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Show . Oil Toms SECTION 2)ailtiHcraliV WEDNESDAY, METRO EDITOR I MARCH 5. 2008 344 2530 Amie Rose aroseher.ildextT3.com' Construction halted on Midtown Village Janice Peterson chased, and Myler said he won't be ' able tp pay his contractors or his bank loans without more money. The slowing economy has had a A spokeswoman for Big D Construction said the company would not nasty effect on mortgages and home sales, and developers are beginning to comment on the situation Tuesday. :. Sales began to slow several months feel the pinch as well. Big D Construction halted work on ago, and the Midtown Village is not the north tower of the more than $100 the only development affected by the million Midtown Village a month and market plunge. Myler said his situa3 half ago when condominiums in the tion is identical to other projects cur- building failed to sell as planned. rently up in the air. Some tenants have backed out of Larry Myler, the project's owner, said buyers were having a hard time deals because of financial difficulties, while others are simply waiting to getting mortgage loans and even selling their old homes to make a purbuy until the market hits "Some people were having a tough chase in the Midtown Village. Without tenants for the condos, money has time getting loans for various reacome up short to pay his contractors. sons," he said. Bill Bell, a building official for "Until we get the south wing units closed, we don't have revenue," Myler Orem, said he does not know the spesaid. cifics of particular projects, but the effect of the market can be seen by the Only four of the 79 completed condos in the south tower have been pur dramatic drop in residential building DAILY HERALD rock-botto- permits issued by the city. Myler said the project is on hold for now, but it will hopefully begin again soon. There are plans to refinance, but prices will most likely not be cut on the high-encondos, which range from $325,000 to $1.4 million for 1,3004,000 square feet. "We don't have a plan to slash prices," he said. "Those prices are pretty if It d good, actually." Myler said work on the Midtown Village project will resume once he has refinanced and there is a trend of increasing sales. Work on the north tower was stopped after contractors were not paid for their work, and getting the contractors caught up is the first concern. Myler said he did not want them to continue work when he did not have the money to pay them. "It doesn't make any sense to get f I A i, yj.-ta - i .... I $ ft ,,, f f - - - MARK JOHNSTON 'Daily Herald large portion of the Midtown Village complex sits vacant after construction was halted Tuesday. A See MIDTOWN, B2 Tanks for Tots Housing vouchers idle amid tightening rental market Caleb Warnock DAILY HERALD In a sign that Utah Valley's economy is undergoing a shift, government subsidized housing vouchers '"S; j ' I:- are going wanting here. The vouchers, given by the Housing Authority of Utah County to the valley's poorest residents, are not going unclaimed because of a lack of demand far from it. There are 600 families on a waiting list hoping for one of the vouchers. But once approved for the subsidy, those at the top of the list are increasingly unable to find a home to rent amid a tightening market, said Gene Carly, director of the Housing Authority of Utah County. A few years ago, the line of people hoping for housing subsidies in Utah Valley was so bogged down by needy families that the list was closed. Now, there are 950 vouchers available, but only 822 are being used because families are failing to find homes to rent, Carly said. The gap began in January. Should that situation continue for an extended time, the housing authority risks losing some federal funding, meaning the number of available vouchers would have to be reduced despite the waiting list for - if ' - - i . them, Carly said. There is no immediate danger of that, but avoiding that fate will require the agency to actually give out more than 950 vouchers over a time to bring up its avefage to meet its annual allotment, a feat that may be difficult if the tight rental market continues unabated, he said. "We have sent people out to look for places and they are struggling to find places," he said. There may be many explanations for the sudden tightening of the rental housing market, he said. plays a part, as well as landlords doing' more to investigate potential renters by checking credit scores and even arrest records on the county CRAIG DILGERDaily Herald Doug Cornell, a bus driver with Alpine School District waits for students to board the bus at Ridgeline Elementary on Tuesday. In accidents, school buses still safest Brittani Lusk DAILY HERALD Hundreds of them take students to and from school every day, they travel hundreds of miles, and Phil Lott can't the last time a student riding one in Provo was seriously injured. Lott is the director of transportation and facilities for the Provo School District. He's been there for 37 years, and said he can't remember a student being seriously injured while inside one of his school buses, though there are occasionally property damage accidents involving school buses in Utah County. Even in light of several bus crashes that have made headlines recently, including a crash in Minnesota in February that killed four children and one in Georgia on Monday that injured students, Utah County school transportation of " 2 arrested in Provo credit-unio- n DAILY ATV Website. ficials aren't worried about the safety of students, most of whom ride without buckling a seat belt. Many officials say buses are the safest way for students to get to and from school. "I wish parents ... realized that on a snowy day it's the safest way for children to get to school, not in their car," Lott said. Murrell Martin, the pupil transporta-Se- e "It could be that landlords are being more sophisticated in their choice of renters, "( he said. "This is not to say that subsidy renters are not good rent, ers; by and large they are." Families could also be trying to find a home near a certain school or in a certain city and find their choices limited, he said. To qualify for the vouchers, a family of four cannot make more than $16,000 a year, "but typically BUS, B2 j See HOUSING, B2 Funeral Procession robbery HERALD Two men suspected in the robbery of Utah First Credit Union in Provo on Tuesday morning were arrested in Carbon County. The men were stopped by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper in the Price area about an hour and a half ater the robbery was reported. Provo detectives and FBI agents' were planning to go to the jail to interview the men. According to police, a white man walked into the credit union at 11:15 a.m. with a handgun in his waistband. He handed a bag and a note demanding money to a teller. The teller placed money and a dye pack inside the bag, and the man left, headed north The dye pack exploded when the suspect was about 50 yards from the credit union. A witness saw the man run- ning away from the credit union, according to police. The witness also reported seeing the dye pack explode, and saw the suspect get into a white Information I Anyone with information about the robbery can call Det. Drew Hubbard at 852-724or dispatch at 8 Dodge van. Police broadcasted an attempt to locate alert with the description of the suspect and the vehicle. At 12:45 p.m., Provo police learned that a vehicle matching the description of the suspect's vehicle had been stopped by a UHP trooper. According to police, there were two men and a in the van, along with money with red dye on it and a black BB pistol. The state Division of Child and Family Services took custody of the child, according to police. Anyone with information about the robbery can call Det. 8 Drew Hubbard at or dispatch at 852-724- 852-621- f ;. . CRAIO DILGERDaily Herald Friends and family of Kyle Lee Carlisle ride ATVs through Pleasant Grove Cemetery to Carlisle's grave site Tuesday. Carlisle passed away on Friday, February 29, 2008, after a battle with cancer. Kyle was the founder of Pathfinderzz ATV club. "This is the way Kyle would have wanted it," says his brother Kent Carlisle. Posted outside of Carlisle's funeral ceremony was Kyle's creed which reads: "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body. But rather skid in sideways thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming... 'Wow, what a ride!'," ymfmtmmmK:tb' tmpi-smi- subscribe SO |