more evolved way of looking at how people live in community embraces the idea of shared land, private houses, where everyone wins and no one sacrifices. Even the current owners of the land do not lose. The land is bought from them at market rates then developed by the land trust which then turns around and leases it off to the families who will build their homes there. Let me say this again. Everyone wins and no one loses! This is wisdom in action.

If you agree, consider putting your words and actions where your wisdom is. Read the full entry at Indigo Ocean to learn more, then find out what is being done in your area to create a community land trust that you can be a part of.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

More From the Army War College 

The thing is, the folks who are experts on the subject of warcraft came up with very detailed plans about how to manage the invasion, and they were ignored. And just today, Lt. Col. Antulio Echevarria of the U.S. Army War College released a paper accusing the Bush administration of "seeking to win 'quickly and on the cheap' while ignoring the more critical strategic aim of creating a stable, democratic nation." And he's not the first War College professor to go public with criticism of Bush administration policies.

(More at edwardpig)