The real-estate market is tanking. So what's the "green lining"? Conservation groups can now afford to buy and preserve tracts of land previously slated for development, reports The Wall Street Journal . Groups like San Francisco's Trust for Public Land have successfully purchased land in Oregon, Colorado, and Massachusetts, turning would-be subdivisions into parks and open spaces.
A stretch of beach along Oahu's North Shore has recently attracted the attention of conservationists. The owner, Oaktree Capital Management, is facing foreclosure on the 880 acre property, thwarting plans to build five new hotels. In a symbolic show of support for Governor Linda Lingle's plea to preserve the undeveloped acreage, Hawaii's State Legislature recently approved a bill that would allow the state to acquire and preserve the North Shore property.
--D.W.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal , Honolulu Advertiser , Alohapolitics.com , Santa Barbara News-Press
The real-estate market is tanking. So what's the "green lining"? Conservation groups can now afford to buy and preserve tracts of land previously slated for development, reports The Wall Street Journal . Groups like San Francisco's Trust for Public Land have successfully purchased land in Oregon, Colorado, and Massachusetts, turning would-be subdivisions into parks and open spaces.
A stretch of beach along Oahu's North Shore has recently attracted the attention of conservationists. The owner, Oaktree Capital Management, is facing foreclosure on the 880 acre property, thwarting plans to build five new hotels. In a symbolic show of support for Governor Linda Lingle's plea to preserve the undeveloped acreage, Hawaii's State Legislature recently approved a bill that would allow the state to acquire and preserve the North Shore property.
--D.W.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal , Honolulu Advertiser , Alohapolitics.com , Santa Barbara News-Press