My 1937 house - and why they want it down

[panamag8or]

That's awesome, man! That whole deal really burned my butt, pardon the French, and I'm glad you guys won.

 

[jamespowers]

I think the adage "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" applies here. Nobody is going to sit back and let the city put one over on us again. Besides, I don't want to wake up one night to find the ghost of Frank Carter sitting at the foot of my bed shaking his head sorrowfully as if to say, "What happened?"

That's the way to be. :eusa_clap
They tend to respond to the old phrase: "When I feel the heat, I see the light."

 

[SpitfireXIV]

Sorry for not updating in a while...I'm visiting Ames now. The City Council killed the entire street improvement plan late last month, after massive outcry against it from the public. The councilmember who wrote us that he didn't see support for the plan changed his vote from Yes to No. That tied the vote, and a tie defeats the measure.

The most they plan to do now is look into syncing up the street lights to keep traffic from bunching and speeding. No bulldozers, no carved up yards. For the next few years anyway, it's over.

i am so glad to hear it! there are so many other approaches to dealing with traffic (light synchronizing for example) that just making more roads. alas, some people are only interested in commerce, not aesthetics...

we had a similar situation, and maybe this might be of help further down the road (no pun intended, honest!): the state wanted to widen an existing road here to such a degree that it woud literally divide our town in two! to make way for "progress" the state planned to condemn houses on both sides of the road.

we tried the "Historic Landmark" approach, but the owners of the homes felt that it was too expensive to keep the houses in "original" condition and felt hamstrung if they wanted to make any improvements that were not in character with the original design.

so, the home owners along the side of the road donated parts of their properties to the city for public use (bikepath); the idea was that if the state tried to take city land in emminent domain fashion, it would set a very dangerous precedence, and it worked. we have a bikepath/sidewalk now, and the road isn't gettting into anybody's living room.

but, it doesn't hurt to have half the town standing behind you in solidarity either...