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Love Calgary! What a nice city! We could only dream to have a city like Calgary in North Dakota!
At the recent Bakken Housing Summit, they indicated Williston needs 7,000 new homes right now...they are currently attempting to get 5,000 built in 48months. But they said Williston will need 25,000 new housing units within the next 10 years...so if they did build 25,000 new housing units in Williston, that would definately put that town in the 75,000-100,000+ population range. It will definately be interesting to see.
That would be a nightmare...we can't hire enough law enforcement/corrections to handle things now, much less if the population tripled. The brand new $18 million jail was supposed to last 40-50 years and only has 112 beds and a staff of 16. And we are scraping the bottom of the barrel just to keep that many bodies, nm that at least half shouldn't even have the job because of various deficencies...it is almost enough to drive a guy to drink...
Are schools as well as law enforcement obtaining rental contracts? In Tioga and Stanley, understood that some of the developers were reserving cheap rentals for public service employees.
If rental rates ever get below $1200 / mo or so, Williston becomes attractive for people attempting to set up businesses that aren't directly oil related (restaraunts, retail, medical, etc). But that might take years and not worth the investment risk.
That would be a nightmare...we can't hire enough law enforcement/corrections to handle things now, much less if the population tripled. The brand new $18 million jail was supposed to last 40-50 years and only has 112 beds and a staff of 16. And we are scraping the bottom of the barrel just to keep that many bodies, nm that at least half shouldn't even have the job because of various deficencies...it is almost enough to drive a guy to drink...
I really hate to read stuff like this, because this is just what should not be happening in LE, but just like everything else around western ND lately, you take what you can get and try and be happy that you got it. Terrible trade off IMO.
There are too many people coming here too rapidly. Something or someone needs to put the brakes on for awhile and let everything else play catch up. The one thing that constantly irks me about this whole big mess is that there seems to be a very concerted effort on the part of certain agencies to keep the unpleasant part of what is happening to our state under wraps, especially in the media.
After listening to state wide radio coverage of the oil conference in Bismarck over the past several days, it was hard to get even a tidbit of any of this boom having a negative affect on anybody or anything here in ND - it was all rainbows and unicorns - and for a lot of people it is, but I know, and a lot of other people know, that is not the case for all citizens of ND. And if a person does have the nerve to speak up about some of the rather unsavory issues that have been brought about by the current boom, they are branded as being unfriendly to oil workers, selfish, snotty, small minded, close minded and rude (to name a few), when in fact it has absolutely nothing to do with individual oil workers or their families, it's the industry as a whole and what is currently happening in our state and what will continue to happen unless as a state we can get our act together and do something before it's too late.
The reason ou never hear anything bad about the boom is because the local politicans won't admit that they are over their heads and can't handle it. So they whitewash the problems or try and put the blame off on the state for their own shortsightedness. Of course you won't hear Shawn Wenko or Tom Rolfstad saying anything bad anytime they get interviewed or quoted because they are currently raking in $70-80k a year to essentially sit back and let the boom happen. Economic development has to be the best gig in Western ND right now, high pay and plenty of travel with no chance of failure.
The city that has big city aspirations is Billings. The media there follows the Bakken's every move and cheerleads the growth. Bismarck and Billings are kind of vying for regional promince over the Bakken. Maybe Minot too, but whether Minot ever gets financial and engineering offices will be interesting. When Odessa and Midland were booming from the Permian Basin, Fort Worth was a major beneficiary of that growth.
The city that has big city aspirations is Billings. The media there follows the Bakken's every move and cheerleads the growth. Bismarck and Billings are kind of vying for regional promince over the Bakken. Maybe Minot too, but whether Minot ever gets financial and engineering offices will be interesting. When Odessa and Midland were booming from the Permian Basin, Fort Worth was a major beneficiary of that growth.
You are right in the Billings is taking a good hard look at things. But I think that Billings is looking because the Bakken is headed that way. The growth and expansion will be Westward and I think Billings is sharp enough to realize that they had better get involved right now, or things can go terribly wrong.
