Texas Land

Bush and the Texas Land Grab Bush and the Texas Land Grab July 16, 2002 By Nicholas D. Kristof Editorial Op-Ed To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@nytimes.com Democrats and media hounds are baying under the wrong tree. The point in President Bush's business career where he took outrageous shortcuts was not at Harken Energy, but rather when he was grabbing land for a new baseball stadium in Arlington for his Texas Rangers baseball team. Mr. Bush broke no laws. Neither do the overwhelming majority of corporate executives. The cloud over the business world comes not so much from lawbreaking as from avaricious bruising of the public interest. The challenge is not catching criminals but injecting public scrutiny into a culture of cronyism in which executives, accountants, regulators and "independent" board members all ooze empathy for each other. When Asia had its economic crisis in 1997-98, Americans properly trashed its "crony capitalism." But we suffer from the same affliction ourselves, and President Bush will not address the issue seriously because cronyism has been his way of life -- the Bushes call it loyalty. I have a stack of court documents from Arlington that portray the "sordid and shocking tale" of the Rangers stadium, as one lawsuit puts it. Essentially, Mr. Bush and the owners' group he led bullied and misled the city into raising taxes to build a $200 million stadium that in effect would be handed over to the Rangers. As part of the deal, the city would even confiscate land from private owners so that the Rangers owners could engage in real estate speculation. "It was a $200 million transfer to Bush and Rangers owners," complains Jim Runzheimer, an anti-tax campaigner in Arlington. William Eastland, a leading Republican in Arlington, is also outraged, and puts it this way: "You're using public money for a private purpose." Mr. Eastland was a Bush delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2000 but still believes that the Bush group behaved shadily and against the public interest. Local voters overwhelmingly approved the deal, so maybe we shouldn't get so exercised by star-struck local officials giving $200 million to rich baseball owners. But the most unseemly part of the deal was that Mr. Bush and the Rangers' owners conspired with city officials to seize private property that would be handed over to the Bush group. "A group of wealthy and influential people threatened and traded their way into an unprecedented takeover of government power and private property in an awesome display of greed and avarice," charges a lawsuit by the landowners, in what strikes me as a fair recitation of events. Another suit charges that the deal "can only be described as astounding, unprecedented and blatantly illegal." A copy of the secret agreement among Mr. Bush and the other Rangers owners shows that they intended to make money not just by running a baseball club but also by land speculation. For example, one owner found a nice chunk of land and sent a memo suggesting that it "sounds like another condemnation candidate if you want to work the site into your master plan," according to the court documents. Another of the owners' internal memos casts a proprietary gaze on a property and declares: "We plan to condemn this land." For a group of financiers to go around town admiring properties and deciding which to seize through the government power of condemnation so that they can acquire free land and speculate on it is appalling. Even Kazakhstan would blush at such practices. Horace Kelton, for example, owned land that the Rangers wanted. The owners got Arlington to seize it, with the city paying less than $1.50 per square foot even though it had previously paid $10 a square foot for other land nearby. "It was an extremely low price, and that's why we had a court case that lasted seven years," Mr. Kelton recalled. Eventually, his family got $11 a square foot. In fairness, Mr. Bush was simply being a hard-nosed businessman. He did a great job leading the owners' group, and it's hard to take seriously the caricature of him as unintelligent when he led the Rangers so lucratively. Indeed, his $14 million profit on the Rangers financed his entry into politics. But it's also a sordid tale of cronyism, of misuse of power, of cozy backroom money-grubbing -- a more pressing threat to American business than outright criminality. LINK to source

