Refreshing old-fashioned point-missing
Amid the RUSSIAN_AGGRESSION omnicide, it's sort of refreshing to see a media piece on ANY subject that misses the point for old-fashioned reasons, instead of intentionally obliterating the truth to kill Deplorables.

This item on the BBC website caught my attention.

Headline: In the US, buying streets can be cheaper than buying houses.

The immediate subject is a pair of Chinese investors who bought a short street in Frisco for $90K, while each house on the street is "valued" at two million.

But how could the common areas in a street where homes sell for millions go for a relatively small sum? More to the point, how could it be sold at all?

The answer goes back centuries and is a very American approach to an age-old question of the role of government.

Well, no. It's not especially American and it's not typical. Reading the underlying Frisco newspaper article, it's clear that the street in question was NOT a public street. It was ALREADY part of a gated subdivision, owned by a homeowners association. The HOA neglected to pay property taxes, so the street was auctioned.

The other cited examples are also atypical. A few bankrupt Democrat cities have been trying to sell streets to gain a little revenue, without much success.

Why would Brits misunderstand this point? Because the public-private line is completely different in the two countries. The leasehold is a common and typical practice in Britain, and is actually growing recently after fading for decades. Homeowners don't own the land under their house; they lease it from the government. Brits see America as a place where private ownership is more prevalent, so private streets seem plausible.

Later: It would be NICE if street-buying was actually common. Buying back the right-of-way would improve the private-ness and DEFENSIBLE SPACE of ownership. In most cities the frontmost 30 feet (or so) of your lot is technically street right-of-way, which you are obligated to maintain but forbidden to alter in certain ways. If the ROW contains a killer tree you're not permitted to save your life by cutting down the killer tree. The city can kill you any time it wants, and you have to load and maintain the murder weapon.

On my tiny lot the ROW includes the front of my tiny house. Technically the demonic city could have prevented me from getting a new front door last year because the front wall is on their land. Fortunately they don't have enough money to run the all-consuming satanic tyranny they dream about.

Labels: defensible spaces

  ¶ 8:59 AM