Arizona real estate: ADOT buying some houses in planned freeway’s path

September 6th, 2010

By Cathryn Creno

The Arizona Republic

The Arizona Department of Transportation is quietly buying Phoenix homes in the path of the planned South Mountain Freeway from people with special hardship cases, even though the state is strapped for cash and the agency is in talks to move the route.

For homeowners who qualify, ADOT’s hardship program is a financial godsend. For neighbors who also want to sell their homes but don’t meet the strict criteria, it can be frustrating, upsetting and seem plain unfair.

More: http://bit.ly/dxETkw

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APS, TEP file renewable energy standards plans with ACC

September 6th, 2010

Arizona Public Service is working on getting 280-megawatt plant, called Solana, built. The plant could power 70,000 homes.

Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power have applied for approval of their renewable energy standard implementation plans from the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Read the plans here: APS REST Plan TEP REST Plan

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Housing woes bring new cry: Let market fall

September 6th, 2010

By David Streitfeld

The New York Times

The unexpectedly deep plunge in home sales this summer is likely to force the Obama Administration to choose between future homeowners and current ones, a predicament officials had been eager to avoid.

Over the last 18 months, the administration has rolled out just about every program it could think of to prop up the ailing housing market, using tax credits, mortgage modification programs, low interest rates, government-backed loans and other assistance intended to keep values up and delinquent borrowers out of foreclosure. The goal was to stabilize the market until a resurgent economy created new households that demanded places to live.

More: http://nyti.ms/cHs6jJ

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Zoning-district plans would help pave way for raceway’s development

September 6th, 2010

By David Madrid

The Arizona Republic

Avondale is drafting a proposed sports-and-entertainment zoning district that would allow Phoenix International Raceway to expand near the racetrack.

PIR, which hosts NASCAR races in Avondale twice a year, needs the city to create the appropriate zoning so it can develop its property into a major regional and national destination.

More: http://bit.ly/cz2qmZ

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Real-estate event to link lenders, developers

September 6th, 2010

The Arizona Republic

Those seeking money for a promising construction project or other capital-intensive venture must have the right answers to negotiate their way to financing, while those offering money must ask the right questions to ferret out the fools and frauds.

Phoenix real-estate analyst Jim Belfiore organized a one-day conference in September 2009 that sought to bring the two groups together for mutual education.

Belfiore, president of Belfiore Real Estate Consulting, said interest on both sides – he had planned for 250 attendees and more than 350 showed up – persuaded him to make it an annual event.

More: http://bit.ly/9VW4uA

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[EDITORIAL] Unsolved coal ash problem

September 6th, 2010

Coal ash spill in Tennessee

The New York Times

In December 2008, a gigantic storage pond belonging to the Tennessee Valley Authority near Kingston, Tenn., effectively burst at the seams, spilling a billion gallons of mainly toxic coal ash from a T.V.A. power plant into surrounding lands and rivers.

It was the perfect moment to right a long-festering environmental wrong. The Environmental Protection Agency promised tough new regulations governing the disposal of coal ash. Industry complained. The White House hesitated. Nothing happened.

More: http://nyti.ms/a3jnaN

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