Posted on 10/03/2008 8:27:21 PM PDT by Lorianne
Islanders were outraged when a wealthy summer resident clear cut land last year next to an affordable housing development so he could land his helicopter.
But another fight brewing on Martha's Vineyard is not about the excesses of the rich in their summer houses. This one pits year-round residents against one another.
On one side is Bill Bennett, a Vineyard electronics contractor, who raised $1 million to buy land on the island's southern edge to build 11 houses costing $350,000 each - about half the island's median house price - so his employees and family can afford their first homes. Opposing the project, Cozy Hearth, are its neighbors whose understanding of how badly the Vineyard needs affordable housing to retain the island's working class is as keen as their desire to protect their privacy and property values.
"I was a working guy. I know we need workers," said Geoffrey Patterson, a building contractor who said he stretched financially in 1994 to buy his property, which is adjacent to Bennett's proposed project. "I don't want 11 houses in my backyard - I don't care if it's Jay Leno."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
That just boggles my mind. In Texas that would buy 50 acres and a nice home in the country.....with some left over.
In Silicon Valley, even in this depressed market, $350k would get you a house in the worst neighborhood of East Palo Alto, at one time famous for having the highest per-capita murder rate in the world.
Oh, I forgot to add that this article is a classic example of the elitism that liberals hold — Martha’s Vineyard is a famed center of liberalism.
I hope some day they'll all get chucked off their land by some lawyer/developer sharing some imminent domain love with them. Welcome to the new America.
I think the zoning laws should be changed to allow a trailer park and homeless shelter on Martha’s Vineyard.
The school district officials there often bugged our company for clear bribes and kickbacks, which we refused to pay.
LOL! The rich have high class problems.
I think the whole island should be scraped clean and turned into a National Seashore.
But, my dear, you forget...
Anyone living on the “Islands” can certainly afford living quarters, probably over their multi-car garages, for their servants.
After all, the upper crust doesn’t want to have to look at unsightly cheapo shelters for the “underclass”.
When they need services, they will just fly them in.
Wait...this is Massachusettes....home of Bwarney Fwank of Freddie/Fannie fame. Surely they could lobby Fwank for a nice sub-prime mortgage from a reputable, stable Govt. lending institution? Why their civil rights are being trampled on by evil Republican rich people!
Yep, let them build some section 8 apartments there - like they have here in our rural area.
Hey — that’s MY congresscritter!!! What a guy.
“Wait...this is Massachusettes....home of Bwarney Fwank of Freddie/Fannie fame. Surely they could lobby Fwank for a nice sub-prime mortgage from a reputable, stable Govt. lending institution? Why their civil rights are being trampled on by evil Republican rich people!”
In all your modesty you failed to mention that this is also the home of THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE made famous in 1969 by its other name CHAPPAQUIDDICK. The bridge and the event is also responsible for General Motors to abandon anymore attempts to sell their Oldsmobiles as amphibious.
Aloha
Maybe James Taylor can appease a gang banger with his guitar...
Well, down here in Flushwater, Arkansas we don’t see any need for this Martha to own a whole island just for her snotty friends.
I have a house, but what I really want is a “compound”. That’s what filthy rich heirs like Teddy Kennedy have in places like Massachusetts and Florida. Compounds. I wish I had a compound.
Trouble is everyone on the island would want to be an onsight park ranger and have their house designated a historic sight that had to maintained at taxpayer expense forever.
Close to that now, I guess.
In the SF Bay Area, $350K will buy you a crappy 900 sf tear-down—except that, unlike in Texas, you can’t tear it down and build something bigger and better. The no-growth, environmental selfish NIMBYs have seen to it that, now that they have their nice big new house, no one else should be able to live like human beings.
Buy a half dozen of those cute little storage sheds from Home Depot and sprinkle them around your yard and Voila! you’ve got a Compound!
I already have TWO of those sheds out back. Whoopee! I have a compound!
Can I change my name to Lancey Fitzgerald Howard now?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.