What St. Croix Valley Is The Ontheborderline.net Blog Site Located In?

I don't know about you readers, but when I drive through western Wisconsin between Houlton, Somerset, New Richmond, Roberts, River Falls and Hudson -- and I cover this area regularly via the main and back roads -- I see growth. But yet, the OTBL ostriches are posting that the boom is over in St. Croix County. The bubble has burst! In a few short decades, the white pine forests will return! The whole county will be up for foreclosure! In other words, the St. Croix Valley landscape will return back to the way it was in 1776 -- the destination date that has been set on the OTBL time machine.

Here's a DATA POINT they are currently having an organsm over:

"The hot St. Croix market took the biggest hit with home sales dropping 22 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005 over the same period in 2004."

This is a data point, not a trend. Of course their entire political worldview depends on such data points to justify their worldview. Any astute statistician knows it takes a series of data points to make a statistic and/or forecast a trend.

Here's another DATA POINT:
"St. Croix County got a double dose of bad news in the report. Not only were home sales down, but the median sales price dropped by 6.2 percent to $194,300."

Lets see what the next few quarters bring. If I see any decline in growth in my next of the valley it's that it's that it only could three houses under construction which ever way I choose to drive three miles from my house. It used to be five. Ten years ago, it was one a summer. This is just another example of using statistics to lie and -- at OTBL -- that is status quo.
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Western Wisconsin is featured in a current story in the Milwaukee Journal Online discussing the grow of this area. Here are a few statistics -- not data points -- that contradict the OTBL post:

"St. Croix County's growth is impressive. Since the 2000 census, there are 12,529 new residents, boosting the county's population to an estimated 75,686, as of Jan. 1, 2005. The rate of growth is 19.8%, according to the Wisconsin Department of Administration....The trend is expected to be maintained through 2030, with St. Croix County anticipated to experience the highest rate of growth in the state."

"Of course, growth presents challenges - providing more classrooms for children, dealing with a rise in crime, stresses on water and sewage as homes replace farms."

"What lures people here? More house for the money, when compared with Minnesota real estate. Last year, 3,740 homes were sold in St. Croix County at an average price of $195,213. There's a trade-off, though: Wisconsin's property taxes are higher."

Read the whole story: JS Online