Oil City Speaks! ‘It’s a good place to live. Quit dissing North Casper’
CASPER, Wyo. — Good afternoon, Oil City readers, and welcome to the latest edition of Oil City Speaks!
Do you think North Casper is unfairly stereotyped? Should life jackets be required through the whitewater park near the Tate Pumphouse? Are you concerned about rising oil prices or do you think that’s good for Wyoming’s extraction industry? Is it too expensive to rent in Casper? We explore all that and more in this week’s collection of hot takes, thought-provoking views and heart-warming comments readers submitted in response to our coverage this week.
Three citizens told the Casper City Council on Tuesday that their once “nice” neighborhood in Paradise Valley is seeing a greater prevalence of drug-related issues.
“It is Paradise Valley. My God, that was a nice neighborhood at one time,” one of the residents said. “And it has turned into North Casper. North Casper is way better than this place right now.”
Some readers were frustrated by the comparisons to North Casper and Oil City’s decision to cover their comments. While we’re open to criticism about how we covered those comments, covering what they said during the public city council meeting doesn’t imply that anyone at Oil City necessarily agrees with what they said about either North Casper or their claims about Paradise Valley. We try to cover city council meetings as comprehensively as possible and leave it up to you what to think about the topics that we cover.
Is it true that certain areas of Casper have higher rates of crime than others? The Casper Police Department shares some data about crime hotspots in Casper in their fourth quarter 2020 report, available online.
The maps show that hotspots are scattered throughout the city. While some of North Casper is shown as a hotspot, it is by no means the only area that the Casper PD reports concentrations of crimes. The following map shows drug offense hotspots in Casper during the fourth quarter of 2020:
The drug offense hotspots shared some overlap with the Casper PD’s “Part One Crime Map” hotspot data. Part one crime refers to “serious crimes” with the main categories being homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson, according to Casper PD. The fourth quarter 2020 hotspot map for these types of crimes is as follows:
The Casper PD also shared a map combining drug offense hotspots, serious crime hotspots and alcohol offenses in the fourth quarter of 2020:
The data suggest that crimes can impact a variety of neighborhoods across Casper and that problems are not isolated to North Casper or Paradise Valley.
While crime may occur in these areas, that doesn’t mean that positive things can’t simultaneously be going on. As Jamie suggests above, North Casper is home to a number of community-based organizations, including the Wyoming Food for Thought Project.
Chico offers a thought-provoking comment, pointing out that drug-related crime doesn’t only occur in lower income areas, and Sue shows that some people have positive relationships to areas that others might think of in stereotypical ways.
What do you think? Do you think some of the neighborhoods in Casper are safer than others? Have you noticed changes in any of these neighborhoods in recent years? Do you think it helps to have public dialogue about potential problem areas? Is there any value in citizens talking about stereotypes that they think need to be changed?
Marty’s comment offers some food for thought regarding how people interpret data about housing costs and wage rates. Just because a report points to a general situation, Marty’s comment serves as a reminder that statistics won’t always apply to every individual in every case, even if they fall into a category defined by the report.
The report was conducted by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. They build certain assumptions into that report and are able to make their own definitions.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition considers Wyoming’s “State Housing Wage” to be $16.85. That is the amount someone would need to make per hour in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment.
“In Wyoming, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is
$876,” the National Low Income Housing Coalition explains. “In order to afford this level of rent and utilities — without paying more than 30% of income on housing — a household must earn $2,920 monthly or $35,041 annually.”
Lindsey offers a thought-provoking comment that just because someone finds that they are living quite well off of lower wages doesn’t mean their experience necessarily applies to everyone.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you think it is empowering to define concepts for yourself? Is it helpful to have data from others inform your definitions and ideas? Do you think there are enough good-paying jobs in Casper? Do you think rent is too expensive? Do you think people should be doing more to move out of lower-paying jobs? Do you think this is an option for everyone?
Are rising oil prices good or bad for Wyoming? When prices were low in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, Wyoming temporarily had no active oil and gas rigs, something rarely seen in the state. Zoom forward to 2021, and demand has increased and gas prices have likewise been on the rise.
For people working in the oil industry in Wyoming, higher prices might be a good thing. Chad suggests there is a “sweet spot” when the price of oil is between $70-$80 per barrel.
