UPDATE – Nov. 2023: This lament was shared on social media over a month ago as the impacts of new housing were felt in a local neighborhood. Now a friend and neighbor has lost their home because of the construction. The pounding and shaking literally destroyed her aging home. See below for more information and a link to the Go-Fund-Me for community helper, friend and neighbor Sharla Smith with her housing.
They come before 7 AM and leave well past 5 PM. The noise is a constant barrage of sound, and it’s loud. It’s sounds of heavy machinery, trucks beeping, and chainsaws buzzing. It’s so loud you can’t think. The noise is like a prison, walls of sound keeping me down. I no longer have peace in my backyard, a place that once was a refuge for me.
But I can’t complain, they are building workforce housing.
They took chainsaws to the land. They killed every tree that stood there, with no care or concern for the underground network, the community of trees, that have been there longer than most have lived here. I hear the trees, they’re crying. I can feel their pain within my body. There is now an open field of desolate nothingness. And I worry for those trees that are left. Will they withstand the first windstorm that comes through this winter? Or will they all come crashing down?
But I can’t complain, they are building workforce housing.
They cleared the lot of all vegetation, making huge piles of mulch, displacing animals and wildlife that had their homes here longer than we have been here. There has been an incredible increase in sightings and encounters with cougars and coyotes, deer, and elk. Rats have found their way into my home, for the first time since I moved here. They have been chewing holes into my walls, and into my pantry, leaving evidence of their occupancy with clawed open bags of food, and fecal droppings. There’s a leak under my sink, from the water hose with a hole they created with their gnawing.
But I can’t complain, they are building workforce housing.
They shake the land, compacting the soil, getting it ready for construction of apartments. The vibration is steady and incessant. It knocks things off my walls and moves things around the room. I find things I value broken on my floor when I return home from work. The vibration causes the radio to buzz, and the announcer’s voice is static. The vibration moves through my whole body. I feel it moving through my brain, causing headaches and nervous system tremors, anxiety, and triggers a fight/flight reaction.
But I can’t complain, they are building workforce housing.
There will be multiple two-story apartment buildings built high above my back yard, destroying my solitude, and any privacy I once had. With the trees gone, this will be even more of an issue. These apartment buildings will provide much needed housing for a workforce that now caters to the rich, the second homeowners, to vacation rentals. This is a small town, rural living, in one of the most beautiful places on earth. And it is being eaten alive by wealth and greed.
But I can’t complain, they are building workforce housing.
They are building workforce housing, not affordable housing. They don’t even try to call it that anymore. They are building apartments because workers can’t afford to live here, can’t afford to buy homes in the place where they work, as they once did. We have displaced our workers. They live in tents, and in their cars, because there is no housing available to rent. All the while, there are a multitude of homes sitting empty, more valuable to the homeowner as a short-term rental, than long term housing for those that live and work here full time. They will survive the winter storms, they will continue to scrape by with what little they have, these workers; they are families, our community, our neighbors, our friends. But we don’t work to provide houses for them, they are not worthy. We tear down forests of trees and displace animal habitats, destroying what used to be a community, to build ticky-tacky apartments.
And, I can’t complain, they are building workforce housing.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/sharla-needs-shelter
This “Go-Fund-Me” is to help support Sharla Smith, our neighbor and friend, who is in desperate need, through no fault of her own. Her house was old and frail. They did earth compacting for a 24 unit apartment building project in back of our houses, for weeks on end. This broke the tub drain, which then comprised the bathroom. As they were working on repairs, one thing led to another, rot and black mold were uncovered throughout. Her house has become completely unlivable. Now, as winter is starting, she must go through the process of ripping down her home, and trying to figure out what to do next. I’m asking for help creating funds for her to use to at least build shelter for the winter, maybe even enough for a new home, if we can make it happen. I am starting with an amount that would help purchase the materials needed for a small stick built shelter, or purchase a small travel trailer- but again, if possible, please let’s try and go above and beyond to help fund a new home, where she can feel safe, and secure for many years to come. Sharla is an vital part of our community, giving love to us for many years. Now let’s give it back to her. Thank you!