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CNN/Money: The hottest zip codes Web CNN/Money Buying & Selling Investment Property Home Improvement Million $ Life Financing Best Places This year's hottest zip codes By Sarah Max, CNN/Money senior staff writer PLUS: • What makes a zip code HOT? • Homes in hot zip codes • Ultimate home guide 2005 SALEM, Ore. (CNN/Money) - Whether home prices will rise or fall in the coming year is anyone's guess. The housing market continues to stump experts on both sides of the bubble debate. Even so, economists at Fiserv Case Shiller Weiss think they have a pretty good idea what's in the cards for most metros in 2005. Their prediction: Los Angeles will fizzle. Miami will sizzle. There's some reason to believe them. Fiserv CSW has been forecasting annual home-price growth at the metro level for more than a decade, with a not-too-shabby record: the group's median forecast error is less than 2 percent. To track housing performance, the researchers look at repeat sales data for a sample of houses in each zip code, a method they consider more accurate than simply looking at changes in an area's median home price. They also consider past price changes, employment trends and interest-rate trends to devise a forecast for the coming year. Finally, they make adjustments to individual areas to account for other factors that could influence an area's housing market. What's up in L.A.? Over the past five years home prices in the Los Angeles area appreciated 125 percent, with prices in a handful of zip codes up nearly 200 percent. But Fiserv CSW is predicting that prices in the greater Los Angeles area will increase by only 5.8 percent in 2005, with slightly better appreciation in some L.A. markets and price declines in others. "There is anecdotal evidence that the market there is weakening," said David Stiff, a senior economist with Case Shiller Weiss. "It hasn't worked its way into our model yet." For that reason, the firm declined to give a forecast for individual zip codes in Los Angeles. "We are very uncertain about what will happen to home prices in Los Angeles this year," Stiff added. Miami's market, however, may still have room to grow. Home prices in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro have doubled over the last five years, and Fiserv CSW is forecasting that they will appreciate another 16.4 percent this year. "Unlike L.A., Miami has a higher ceiling [for price appreciation] because affordability is less of an issue," said Stiff. What's the forecast for your hood? For each of the 10 largest metro regions tracked by Fiserv Case Shiller Weiss, here are the 10 zip codes with the largest median five-year price increases -- and their prospects for the coming year. Data on five-year price change are through the fourth quarter of 2004, while the forecasted change is for the first quarter of 2005 through the first quarter of 2006. Click on column headings to re-sort » Metro Area Median price 5-Yr Price Change 1 Forecasted change 2 Boston 338,000 73.60% 8.00% Lawrence MA 01841 226,000 121.10% 9.90% New Bedford MA 02744 207,000 120.50% 9.60% New Bedford MA 02740 225,000 118.10% 9.80% Worcester MA 01610 193,000 116.30% 16.20% Fairhaven MA 02719 254,000 113.50% 9.80% New Bedford MA 02745 245,000 112.30% 11.10% Wareham MA 02571 260,500 111.50% 8.20% Manchester NH 03102 242,000 111.10% 10.80% North Dartmouth MA 02747 324,500 110.90% 10.90% Mattapoisett MA 02739 353,500 110.70% 9.80% Chicago 254,000 49.60% 8.30% Chicago IL 60632 205,000 91.20% 13.80% Chicago IL 60638 237,000 90.90% 15.30% Chicago IL 