Ah, the rich, so fun to piss off.

[HEyHEY]

I was at a city hall hearing tonight were residents of Vancouver's "Shaughnessy First" were bitching about a proposal for a development in their neighbourhood. Some dude bought 2.3 acres of an old estate and now wants to put sixteen townhouses on there while keeping (and restoring) the mansion and stuff that is currently on it. Naturally the meeting was crowded with people who live in homes that look like this. As all homes in the area look like this....



They are "against the proposal because a 16 unit townhome complex would not be incharacter with the neighbourhood's heritage" blah blah blah. They were all concerned about heritage until they presented an alternative idea of DEMOLISHING the heritage mansion on the property so the developer could build three monster homes instead!!! They even said "We'd rather see the home demolished than see 16 townhomes in there!" One guy made the comment that the property valued had almost doubled since the owner bought it. He actually said, "He's made five million dollars of it, how much profit is enough?!"

HAHA, I love how these rich, old money NPA voting Motha fuckas suddenly become socialists when it involves their neighbourhood. It's so nice to watch them squirm.

[Adsos Letter]

1. gotta' admit...that's a right fine lookin' home...

[Breeze54]

2. If they are against townhomes, then they're against poor people in THEIR neighborhood...

It's called "the Anti-Snob Law" here in Massachusetts.

I can see if it's an old, historic neighborhood but if they're against
... 'IT' being anywhere in their town, then I have a problem with it!

Anti-snob zoning

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-snob_zoning

Anti-snob zoning is a nickname for Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 40B which is also known
as the Comprehensive Permit Law. Chapter 40B is a state statute which allows housing developers
to bypass certain aspects of Massachusetts municipality zoning regulation, under some circumstances.
Chapter 40B was enacted in 1969 to help address the shortage of affordable housing statewide by
reducing barriers created by local approval processes, local zoning, and other restrictions.

Its goal is to encourage the production of affordable housing in all communities throughout the Commonwealth.

For the purposes of this statute, affordable housing is defined as a unit which could be purchased
by a family making 80% of the median income of the area and which is deed restricted.

More....

[El Pinko]

3. poorER people. I seriously doubt these will be low-income townhomes.

And yes, snob zoning and NIMBY need to be stopped.

[DaveJ]

4. I live in a 'mixed housing' area

The concept seems to work. Here on Chicago's north side, low income people live in old flats and old style apartment builings, on the very same streets that have million dollar homes. I can understand these people not wanting to change the look of their community, though, even though they are rich.

[HEyHEY]

7. Fuck em.... everyone else is dealing with crazy development....mainly

Because of an Olympics coming that only they'll make money off of.

[DaveJ]

13. Yeah that is kind of crazy

I wonder why the guy doesn't buy another plot of land and use that? Apparently he does just want to make a quick buck and doesn't care about destroying that beautiful estate. A lot of rich people are surprisingly unclassly. At the risk of sounding un-PC I call people like that "rich white trash."

[Breeze54]

5. Exactley! PooerER people!

:P

I should have noted that. Thanks! :hi:

The anti-snob law is NOT being enforced in Mass at all. :(

Enforcement

The Massachusetts State Audiitor (an elected state-wide office), in 2005, 2006 and 2007 issued several reports criticizing lax enforcement of developers and profits surrounding "40B" developments, and has described numerous subterfuges used by developers to earn more profit on affordable housing than the statute and regulation permits, and that the municipalities and the state have inadequate supervision, auditing and enforcement of the municipal agreements with developers and developers' reporting of sales and profits under the agreement and law.<4><5>

That is an UNDER statement! :grr:

[mac2]

9. Even if they are cheaply built

the owner will charge a fortune for living in the area. Address means a lot.

[HEyHEY]

12. an outhouse is expensive here

[mac2]

8. How poor should we go?

We bought a new home in the burbs. The homes are middle class mostly but some of the older ones are low priced (by Chicago standards).

Now with the bad economy single family homes in our subdivision are renting to others in their basement (against the zoning laws). The large number of cars all over the lawns,garbage pails in front of garage, etc. do ruin our property values.

Recently developers built camper type homes. They are ugly and cheaply built. The new apartments units going up are mostly empty. The city moves their poor out here for cheaper units. Illegals from all over the world come here too.

One resident approved of the renting to multi-family homes since the economy is bad now. He worries about the poor (probably wants to rent rooms himself). I'm thinking what's next? Tent camps?

Are we to just allow developers and the city who refuse to enforce our zoning laws ruin our property values? It's real money you know.

[HEyHEY]

10. Hello, you put the homes there so people don't have to live in tents

If you have a problem with the design, talk to council, don't blame the occupants.

[mac2]

11. With the large number of poor and homeless it could be

Not that I want that for anyone. Immigrants and the homeless live in tents and in the open in California forests.

[DaveJ]

14. Violations of zoning is a pet peeve of mine

Hate to sound so heartless, but I feel like these people who shack up together are cheating the system. Then they don't have to work as often because their bills are so low, while I'm working all the time just to get by. I can understand large homes like McMansions housing multi or extended families, but the line should be drawn somewhere, or else as you say we'll have a bunch of shanty towns eventually.

[Breeze54]

15. Zoning Laws that make the poor outcasts & homeless is my pet peeve!

Look, there are many places to build affordable housing but developers (shysters) only
want to build to make money and they don't give a shit about the poor and the rich, who
"need" maids and landscapers and people to work as waitresses and gas station attendants
forget that those people can't afford to commute 25 miles a day on what they make!
They NEED affordable housing close to their jobs!!

Hence; the Anti-Snob Laws!

[mac2]

16. You should fight for a larger middle class and less poor

[DaveJ]

17. That's why I mentioned mixed housing earlier.

They work out a lot better than building projects that simply warehouse the poor. In Chicago studios are advertised in the $500 range. You can probably find some for a lot less. $200-300s if you want to have roommate(s). If you want to pay a more, a lot of 20 somethings live lakeside, with apartments going in the $800s.
These prices are affordable even with minimum wage jobs, so there is no need to violate zoning laws for people who are able to work.

My point is that stuffing lots of people into single family homes is a zoning violation for very good reasons.

[begin_within]

6. Looks like the Haunted Mansion: