FREE BUSES & TRAINS

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2015

Random phone call this week: “Hi, Babs, I’m from Kiplinger Magazine in Washington and I’m doing a story on senior citizens.” “Cheesh, I’m not that old,” I said to myself. Long story short, the reporter was investigating where the best cities were to retire to and she wanted to know about Salt Lake City. Here’s what I know and what I told her:

1)   If you’re on a fixed and or low income, there’s a huge waiting list to get into any housing. The high-rise senior apartment buildings built decades ago (200 West and 200 East for example) aren’t in great shape and one building last year went the entire summer without air conditioning. My friend Sally said she was told in her search that the wait could be six months to two years and was told that there was a five year waiting list for Section 8 housing (subsidizing private landlords to rent to seniors). You can turn to Utah Housing Authority and several non-profits to find housing but they say, “Prepare to wait.” One national company (Danville Development) has 62+ housing in six Utah cities and runs Calvary Tower by Trolley Square for low income seniors. The first new building, Legacy Village of Sugar House has broken ground next to Wilmington Flats and will offer three kinds of care for independent and assisted living, plus a memory care facility.

2)   For seniors who can afford to buy, there are condos priced from $100k-$1 million+ dotted in and around downtown, the Avenues and University areas. Seniors can’t be turned down for loans because of their age or type of income and qualify like anyone else for a home loan. There are no ‘senior only over 55+ only’ condo buildings downtown to purchase, though and I haven’t seen anyone building any either.

3)   The active seniors I work with who want to buy condos want to live downtown near a TRAX station, booze, food, shopping, theater and museums unless they want the burbs of Day Break.

     If you’re reading this column you’re probably not a doddering old coot like me but your parents or grandparents may be and will need to move in the near future. God forbid your elders might have to move in with you because they can’t find housing!

I can tell you that as we age we think about how we want to spend our senior years and who we want to spend them with. Wouldn’t it be great if a bunch of Burners got together and built an elderly compound where fire pits battles between dub step and music without words was totally chill? One friend of mine cared for an elderly transwoman. They let her wear her wig in her hospital bed even though she presented as a man. Sadly she complained about not having any other LGBTQ people to talk to about the old days of disco, poppers and bare backing in the facility. 

SENIOR HOUSING

/in /by

2015

Random phone call this week: “Hi, I’m from Kiplinger Magazine in Washington and I’m doing a story on senior citizens.” “Cheesh, I’m not that old,” I said to myself. Long story short, the reporter was investigating where the best cities were to retire to and she wanted to know about Salt Lake City. Here’s what I know and what I told her:

1)   If you’re on a fixed and or low income, there’s a huge waiting list to get into any housing. The high-rise senior apartment buildings built decades ago (200 West and 200 East for example) aren’t in great shape and one building last year went the entire summer without air conditioning. My friend Sally said she was told in her search that the wait could be six months to two years and was told that there was a five year waiting list for Section 8 housing (subsidizing private landlords to rent to seniors). You can turn to Utah Housing Authority and several non-profits to find housing but they say, “Prepare to wait.” One national company (Danville Development) has 62+ housing in six Utah cities and runs Calvary Tower by Trolley Square for low income seniors. The first new building, Legacy Village of Sugar House has broken ground next to Wilmington Flats and will offer three kinds of care for independent and assisted living, plus a memory care facility.

2)   For seniors who can afford to buy, there are condos priced from $100k-$1 million+ dotted in and around downtown, the Avenues and University areas. Seniors can’t be turned down for loans because of their age or type of income and qualify like anyone else for a home loan. There are no ‘senior only over 55+ only’ condo buildings downtown to purchase, though and I haven’t seen anyone building any either.

3)   The active seniors I work with who want to buy condos want to live downtown near a TRAX station, booze, food, shopping, theater and museums unless they want the burbs of Day Break.

      If you’re reading this column you’re probably not a doddering old coot like me but your parents or grandparents may be and will need to move in the near future. God forbid your elders might have to move in with you because they can’t find housing!

I can tell you that as we age we think about how we want to spend our senior years and who we want to spend them with. Wouldn’t it be great if a bunch of Burners got together and built an elderly compound where fire pits battles between dub step and music without words was totally chill? One friend of mine cared for an elderly transwoman. They let her wear her wig in her hospital bed even though she presented as a man. Sadly she complained about not having any other LGBTQ people to talk to about the old days of disco, poppers and bare backing in the facility. 

TAXI? LYFT?

/in /by

2015

Twice a year my wife and I go to San Francisco for business and pleasure. We’ve been doing this for years and so we know a) if we stay in a hotel we have to pay a ton to park a rental car; b) finding a parking space is hell in the city and c) Airbnb’s generally don’t have off street parking for our rental car. One of our friends recommended a service called ‘Homobiles’, which is like Uber for Drag Queens. The cars come via text. Often vehicles come held together with duct tape, but we can be ourselves and the fares are cheap, by donation only.

   The sad thing for us about Homobiles is that they don’t have too many drivers and they get booked up very fast. Thus, we often have turned to Uber in the past few years. In San Francisco, Uber has an app that looks like a map, a map covered with 10 black dots within half a mile of wherever we stay. Those black dots on the map are available vehicles ready to pick you up. They appear within three minutes of texting in a fancy schmancy black vehicle, think Caddie (or similar). You don’t need to fumble for cash to pay or tip because it’s a set fee charged to your credit card that you’ve provided when setting up your account. Yes, it’s much more expensive than Homobiles, Lyft or a taxi but the convenience is worth it when there are no other rides available.

    I worked in bars in Salt Lake City for years in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. I learned to rely on a certain cab company in Salt Lake to haul away the forlorn, intoxicated, the party girls and boys. That company has become so unreliable in the past few years that I turned to a friend who worked for Uber and lives across the street from me. We went to Portland for Memorial Day weekend and needed a ride to the airport. Here’s our texts:  Me: “Need a ride to the airport at 2.”  Him: “Sorry, I have a day job now. Can’t help. But there will be plenty of drivers around to take you. Getting picked up from the airport could be a challenge. Uber and Lyft have stopped doing airport pickups in SLC. Lyft has stopped drop offs as well. A few commercially licensed Uber drivers are doing pickups but they can’t keep up with the demand. The taxis are no longer required to use meters so many are gouging passengers.”

   Have you noticed a difference in ride service options? Gov. Herbert signed a bill March 31, 2015 that put in massive statewide regulations for ride hailing companies. The big one is that the State requires drivers to be covered with at least $1 million in liability insurance. Uber and Lyft didn’t fight that requirement but they have been fighting the Salt Lake Mayor’s office for the even stricter rules imposed prior to that bill getting signed.