60629 195,000 89.90% 16.70% Chicago IL 60652 180,000 84.60% 16.00% Chicago IL 60639 265,000 84.10% 11.20% Chicago IL 60630 318,000 83.30% 12.20% Chicago IL 60634 300,000 83.20% 12.50% Chicago IL 60640 511,000 82.20% 12.50% Oak Park IL 60302 450,000 80.50% 8.80% Chicago IL 60641 320,000 79.80% 11.10% Detroit 156,000 23.50% 4.50% Inkster MI 48141 85,000 39.80% 3.80% Pontiac MI 48342 75,000 37.90% 3.30% Mount Clemens MI 48043 136,000 35.90% NA Romulus MI 48174 145,000 35.80% 3.40% Dearborn Heights MI 48125 110,000 35.60% 3.40% Center Line MI 48015 125,000 35.60% 5.50% Ann Arbor MI 48103 263,000 35.50% 2.90% Detroit MI 48223 75,000 35.30% 2.00% Ann Arbor MI 48104 314,000 35.00% 1.30% Detroit MI 48235 97,000 34.30% 2.00% Los Angeles 418,000 125.70% 5.80% Rialto CA 92376 270,000 191.90% NA Littlerock CA 93543 230,000 185.80% NA Fontana CA 92335 272,000 184.70% NA Mira Loma CA 91752 449,000 182.50% NA Burbank CA 91502 677,500 180.50% NA Glendale CA 91203 538,000 180.40% NA Inglewood CA 90305 425,000 176.60% NA Santa Ana CA 92707 475,000 176.10% NA Riverside CA 92509 325,000 174.70% NA Inglewood CA 90303 390,000 173.80% NA Miami 246,000 106.00% 16.40% Miami FL 33137 265,000 171.30% NA Miami FL 33138 360,000 161.40% NA Miami FL 33150 142,000 147.80% 21.80% Fort Lauderdale FL 33311 175,000 134.50% 19.90% Pompano Beach FL 33062 355,000 133.00% 20.00% Deerfield Beach FL 33441 253,000 130.70% 17.10% Fort Lauderdale FL 33314 175,000 128.40% 22.80% Hollywood FL 33020 204,000 128.30% NA Pompano Beach FL 33064 171,000 126.90% 21.50% Miami FL 33179 169,000 125.50% 18.20% New York 360,000 87.50% 11.90% Beach Haven NJ 08008 687,500 146.00% 14.30% Tuckerton NJ 08087 216,000 134.50% 13.70% Mastic Beach NY 11951 228,000 130.20% NA Manorville NY 11949 392,000 128.80% 16.30% Brielle NJ 08730 519,000 127.70% 11.70% Bellport NY 11713 158,000 127.50% NA Mastic NY 11950 239,500 127.20% 17.10% Lavallette NJ 08735 557,500 127.00% 12.90% Perth Amboy NJ 08861 260,000 126.90% 13.00% Waretown NJ 08758 350,000 125.60% 15.50% Philadelphia 199,000 71.00% 11.40% Brigantine NJ 08203 358,500 149.50% 15.40% Sea Isle City NJ 08243 699,000 136.50% 20.10% Ocean City NJ 08226 650,000 133.80% 18.50% Ventnor City NJ 08406 285,000 132.20% 18.50% Villas NJ 08251 167,500 124.40% 20.60% Margate City NJ 08402 549,000 122.70% 17.10% Ocean View NJ 08230 325,000 118.50% 15.30% Northfield NJ 08225 207,500 117.30% 15.60% Marmora NJ 08223 265,000 116.50% 16.00% Somers Point NJ 08244 225,500 111.50% 16.00% San Francisco 576,000 82.00% 14.40% Vallejo CA 94590 361,000 149.00% 16.90% Oakland CA 94621 310,000 144.20% 15.00% Dixon CA 95620 448,000 140.70% 16.10% Fairfield CA 94533 367,000 137.00% 18.00% Vallejo CA 94589 370,000 135.70% 17.80% Oakland CA 94603 326,500 135.70% 15.30% Suisun City CA 94585 380,000 131.50% 17.20% Oakley CA 94561 400,500 130.20% 21.40% Pittsburg CA 94565 389,000 129.90% 20.10% Vacaville CA 95687 391,500 129.70% 14.80% Seattle 289,000 38.50% 10.10% Seattle WA 98126 294,000 57.80% 10.30% Seattle WA 98106 233,000 53.40% 12.30% Seattle WA 98109 556,000 53.00% 11.40% Seattle WA 98107 362,000 52.50% 9.50% Seattle WA 98117 380,000 52.40% 8.40% Seattle WA 98103 399,000 52.30% 8.90% Seattle WA 98199 510,000 51.10% 8.20% Seattle WA 98116 389,000 51.10% 8.10% Seattle WA 98105 441,000 50.60% 6.90% Seattle WA 98168 229,000 48.80% 9.00% Washington, D.C. 335,000 99.00% 14.90% Gaithersburg MD 20877 329,000 127.40% 14.30% Germantown MD 20874 291,000 117.80% 16.00% Silver Spring MD 20903 340,000 116.90% 12.40% Gaithersburg MD 20879 309,000 115.90% 13.70% Rockville MD 20851 320,000 112.50% 9.30% Silver Spring MD 20910 450,000 112.00% 8.70% Gaithersburg MD 20878 485,500 112.00% 10.60% Rockville MD 20853 400,000 111.10% 12.30% Rockville MD 20850 523,000 109.80% 9.30% Silver Spring MD 20901 365,000 109.60% 12.50% Notes: 1 Q4 1999 through Q4 2004 2 Q1 2005 through Q1 2006 Source: Fiserv CSW «top» The Hot List Most profitable renovations How risky is your 401(k)? 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