Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Inside a jumble of poverty, Texans build a future
International Herald Tribune ^ | August 27, 2007 | Erik Eckholm

Posted on 08/29/2007 11:45:20 AM PDT by Lorianne

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-32 next last

1 posted on 08/29/2007 11:45:23 AM PDT by Lorianne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

The words “legal” or “illegal” do not appear in the story. Just saying.


2 posted on 08/29/2007 11:56:25 AM PDT by ozzymandus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne
Through frugality and hard work, in a process known as incremental building that is rare in the United States but common in the Third World, families are transforming hovels into homes, one wall and window at a time.

I'm pretty sure that every state in the union has laws which were specifically intended to prevent "incremental building". That Texas is permitting this to occur is *not* a good thing, as the writer seems to believe.

Besides that, I know damned well that if *I* started building a new garage in my back yard and stopped work at the tarpaper roof / moisture barrier stage, I'd be fined and possibly forced to demolish it. Then they'd deny me a permit if I went back for a second try.

3 posted on 08/29/2007 11:56:52 AM PDT by Charles Martel (The Tree of Liberty thirsts.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Charles Martel

Yeah, wasn’t there a legal American that just got sent to jail for having no permits?


4 posted on 08/29/2007 11:58:21 AM PDT by freekitty (May the eagles long fly over our beautiful and free American sky.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: freekitty

Our government is really trying to do a job on bringing America down. We should vote them all out of office and start all over.


5 posted on 08/29/2007 11:59:27 AM PDT by freekitty (May the eagles long fly over our beautiful and free American sky.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

I’ve heard of this place before. It was something connected to a real estate article, like this place was the cheapest place in America to buy a house or something like that.


6 posted on 08/29/2007 12:06:48 PM PDT by Kevmo (We should withdraw from Iraq — via Tehran. And Duncan Hunter is just the man to get that job done.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne
The counties of South Texas are among the nation's poorest, and their jumbled subdivisions, known as colonias, home to 400,000 Hispanic-Americans, can certainly look the part.

If I am not mistaken, the term colonias is pretty much reserved for illegal squatter settlements.

Odd that the reporter never mentions that most of the residents of these slums are more than likely "illegal aliens".

And, if they were "illegal aliens", they wouldn't be "Hispanic Americans", would they...???

7 posted on 08/29/2007 12:12:59 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freekitty
...wasn’t there a legal American that just got sent to jail for having no permits?

I missed seeing it, but yeah:

*******

Drudge Report, 08/28/07

RHE man gets jail time for property fixes

By Megan Bagdonas
Staff Writer

He built a fence, a retaining wall, a patio and a few concrete columns to decorate his driveway, and now Francisco Linares is going to jail for it.

Linares had been given six months to get final permits for the offending structures or remove them as part of a plea agreement reached in January, when he pleaded no contest to five misdemeanor counts of violating the Rolling Hills Estates building code.

If he failed to do one or the other, Linares faced six months in county jail.

*snip*

*******

Just goes to show - American citizens are cut no slack at all - even if they have a hispanic surname.

8 posted on 08/29/2007 12:15:01 PM PDT by Charles Martel (The Tree of Liberty thirsts.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Charles Martel

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/9406861.html?page=2&c=y

Your story link.


9 posted on 08/29/2007 12:32:25 PM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Charles Martel
Through frugality and hard work, in a process known as incremental building that is rare in the United States but common in the Third World, families are transforming hovels into homes, one wall and window at a time.

These are all over the place along the Rio Grande. They are largely constructed out of leftover or stolen building supplies from the jobsites they work at.

10 posted on 08/29/2007 12:43:48 PM PDT by usurper (Spelling or grammatical errors in this post can be attributed to the LA City School System)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

People do incremental work her ein Alaska all the time. There are at least 4 different houses within 3 miles wher eI live that people are building their own houses, bits at a time. They don’t have to get a loan. They don’t have a bank telling them they need all sorts of insurance. They don’t have building inspectors telling them to tear everything apart to fix things. It’s the ultimate in Freedom. No government money involved, unlike this case.


