First Our Homes, Now Our Water? | Food & Water Watch:
Following its disastrous foray into the housing market, Wall Street’s latest earnings scheme is as close as your kitchen sink: the finance industry is increasingly targeting public water systems. A new report released today by the national consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch, Private Equity, Public Inequity: The Public Cost of Private Equity Takeovers of U.S. Water Infrastructure reveals that as of January 2012, private equity players had raised $186 billion through 276 infrastructure funds and were seeking another $93 billion to take over infrastructure worldwide.
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As state and local governments face increasing fiscal constraints, private equity funds make what must seem like attractive offers, at least in the short term. But if experience has taught us anything, it is that the long term costs and benefits and other consequences must be taken into account.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Sales of New U.S. Homes Increase to Match Two-Year High - Bloomberg
Sales of New U.S. Homes Increase to Match Two-Year High - Bloomberg:
Purchases of new U.S. homes rose more than projected in July to match a two-year high, a sign the industry that helped trigger the recession is recovering. Sales climbed 3.6 percent to a 372,000 annual pace, following a 359,000 rate in June that was higher than previously estimated, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Last month’s rate was the same as in May, which was the strongest since April 2010. The median forecast of 72 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a rise to 365,000.
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This is still an anemic number of new home sales, but at least it's going in the right direction.
Purchases of new U.S. homes rose more than projected in July to match a two-year high, a sign the industry that helped trigger the recession is recovering. Sales climbed 3.6 percent to a 372,000 annual pace, following a 359,000 rate in June that was higher than previously estimated, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Last month’s rate was the same as in May, which was the strongest since April 2010. The median forecast of 72 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a rise to 365,000.
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This is still an anemic number of new home sales, but at least it's going in the right direction.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
DCPP Arquitectos' Sky Condos Offer Sky-High Balconies With Swimming Pools In Lima, Peru (PHOTOS)
DCPP Arquitectos' Sky Condos Offer Sky-High Balconies With Swimming Pools In Lima, Peru (PHOTOS):
DCPP Arquitectos' planned Sky Condos will feature balconies with private pools and other amenities that aim to better integrate indoor and outdoor spaces, according to a Google translation of the company’s website. (Hat tip: the Daily Mail.) The 20-story condo building, designed to be “an icon for the future," will be located in the heart of a wealthy area of Lima and offer its residents views of a nearby golf course.
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It appears that if you get out of the pool on the wrong side your first step takes you down about 20 stories.
DCPP Arquitectos' planned Sky Condos will feature balconies with private pools and other amenities that aim to better integrate indoor and outdoor spaces, according to a Google translation of the company’s website. (Hat tip: the Daily Mail.) The 20-story condo building, designed to be “an icon for the future," will be located in the heart of a wealthy area of Lima and offer its residents views of a nearby golf course.
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It appears that if you get out of the pool on the wrong side your first step takes you down about 20 stories.
How Some States Are Giving Oil and Gas Companies the Right to Take Your Land | Alternet
How Some States Are Giving Oil and Gas Companies the Right to Take Your Land | Alternet
They are called "natural resource development takings," and this article contains a link to an essay by a law professor that explains the process.
ps: To commenters--please don't include huge chunks of text from copyrighted articles in your comments. Limit that to a few sentences.
They are called "natural resource development takings," and this article contains a link to an essay by a law professor that explains the process.
ps: To commenters--please don't include huge chunks of text from copyrighted articles in your comments. Limit that to a few sentences.
Late Night: Wine and Mega-Church Clash in Temecula’s Vineyards | La Figa
Late Night: Wine and Mega-Church Clash in Temecula’s Vineyards | La Figa:
A zoning ordinance, adopted in 1994, prohibits the building of� houses of worship and other non-commercial, non-agricultural ventures in the AVA and C/V zones. And at least one church wants that changed, Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship in Temecula, which operates without a permit in the AVA; the church was built before current zoning went into effect. Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship is seeking to expand their campus to include more parking lots and a K-8 school with a playground, and has launched an offensive, including urging their flock to write the Riverside Planning Commission and the Country Board of Supervisors, as well as attending the Planning Commission meeting on August 22. Chick-fil-A will be providing Wednesday’s lunch for the Calvary Chapel cavalry.
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It isn't that the vintners are against churches. The problem is that the church and school would have to be protected against all the chemicals that are sprayed on the grapes. There would be a half-mile circle around the church that would be lost to agriculture.
A zoning ordinance, adopted in 1994, prohibits the building of� houses of worship and other non-commercial, non-agricultural ventures in the AVA and C/V zones. And at least one church wants that changed, Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship in Temecula, which operates without a permit in the AVA; the church was built before current zoning went into effect. Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship is seeking to expand their campus to include more parking lots and a K-8 school with a playground, and has launched an offensive, including urging their flock to write the Riverside Planning Commission and the Country Board of Supervisors, as well as attending the Planning Commission meeting on August 22. Chick-fil-A will be providing Wednesday’s lunch for the Calvary Chapel cavalry.
