The Inclusionary Housing Parable of the Mayor and the Small Landowner

The Pasadena Pundit ^ | March 11, 2006 | Wayne Lusvardi

[WayneLusvardi]

The Inclusionary Housing Parable of the Mayor and the Small Landowner - Whodunnit?

God sent Nate to the powerful Mayor of the City of Pasquinade named Bill. When he came to the mayor he told him the following story: "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and politically powerful and the other relatively powerless and not rich. The rich and powerful mayor had a very large number of parcels of land and had the authority vested in his position to tax or take the property of others. But poor Nate had nothing much but one little parcel of land he had bought and paid taxes on for decades smack dab in the middle of the rich city. He rescued the 100-year old house on the land and wanted to pass ownership to his children. So his property became like one of his children.

Now a migrant traveler came to the powerful mayor of the city whose group the mayor wanted to court political favor from. And the traveler squatted on land belonging to another favored group who demanded it be replaced. But the mayor refrained from replacing it or taking one of his own properties to give to the traveler, nor did the mayor assess a tax on all the citizens to provide housing to the traveler. Instead the mayor took half the land that belonged to Nate and prepared it for the traveler who had come to him as a form of political patronage. And Nate could no longer farm on such an inferior sized parcel of land.

Then Mayor Bill burned with anger upon hearing the story and said to Nate "As surely as God lives, the man who did this deserves to pay! He must pay for that property four times over because he did such a thing and has no pity.

Then Nate replied to Mayor Bill, "Why, you are the man!" And then God said: "I anointed you mayor over Pasquinade. I gave your master's house to you and I gave the house of Izzy and Jude. And if all this had been too little I would have given you more. Why did you despise the word of God by doing what is evil in his eyes by stealing half of Nate's property to give to a traveler for political patronage and then cover it up by calling it "inclusionary housing"? (see here: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_3591793). And then why did you go to the City-sponsored "affordable housing summit" at the church and seek religious sanction for your actions by hypocritically saying you were helping the poor and the homeless? -- Paraphrase II Samuel 12, Hebrew Bible. Original story here: http://home.att.net/~kc5seo/iisamuel12.htm