11 posted on 08/29/2007 12:57:28 PM PDT by vpintheak (Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked. Prov. 25:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: okie01

The reporter claims they are legal immigrants but doesn’t offer any backup for that.


12 posted on 08/29/2007 1:01:57 PM PDT by Lorianne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: okie01
From the article: Belying another stereotype, a large majority of residents are long-term, legal residents or citizens, data show.

But he doesn't offer what "data" support his statement.

13 posted on 08/29/2007 1:03:59 PM PDT by Lorianne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: okie01
And, if they were "illegal aliens", they wouldn't be "Hispanic Americans", would they...???

Actually, they would. Even if they are not inside the USA borders, they are still Americans. Canadians are Americans, as are residents of Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, etc.

'American' technically means anyone from North, Central, or South AMERICA.

Only inside the USA do we use the term 'American' to be synomous with citizens of the USA, exclusively.

14 posted on 08/29/2007 1:08:18 PM PDT by Lorianne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Charles Martel
Charles Martel said: I'm pretty sure that every state in the union has laws which were specifically intended to prevent "incremental building". That Texas is permitting this to occur is *not* a good thing, as the writer seems to believe.

I disagree totally. Ownership is the only thing that will lead to the pride necessary to maintain and improve property. It is nonsense to think that the only people that should be able to have a three-bedroom, two-bath home are those who have the cash flow to finance one.

Zoning laws which set minimum standards have a place in a free society, but it should not be a mechanism for outlawing lower income housing completely, as it has in much of my part of Kalifornia.

15 posted on 08/29/2007 1:16:46 PM PDT by William Tell (RKBA for California (rkba.members.sonic.net) - Volunteer by contacting Dave at rkba@sonic.net)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: vpintheak
vpintheak said: "People do incremental work here in Alaska all the time. "

I am hopeful that global warming will transform the weather in Alaska into something I can cope with. Much else there is very attractive.

16 posted on 08/29/2007 1:20:36 PM PDT by William Tell (RKBA for California (rkba.members.sonic.net) - Volunteer by contacting Dave at rkba@sonic.net)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: William Tell

Yeah? Well while you all were roasting, we were having mid 70 to 80 temps. Absolutely wonderful weather.:-) I will put up with the really cold temps for a couple of months, just to live it up for another summer. Interestingly, it seams like the 1920’s and 1930’s had most of the record high temperatures here. Here is Fairbanks, the rest of the state is a little cooler in the summer, not nearly as nice weather.


17 posted on 08/29/2007 1:57:28 PM PDT by vpintheak (Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked. Prov. 25:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

I live here. They come across the border, buy 1/4 acre, build a shack, and give birth. They can do that in 2 weeks, much faster than they can be tracked and deported. Then, that “anchor baby” enables the parents to stay for life.


18 posted on 08/29/2007 2:10:59 PM PDT by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne; SwinneySwitch
Only inside the USA do we use the term 'American' to be synomous with citizens of the USA, exclusively.

Which, I'll guarantee you, was exactly the sense in which the reporter was using the term.

Perhaps they aren't illegal aliens. Perhaps the colonias are inhabited by American citizens.

But I doubt it.

As a long-time resident of Texas, I confess I've never heard the term applied to any community except a squatter settlement of illegals. Nor did I hear the term used at all before about 1995.

I live in North Texas, however -- which is less impacted by the illegal problem. Swinney Switch would be better able to comment on the problem than I.

19 posted on 08/29/2007 6:45:01 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne; AnimalLover; rineaux; Roamin53; genxer; time4good; NoTaxTexas; RGVTx; notaliberal; ...

South Texas Colonias Ping!

(No mention of illegals, smugglers, kidnappers or Zeta assassins!


20 posted on 08/30/2007 8:16:51 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch (US Constitution Article 4 Section 4..shall protect each of them against Invasion...domestic Violence)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-32 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson