Thanks to Woods for this link to a Press Democrat article about pot growing and land prices in rural Mendocino County. I suspect the dynamics aren’t too different here across the county border.
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December 27, 2010 at 10:59 am
Kym Kemp
It is interesting to speculate on how much worse the county’s position might be if land prices and therefor property taxes weren’t kept high by marijuana stabilizing land prices.
December 27, 2010 at 11:56 am
Eric Kirk
Not to mention local business revenues and the accompanying sales taxes. It would be interesting if there was a study to track down how many jobs have been saved/generated. I know that Security National had some studies done to evaluate the feasibility of a Home Depot based upon all the money flowing through the county. They haven’t shared it with the public, but it was a basis on which they were rejecting the Bay Area Foundation study’s findings which was based on more conventional methods of tracking money.
December 27, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Bolithio
It would also be interesting to get a story on pot and land values, that is the land ethics pot growers have. The long term value$ of the land could be very much influenced by the short term economics of pot. What are the values or resources the land holds that govern the price? Short term investment potential? Development? Timber, wildlife, water? How does diverting water from small creeks and springs effect the value of land? What about hundreds of diversions in a watershed? Does the overall quality of a watershed effect individual ownerships? What about roads? Are they delivering sediment to our creeks and rivers? Are pot growers utilizing best management practices? Are they installing erosion controls prior to winter? Do they use seasonal roads in the winter? Do serious erosional problems effect the land values? What about all the little clear cuts for green houses? Are they planned out? Are they in riparian areas? Are they on archaeological sites? Are they on land slides? Do these short term practices effect the long term value of the land? Fuel, fertilizer… I could go on and on. Lots of questions around pot growers land values.
December 27, 2010 at 11:29 pm
Eric Kirk
True of any agriculture or industry.
December 28, 2010 at 9:41 am
Bolithio
Except virtually all other agricultural industries are regulated to prevent such things. Not to mention no other industry provides so much short term gain while not having to put anything back. Why should someone give a shit about a muddy road all winter? Who cares if a few hundred yards of dirt get in the creeks? Pot could be legal next year, Im getting mine…
Thats the part that bugs me. When you know how much money is being made, you would think it wouldn’t be that hard to put something back into the land. But its all about the bottom line right?!
While everyone is drinking expensive wine and blowing money around the world this winter, I wonder how much they are thinking about their “local community”.
December 31, 2010 at 11:29 am
Kra
Right on, Eric Kirk !
January 2, 2011 at 7:27 pm
How Much Money does Humboldt’s Marijuana Economy Generate? « REDHEADED BLACKBELT
[...] Just recently, The Press Democrat did a story on how marijuana may be propping up land values in Mendocino. Again it was based on speculation but common sense indicates that something is happening here in Southern Humboldt. Based on anecdotal evidence, properties here are selling for even more than they did 10 years ago. With land prices up, this supports property taxes. “Not to mention local business revenues and the accompanying sales taxes,” Eric Kirk pointed out a few days ago. [...]