The West Texas Intermediate price for a barrel of crude oil increased by $1.61, settling at $71.91 at the end of formal trading on Thursday, according to AAA.
“Earlier this week, crude prices tumbled to $66 per barrel due to market concern that the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant will slow potential economic growth,” AAA said. “However, market concern about the ongoing pandemic has reversed, helping to push crude prices higher.”
The average price of a regular gallon of gasoline stood at $3.467 in Wyoming on Thursday. That is up about four cents from a week ago.
What do you think of gas prices? Do you think more about their impact on consumers’ wallets or do you think about their impact on Wyoming’s extraction industry? What do you think of Chad’s idea about a “sweet spot”? What do you think of Gordon’s strategy to blame the Biden administration for prices at the pump?
Chris’ comment appears to be poking a little fun at people who celebrate Wyoming’s role in providing energy to the country and world. If people want to see Wyoming’s energy economy thrive, do you think they should embrace nuclear in addition to more traditional sources in Wyoming like coal and natural gas? What about renewables?
Governor Gordon has repeatedly expressed support for an “all the above” energy strategy. Do you agree with that approach? Do you agree with Chris that the new Natrium reactor, which would be a sodium-cooled fast reactor, would be a safe form of energy? Or do you have concerns that there may be risks despite bold claims by companies behind the project?
Following Sunday’s incident in which people were apparently wearing life jackets that were “old and not buoyant,” Casper and Natrona County firefighters responded to another rescue call on Monday on a different part of the river where people were not wearing life jackets.
There have been numerous rescue calls this summer with people not wearing life jackets on the river. While firefighters are constantly reminding people of their importance of life jackets, Ryan suggests simply asking people to take this safety precaution may not do the trick.
What do you think? Should life jackets be mandatory on the river, at least through the whitewater park, or do you think that is too harsh of a policy?
- Let’s look at a hot take/thought-provoking view that came in response to a story about a citizen calling for an expansion of Casper’s Metro Animal Shelter to allow for space to quarantine sick animals:
During the city council’s meeting on Tuesday, a person who regularly volunteers at the shelter said that there is a “huge need for quarantine space” at the Metro Animal Shelter, saying that the existing facility doesn’t have enough space to quarantine sick animals.
Vice Mayor Ray Pacheco said he agrees that quarantine space is a needed addition at the shelter. He said that he thinks City Manager Carter Napier would recommend an expansion of the facility if funding would allow for it.
What are your thoughts on this topic? How much of a priority should the shelter be for the city? If funding was put toward an expansion of the shelter, would you be alright if funding was reduced in other areas? What things do you think Casper could spend less on in order to afford an expansion of the shelter? Conversely, do you think an expansion of the shelter could be done without hurting funding for other services the city provides?
Catherine Johnson Morris has made temporary, elaborate sand castles at various location around Casper this summer and says she enjoys making them at other places such as Alcova’s Sandy Beach.
She has a number of tips for people looking to make better sand castles, such as ditching the sand castle-shaped buckets. Morris is offering classes about sandcastle making, and people can sign up by contacting her on Facebook.
As Lisa said, the sand castles Morris makes are pretty cool and bring some joy to people in the community and some warmth to our hearts.
Why are we putting together this Oil City Speaks story?
Oil City News is all about offering coverage of the people, places and events that shape the community we love. We strive to provide informative stories for our readers and value dialogue about the Casper area community and the Cowboy State.
What makes for a valuable online discussion? It is no secret that readers are sometimes wary about the “dreaded” comments section (on stories posted to Oil City’s Facebook page). While comments may seem frustrating at times, they can also allow people to voice their perspectives, add more information for readers to consider, or give people a way to celebrate their community together.
That’s why we’re bringing you Oil City Speaks, a selection of noteworthy reader comments from our local coverage. We appreciate that you care about your community and we want to take the time to recognize comments that stand out to us. We’ll also offer some fact-checking on comments.
We’re not here to police your comments or your views. Comment Guideline: We welcome comments expressing all points of views on our posts—positive and negative—but reserve the right to remove posts that contain inappropriate language, links to items for sale, hate speech, personal attacks, threats, or off-topic matters.
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