By RudizinkFor those daring but spiritually-decadent readers willing to violate the Holy Sabbath by going online today, we highlight two interesting tidbits from today's morning news:
For a stark example of the unpleasant but wholly-predictable consequences of slapdash hillside residential development, the Emerald City townsfolk need look no further than neighboring Mountain Green. This morning's Standard-Examiner story brings us up to date on the latest shenanigans in the Highlands West Subdivision landslide brouhaha.
It seems the homeowner of the now-abandoned and uninhabitable 5,600 sq. ft. residential structure is deeply into default on her mortgage loan, but the lender nevertheless refuses to perfect its security interest by foreclosure. Morgan County, (the government entity who approved the ill-considered development in the first place,) likewise refuses to take title to the property by quitclaim deed. They won't touch it with a ten-foot pole. Nobody wants to touch this problem property, as a matter of fact.
Meanwhile, the county is attempting to stick the costs of demolition and/or remodeling on the erstwhile homeowner, who has clearly "walked" from the property... and who is also repeatedly mentioning the much-dreaded "L- word" during selected conversations. For added spice, the down-slope neighbors are grumbling about all the "red tape," and appear to be developing something of a lynch-mob mentality, as the soggy uphill slope creeps, according to the natural (and entirely predictable) laws of physics, inexorably toward their own "upscale" (but "down-slide") properties.
Some day soon, a district court will decide who is ultimately responsible for the bone-headed acts of approving, funding and building a large "upscale" residential development on a steep pile of wet, inherently unstable hillside sediment. There's plenty of potential liability to go around, due to the co-operative participation of greedy developers, lenders, and compliant government planning and decision-making officials. Some (if not all) of these "players" will be ordered to reach into their pockets to cure this problem, no doubt. Our bet is that the good taxpayers of Morgan County will pick up a sizeable portion of the ultimate "tab, however;" and it's our prediction that the individual homeowner will be proven to have been the least culpable of all this whole motley and greedy lot.
A portent for the future of Emerald City? We sincerely hope not. Our own city council is smarter than that... right?
And for a look at Boss Godfrey's latest crackpot scheme to morph Emerald City into a giant urban amusement park, take a gander at this morning's front-page Standard-Examiner story. Son of the Nitty-gritty Dirt Band is reported to be the latest psuedo-celebrity white knight-errant evidently to arrive in Boss Godfrey's office to save we poor lumpentownsfolk from ourselves. A Giant Pond Arena is in our future, according to the ever-increasingly
The river-side property in question is reported to encompass some 50 acres or so. Our psychic "inner self" senses another Godfrey-style sweetheart developer deal coming up. Today's article is silent, unfortunately, about whether this project is contingent upon the construction of a gondola.
Don't let the cat get your tongues.
Update 9/14/06 8:21 a.m. MT: The Standard-Examiner provides this follow-up story this morning, concerning the travails of the property owner in Mountain Green:
"Hayes said demolishing her home will not prevent future ground movement, something neighboring land owners disagree with.
"The landslide will continue," Hayes said. "(Removing my home) cannot prevent any ground movement."
A mere glance at the our above header graphic, which illustrates the nature of the soil subsidence in her hillside neighborhood, shows why Mother Nature will continue to have her way with the Highlands West Subdivision, regardless of whether Mrs. Hayes's residential structure is demolished or not.
Update 9/17/06 5:05 p.m. MT: This story grows even more interesting with this morning's front-page Std-Ex story. Our home town newspaper does a pretty good job when they hire a real reporter to write up a story.
