Friday, April 08, 2005

Man crashes into DMV building and then renews driver's license
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/6357288p-6234486c.html

Things like this are why I keep telling people that government regulation of residential private governments may not prove to be the panacea they expect.
CNN Open House episode on HOAs moved to 4/16

My contact at CNN tells me that we have been pre-empted for 4/9 because of the royal wedding. The episode is now set for Saturday, 4/16, at 9:30 eastern time.

My 7 year old son, Conor, responded to news of the second pre-emption as follows: "Sheesh! What's next? King Arthur returns because England needs him?"
Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth's Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms
Don't these people watch science fiction movies? This is the headline you see on-screen just before they break through to the dinosaurs and oceans of lava.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Times Community Newspapers - Reston - 04/06/2005 - RCA to start selling town status to community
The Reston Citizens Association (RCA) is forging ahead with its project to make a compelling case for Reston becoming an incorporated town.

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Fred Pilot wonders whether this suggests we may see a "deprivatization" movement in which HOA residents would seek to convert their private governments into municipalities or special districts. Could be. Another explanation for such a trend, if one exists (not with Reston particularly, but other HOA-run neighborhoods) is a long-standing suburban tradition: defensive incorporation, meaning a neighborhood incorporating as a municipality in order to prevent being annexed by a nearby municipality, along with acquiring the full range of municipal powers. Tax base-seeking cities have been known to gobble up suburban unincorporated neighborhoods, which can be forestalled by that neighborhood becoming a city of its own. They keep their independence. Again, this seems not to be the reason for incorporating Reston. It isn't mentioned in the article at all among the "arguments for becoming a town" that you can find by scrolling down, and that section makes interesting reading on the limits of private government.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Pocatello Idaho State Journal: Lava airport effort grounded: White's vision halted by pending lawsuit, land-use disputes
Fred Pilot passed along this piece. Imagine having enough land to use lots of it for a landing strip.
Bloomberg.com: New Yorkers Dump Co-Ops for Condos, Paying a `Privacy Premium'

Co-ops are no longer king in Manhattan. Condos are growing faster in price and units sold, as apartment hunters like Jacobson reject having their finances examined, their private lives vetted and their properties controlled by New York's increasingly picky co-op boards.