Saturday, September 15, 2007

Carmichael Man Wants To Build Backyard Crypt - Yahoo! News

Now here is something to make every back yard special--twenty crypts. Fred Pilot dug it up. Reminds me of a story about a gentleman from Transylvania setting up a nice home in England.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Ruidoso News - Water cutoff forces condo dwellers to bottle up
Fred Pilot sent this along. Seems there was a little shortfall in paying the water bill, to the tune of some $24,000, so now these condo inmates have been transported to the 19th century and are lugging their water around in jugs.
My Way News - Philly Seeks 10,000 Men to Guard Streets
Is this a new form of privatization or an abject confession of failure by municipal government?

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The city's embattled police chief, acknowledging that police alone cannot quell a run of deadly violence, has called on 10,000 black men to patrol the streets to reduce crime.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Daily Commercial | City puts bite in 'no barking' ordinance

See? Cities are getting more like the stereotypical HOA.

MOUNT DORA - The city may put a leash on frequent dog-barking. Under a proposed change in Mount Dora's noise ordinance, dogs won't be able to just keep barking and barking, creating a disturbance in a neighborhood. Mount Dora already prohibits dogs from barking for five minutes at a time. But under the revised ordinance, even if dogs bark for less than five minutes, their owners can be cited by the city if the dog barks for three periods in 24 hours. Such barking is considered a noise disturbance.

Monday, September 10, 2007

wcbstv.com - Housing Market Slump Forces Couple To Open Brothel
That's the old entrepreneurial spirit at work, I guess.
Limits proposed on fast-food restaurants - Los Angeles Times
Attack of the 50-Foot Nanny State!

Amid worries of an obesity epidemic and its related illnesses, including high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, Los Angeles officials, among others around the country, are proposing to limit new fast-food restaurants -- a tactic that could be called health zoning.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Condo and homeowner associations want to change the laws that govern them. -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
This story is mostly about the efforts of "homeowner" groups that are cozy with the industry. There have been claims that some of these groups are "Astroturf roots." It's getting hard to tell who represents whom these days...but I guess if you were a law firm that wanted to stop reform efforts brought about by real owner groups (like Jan Bergemann's Cyber Citizens for Justice), you might want to confuse the situation.
Jacksonville.com: Business: Story: CONDO CONVERSIONS GONE BAD

This looks like a playground for lawyers.

Several apartment-turned-condo complexes in the Jacksonville area are swimming in lawsuits, with complaints filed against developers, against homeowners and against condo associations.
Business Edge News Magazine - businessedge.ca - Ontario Edition - Dual-purpose airport attracts 'condo' buyers
But can I get a doughnut there, eh?

"They've cooked up a different way to run an airport in northern Alberta - they've gone condo. At the Cooking Lake Airport - the only facility in the province with both a floatplane base and a conventional runway - the traditional model of running an airport has taken a backseat. Instead, the undertaking is described as the only airport in Canada operating with a condominium ownership structure.
Unusual Insurance Claims


"...every once in awhile, a co-op board or condo association must be prepared to deal with out-of-the-ordinary claims that involve more than just the predictable insurance issues."