You don’t own property
You just rent it from the government. And they can control what you do with it since everything will some day be historic. But, really, chain link fences? The WaPo:
To most eyes, a chain-link fence in the front yard does not scream curb appeal. Simple — but not what you’d call “elegantly simple” — it’s what a set decorator might prescribe when he wants to conjure up mean streets. A white picket fence it ain’t.
Which is why some homeowners in Old Town Alexandria were surprised to learn recently that their chain-link fences were historic and that removing them could put them in hot water with the city’s historic preservation office.
August 9th, 2011 at 9:57 am
It’s ridiculous that ordinary houses are deemed “historic”, when their only connection to history is that they happen to have been sitting there for a while. Chain link fence historic my ass! Sounds like masters lording it over their slaves is what it sounds like.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Alexandria can be 100% nuts about this sort of thing. They used it to deny the one gun store in town’s application to expand his gun store in a building he owned. He got them back by (1)closing the gun store and (2)renting the whole place out to an “Adult Store” which didn’t need approval (it amusingly gets more foot traffic than a lot of other places).
I do love this: “would be removing an important contextual clue to the original occupants of this neighborhood.”
Which, since it is a ‘black’ neighborhood sounds a lot like “you folks are supposed to be poor and since you’re not really anymore we’re gonna damn sure make it look like you are.”
August 9th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
I happen to be in the market for some real estate, preferably in southern New Hampshire. I only mention this because of one of the line items on a spreadsheet I’ve written to analyze the various properties that I am considering. What I’ve done is taken the line item for the annual property tax and divided that by twelve to get the amount that needs to be set aside each month so the cash will be in the bank when the tax bill comes due. I’ve labeled this amount “Park Rent.” Thanks to our tax laws our Nation has become a huge trailer park. If you think you own your home and nobody can kick you out of it – try not paying the ‘park rent.’ In fairly short order you’ll find out who really owns your home…
August 10th, 2011 at 11:26 am
Old Town residents get exactly the government they vote for, year after year. That nice little old lady voted for socialists her entire life, and now she’s surprised they don’t respect her private property? More, please. Give these fools exactly what they asked for.
BTW, I have a feeling this poor little old lady was precisely the type of Old Town freeloader who is destroying this country by taking $200K in HELOC to pay a lease on a Range Rover and vacations in Jamaica, while her 2/1 rowhouse gurgles underwater.