Owens Gets a Job

Another GOP real-estate developer.

Just what the world needs.

Owens could have done something relatively interesting and constructive, like going into international business. He has interest and talent in that field, and I suspect he could have done well.

Instead, he teamed up with a couple of GOP hacks in a real-estate development business. Maybe he harbors fantasies about running for office in the future; maybe he simply wants to remain in Denver and not travel so much, for family reasons. Whatever ...

What do you suppose he'll do when interest rates bump up another point or two and deep-six the real-estate industry for a while? Maybe he'll follow Gale Norton over to Shell.

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by: OneEyedOwl @ Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 13:16:00 PM CST

question

Part of it says "acquiring land in Europe and the Pacific Rim". Isn't that international business, or will he not be doing any of that part ?

" Is there a way to delete your own comments? " bjwilson83

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by: Fidel's dirt nap @ Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 13:26:52 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Damn real estate developers

building homes and businesses, providing jobs, moving the economy...

Evil bastards!

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by: Lauren Bacall @ Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 17:03:54 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Don't forget

draining wetlands, scarring the scenery with fugly McMansions, and other environmental and aesthetic crimes... ;-)

What are you talking about?...I don't get it." - bjwilson83

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by: Aristotle @ Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 17:21:33 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Fugly McMansions

Every McRose has its thorn, but generally speaking, developers build the homes most of us to live in, create jobs, and move the economy. Until tents become popular again, developers will be necessary and for some, even appreciated. 

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by: Lauren Bacall @ Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 20:01:50 PM CST

[ Parent ]

this must be your line of work

I wasn't really being serious...

What are you talking about?...I don't get it." - bjwilson83

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by: Aristotle @ Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 21:15:18 PM CST

[ Parent ]

No, it's not Ari

but sorry I missed the sarcasm.

I just get tired of people dogging developers while happily living and shopping in their buildings.

I would agree that some contractors lack creativity and put profit ahead of aesthetics. The cookie cutter approach is unattractive but as long as the houses sell, they will keep building them. Since I'm not the one taking the risk and putting my capital on the line, I don't get to pick styles or colors.

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by: Lauren Bacall @ Fri Dec 29, 2006 at 12:43:37 PM CST

[ Parent ]

We don't have much choice ...

but to live and shop in their sterile residential and commercial developments. Developers and their cronies in the financial industry have made it quite difficult to obtain property and financing to live anywhere else. One subdivision looks just like the next, and every strip mall looks just like the last one. And the developers just keep churning 'em out. Developers create a plague on the land and should be stopped.

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by: OneEyedOwl @ Fri Dec 29, 2006 at 15:14:01 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Once upon a time...

...they were known as "contractors" or "home builders."  Pretty much building one house at a time on a lot already owned by the prospective Happy Homeowner. 

I think that Levittown, NY (near where my parents went the route mentioned above after WWII)was the first mass produced housing, preconstructed for waiting buyers.  Anyone know differently?

Along the line they became "developers", implying that land without a house or road on it is "undeveloped." 

If they are sinful, it's not because of building the homes we need, but of soul-chilling blandness and repitition.  Often the same pastel colors, the same roof color, row upon row. 

Yeah, I know I'm old fashioned.  I like homes built one at a time; they lend character in their variety to a neighborhood.

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd." -Bertrand Russell

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by: parsingreality @ Fri Dec 29, 2006 at 11:11:49 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I agree with you parsing

Even the higher end homes all look the same, plunked on tiny lots. If you got really drunk, you would have to start on one end of the street, and keep hitting your garage door opener until one opened, and you knew you were home.

My dad built our first home in Illinois himself, on an acre of farm land. He was 19 and my twin and I were just born. He had to barter much of the other trades work out, to get it liveable. Until I was much older, I thought all houses were built that way.
Then after moving to Colorado at 19, I discovered they aren't.

NoBama .... NoBamaCare either

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by: Gecko @ Fri Dec 29, 2006 at 11:23:31 AM CST

[ Parent ]

developers good and bad

development for development's sake isn't good.

Urban sprawl is a major issue for me in Colorado.  Our limited water alone makes me suspect of developers saying we need to build more and more homes.

Plan it well, I'm ok with development; plan it poorly (Highlands Ranch), I'd rather it not be built at all.

Old homes in Denver are 1000x better than anything they build today.  I have lived in a number of old homes around Denver and I know that they will be standing long after the 'modern' homes developers are now building.

Craftmanship, pride and character have been relegated to the lumber pile in favor of mass production and poor planning.

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by: Car 31 @ Fri Dec 29, 2006 at 11:31:37 AM CST

[ Parent ]

which, to get back on topic...

...may be a good reason why Owens is working in this industry - I rarely saw much craftmanship, pride or character with Owens, so he'll fit right in...

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by: Car 31 @ Fri Dec 29, 2006 at 11:34:52 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I worked siding houses

back in the early 1980's.
One home builder in the southeast section of Colorado Springs was the worst. I think they called the area FoxFire.
The studs were 24" on center, held to the plates with just one nail top and bottom.
Then to top it off, they would simply tack the Celotex on the outside walls with like 4 to 6 nails. Then the siders (us) would have to slap the lap siding over the Celotex, and our nails held it all together.
Needless to say we had more pride in what we did than that, and only sided a few houses before, luckily, we got more houses in Rockrimmon lined up and never had to go there again.

NoBama .... NoBamaCare either

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by: Gecko @ Fri Dec 29, 2006 at 11:40:49 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I enjoyed your two postings on this topic, Gecko

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd." -Bertrand Russell

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by: parsingreality @ Fri Dec 29, 2006 at 15:08:19 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Is this a temporary job, or what?

Maybe JF really wants to invest abroad and use Owens to work on deals, but this job just doesn't fit the man, imho. He's an association executive and politician, not an investor or deal maker.

I'm wondering whether this is a holding position for Owens till he can get a national appointment, run for the senate or get a real job?

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by: Another skeptic @ Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 15:44:46 PM CST

isn't a Senate run pretty much out of the question due to the <throat clearing noise> rumors?

Not so sure that a federal appt. will do him much good at this stage, either. Going to D.C. to take a post in the final days of a failed administration.......doesn't look that good on his resume.

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by: One Queer Dude @ Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 16:33:43 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Shouldn't this really read "Owens gets a job... Kinda."

This is "Plan C" for the guy isn't it? Like he is really going to be doing anything but sitting around with his name on the letterhead waiting to run for Senate.

Plan A for his leaving office was to get a job with the Bush Administration... Marriage troubles and Ref C kinda sunk those plans.

Plan B was to take an executive job within the Fortune 500 companies or maybe just in the Oil Industry (where his political career actually started as an Oil Lobbyist). I guess after 8 years as GOV though, his job interview skills are a little rusty.

So instead he gets his back scrubbed by two cronies, who are just returning the favor Bill did in the past it seems. And waiting in the wings, is Cinnamon Watson. Working for her hubby and for Bill, obviously holding out hope of running Bill's Senate bid in 2008 after doing such a great job for Pete Coors in 2004 and Bob Beauprez in 2006.

Something tells me we'll be seeing a lot more of Bill in the coming years. Being a partner in a small business is tough. Sure you get to make your own schedule, but your partners count on you to pull your own weight. If Bill really had "star power" with his name, he'd have been given a cushy job in the Fortune 500, where they'd expect him to turn in an expense report every now and then, make speeches at Trade Shows and play in the Customer Appreciation Golf Tourneys. Instead he's a partner in the real estate development market. Nice work if you can get it, but if you can't make it rain, you go broke. The "expertise" they said they brought him on for seems pretty lame to me. Again, this just sounds like something to do until Bruce Benson launches the Owens for Senate Committee in 2007.

Udall might as well go and pick out an office in one of the Senate Office Buildings for 2009.

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by: Iron_Mike @ Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 15:56:31 PM CST

Couldn't It Be?

What if he just wants to stay close to home while the kids are finishing school? Or maybe do some light lifting in the business community while he tests his Sports Writing/Commentary skills? I'm not sold on the notion that this is the beginning of some U.S. Senate bid...

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by: what?!? @ Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 17:32:37 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Yes, but

He's running.  He's always running. If he can make it through '08 without being a candidate he may be able to get through therapy/counseling and lead a semi-normal life, but for now I don't believe Bill Owens knows how not to run.

"Not to be a socialist at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head". Georges Clemenceau

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by: Xenophon @ Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 18:42:58 PM CST

[ Parent ]