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It isn't that the vintners are against churches. The problem is that the church and school would have to be protected against all the chemicals that are sprayed on the grapes. There would be a half-mile circle around the church that would be lost to agriculture.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Lakeview couple sues condo for neighbor's 20 smelly cats - chicagotribune.com
Lakeview couple sues condo for neighbor's 20 smelly cats - chicagotribune.com:
A married couple living in a Lakeview condominium filed a lawsuit Monday in Cook County Circuit Court against a neighbor, their condominium association, individual board members and property managers, claiming their downstairs neighbor's approximately 20 cats have caused odors of urine and feces to permeate into their unit.
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I don't have any data on it, but there seem to be more and more of these cases involving smells and sounds that emanate from one unit to others, and the obligations of condo associations to address the situation. I think these are difficult situations for all concerned, but twenty cats certainly could produce some significant odors.
A married couple living in a Lakeview condominium filed a lawsuit Monday in Cook County Circuit Court against a neighbor, their condominium association, individual board members and property managers, claiming their downstairs neighbor's approximately 20 cats have caused odors of urine and feces to permeate into their unit.
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I don't have any data on it, but there seem to be more and more of these cases involving smells and sounds that emanate from one unit to others, and the obligations of condo associations to address the situation. I think these are difficult situations for all concerned, but twenty cats certainly could produce some significant odors.
Billionaire's new Colorado town is a private Old West marvel - The Denver Post
Billionaire's new Colorado town is a private Old West marvel - The Denver Post: KEBLER PASS�—There's a new town in Colorado. It has about 50 buildings, including a saloon, a church, a jail, a firehouse, a livery and a train station. Soon, it will have a mansion on a hill so the town's founder can look down on his creation.
But don't expect to move here — or even to visit.
This town is billionaire Bill Koch's fascination with the Old West rendered in bricks and mortar. It sits on a 420-acre meadow on his Bear Ranch below the Raggeds Wilderness Area in Gunnison County. It's an unpopulated, faux Western town that might boggle the mind of anyone who ever had a playhouse.
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And he says it will never, ever be open to the public, so all you unwashed peons can just keep out. This is one of the notorious Koch brothers, the oil billionaires who bankrolled much of the Tea Party and are pushing the Republican party farther and farther to the right.
But don't expect to move here — or even to visit.
This town is billionaire Bill Koch's fascination with the Old West rendered in bricks and mortar. It sits on a 420-acre meadow on his Bear Ranch below the Raggeds Wilderness Area in Gunnison County. It's an unpopulated, faux Western town that might boggle the mind of anyone who ever had a playhouse.
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And he says it will never, ever be open to the public, so all you unwashed peons can just keep out. This is one of the notorious Koch brothers, the oil billionaires who bankrolled much of the Tea Party and are pushing the Republican party farther and farther to the right.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Bank-owned vacant properties and the homeless in Chicago
Truthout | Fearless, Independent News and Opinion
"A housing liberation movement is brewing in Chicago. The idea is simple: Tens of thousands - possibly hundreds of thousands - of vacant, bank-owned homes are a large part of what is making the poorest neighborhoods of Chicago into semi-forsaken tracts ridden with crime and blight. These houses are so bad that Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently announced that he’d spend $4 million just to tear some down. Meanwhile, there are more than 20,000 homeless adults and tens of thousands of additional homeless youth in the city fighting through life as capitalism’s refugees.... The only definition of these so-called assets that makes sense is their immediate capacity to serve as homes for families."
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Seems like a good match: empty bank-owned houses and people with no place to live
"A housing liberation movement is brewing in Chicago. The idea is simple: Tens of thousands - possibly hundreds of thousands - of vacant, bank-owned homes are a large part of what is making the poorest neighborhoods of Chicago into semi-forsaken tracts ridden with crime and blight. These houses are so bad that Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently announced that he’d spend $4 million just to tear some down. Meanwhile, there are more than 20,000 homeless adults and tens of thousands of additional homeless youth in the city fighting through life as capitalism’s refugees.... The only definition of these so-called assets that makes sense is their immediate capacity to serve as homes for families."
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Seems like a good match: empty bank-owned houses and people with no place to live
Reader's Watchdog: Condo group's moves have homeowners crying foul | The Des Moines Register | DesMoinesRegister.com
Reader's Watchdog: Condo group's moves have homeowners crying foul | The Des Moines Register | DesMoinesRegister.com: Some Iowa lawmakers tried to pass model legislation passed in Colorado and other states that would fix that. But state Rep. Julian Garrett, R-Indianola, told me the legislation, the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, died for lack of support at the end of the past session.
Until those holes are fixed and consumer protections are made stronger, Bill Brauch, who heads the state attorney general’s consumer protection division, told me he would never join a homeowners’ association.
“You have so little control over the many negative things that can happen to you,” he said. “And then you become trapped in a situation beyond your control that only continues to deteriorate.”
Until those holes are fixed and consumer protections are made stronger, Bill Brauch, who heads the state attorney general’s consumer protection division, told me he would never join a homeowners’ association.
“You have so little control over the many negative things that can happen to you,” he said. “And then you become trapped in a situation beyond your control that only continues to deteriorate.”
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