Moab Affordable Housing? A Zephyr Solution— ‘McBonderman House’…15,000 square feet for the homeless, & acres and acres of bottom land for the biggest community veggie garden in the Four Corners!

From our archives: July 2009

For the Homeless in Moab, and those trying to find solutions for the homeless,  consider this idea…

McBonderman House

There was a time, in the very recent past, when Moab, Utah welcomed  and easily accommodated a diverse population. Its citizens represented the entire spectrum of American Life. The wealthy had their bigger homes, the vast middle class
lived more modestly,  but the lower income working class Moabites could find affordable housing as well. Whether to buy or rent, it was an easy task to make Moab home.

It’s what’s called a “community.”

Of course, to many, all that is gone. A greed-driven economy that extends far beyond the city limits created a new Moab, while its weak, impotent politicians, and a mostly listless apathetic public practically slept through the transformation. Now, barring a long-term collapse of the world economy that drives prices back down (What was Cactus Ed’s mantra? “Our only hope is catastrophe!”), the way Moab is now is the way it is likely to stay.

Except more so.

But when it come to “affordable housing,” perhaps the solution is right under your noses. What is affordable housing after all? A roof over your head.  A kitchen to open a can of beans. A bathroom with a toilet that flushes (if you want REAL luxury). What more do you need?  For the people who only ask for these simple necessities, perhaps a new Moab resident can offer some aid and comfort.

David Bonderman! Step forward and lend a hand,

Mr. Bonderman, is  “a prominent venture capitalist and major financier for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.” He invests all over the world.  He owns power plants in Texas and goes after the coal in Malaysia.  He owns an airline in the United Kingdom that claims “Climate Change is Bullshit.”  He  is also Moab’s wealthiest part-time resident and the owner of Moab’s biggest home. At about 15,000 square feet (not counting out buildings), calling his new digs a “McMansion” doesn’t do it justice. It’s about the size of an airport terminal in a medium sized city.

And it’s a fair bet that Mr. Bonderman will spend very little of his time there. Some close to the billionaire have indicated he has yet to spend a single night at his Moab Palace.  Fortune magazine noted a few years back that he spends most of his waking life in his Gulfstream jet, racing around the globe, from deal to deal. And then he also has that mansion in Aspen…

So…why waste all that space?

A lot of Moabites in need of affordable housing could be accommodated at Bonderman’s palace. He’s not there…what the hell does Dave care? I’m sure he has some caretakers in residence who can keep an eye on the place and make sure everyone is picking up after themselves.

This could be the classiest flop house of all time.

And all that land that surrounds his castle? Let’s open that up to the public too.  Mr. Bonderman can parcel out all that fertile bottomland to anyone in Moab who wants to grow a garden but hasn’t the space to do it. Bonderman could be known as the man who saw suffering and tried to stop it. Who reached out to the poor and the needy. The man who did the right thing.

The Grand Canyon Trust has already called him “one of the great conservationists in America today.” Now he has the chance to be one of America’s great humanitarians as well.

McBonderman House.. The Bonderman People’s Farm…it’s an idea whose time has come.

—Stiles

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