I cannot imagine North Dakota going up by 300,000 people. Not that it won't happen, I just think it would be a bad thing. North Dakota has held it's place in society by being small, kind of hidden, or out of the way and now it's looking at expansion in a manner that is not going to be kind or pretty. It remains to be seen what happens when the majority of the drilling moves outside of North Dakota and how well it takes care of business then.
I cannot imagine North Dakota going up by 300,000 people. Not that it won't happen, I just think it would be a bad thing. North Dakota has held it's place in society by being small, kind of hidden, or out of the way and now it's looking at expansion in a manner that is not going to be kind or pretty. It remains to be seen what happens when the majority of the drilling moves outside of North Dakota and how well it takes care of business then.
Except for the four larger cities, most of North Dakota has been withering away since the 1950's. The withering was especially bad in places like Divide, Burke, Renville, and even Mountrail counties. In another generation, no body would have been left.
Even with the oil boom, the middle two-thirds of the state is still in decline. But at least when those last few kids in Sheridan, Wells, Towner, or Pierce county leave to find work with real wages, they won't have to go Minneapolis anymore.
Love Calgary! What a nice city! We could only dream to have a city like Calgary in North Dakota!
At the recent Bakken Housing Summit, they indicated Williston needs 7,000 new homes right now...they are currently attempting to get 5,000 built in 48months. But they said Williston will need 25,000 new housing units within the next 10 years...so if they did build 25,000 new housing units in Williston, that would definately put that town in the 75,000-100,000+ population range. It will definately be interesting to see.
What happens with the housing market in western ND when the boom goes bust and the majority of these workers return to their real homes? And please don't tell me that this boom will last forever because it will bust, and at that time there will be mass vacancies in the western part of the state causing the local market to crash. It will make the last bust look like child's play, but people with dollar signs in their eyes never can see the forest from the trees.
What happens with the housing market in western ND when the boom goes bust and the majority of these workers return to their real homes? And please don't tell me that this boom will last forever because it will bust, and at that time there will be mass vacancies in the western part of the state causing the local market to crash. It will make the last bust look like child's play, but people with dollar signs in their eyes never can see the forest from the trees.
Expanding the population wouldn't be so horrific if it wasn't 80% temporary workers, and it wasn't concentrated in just the oil areas. This is exactly why the Western N.D. residents and people in power have been foot draggin re: a building boom expansion...It very well could go away tomorrow...History repeating itself. Then you got $500,000 buildings going for 100,000...or sitting empty.
There is a reality to this boom....The majority of the population here for the oil jobs are mobile...You got RV folks, Folks living in their cars, not even wanting to register their vehicles. There has been tons of new building permits, just check the Planning & Zoning on the Williston web page. Time for the folks moving here to earn all the oil field money to put their money where their mouth is...build a brick and mortar home. The RV and mobile living if you are making 100,000 year...get to building a home, or at least don't gripe about renting an RV space, (not all but many). If you want to live here, put down some roots,....not wheels. Commit if you work here, spend your money here, build here, rent here...Don't expect the folks already here to cover your bets. We aren't unsympathetic, we just can't afford our expenses and yours too. Get together....If the 400 RV owners parked all over the city each put in a couple thousand, heck you could buy a piece of land, and make your own RV park.
All are welcome. Please don't misunderstand my point. I personally provide lots of relocation and job information. Read my other posts. Workers are most welcome.
There are different issues related to long term parking of RV's in random places all around the city, not all, but many folks are dumping raw sewage on the city streets and into the city sewer man holes. There has been an ongoing debate related to that issue.
There are other available accommodations for RV's involving building projects. There are new RV parks in an around the Williston area. Individually there are many variables. It is best to check w/ the company offering you jobs so you'll be prepared. I wish you only success.
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and try and be happy that you got it. Terrible trade off IMO.
