"Megamansions a big show in LA; Construction goes on despite economic slump" by Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times | June 19, 2008
LOS ANGELES - In Beverly Hills, a 32,000-square-foot beaux-arts mansion that will be sheathed in Portuguese limestone and adorned with gold-plated doorknobs fashioned in France is rising on Sunset Boulevard.
A few miles away in Bel-Air, businessman Eri Kroh has requested permits to lop off the top of a hill, fill in a canyon and then, after moving 68,000 cubic yards of dirt, replace the chaparral-covered lot with a 30,000-plus square-foot single family house with Pacific Ocean views.
Just down the hill, workers were recently building retaining walls for a giant lot that real estate specialists say could soon feature one or two giant palace-like houses.
Anyone who assumed that the construction of megamansions would grind to a halt as the economy worsens must not be familiar with the customs of the very rich.
So there is ONE CLASS of people who are ABOVE ALL THIS MISERY, huh?
Might even say PROFITING OFF IT, 'eh?
"Does anybody need 40,000 square feet?" asks real estate agent Stephen Shapiro of the Westside Estate Agency. "No, [but] these are our current-day aristocrats and feudal leaders . . . and this is what they want."
Builder John Finton, who is overseeing construction of the 32,000-square-foot house on Sunset Boulevard for businessman C. Frederick Wehba Sr. and his wife, Susan, said he knows of at least 20 20,000-plus square-foot houses under construction or about to break ground in what he called the "platinum triangle" of wealthy areas in Los Angeles County: Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, and Holmby Hills....
And they are getting tax sudsidies from my state! Pffft!
Real estate specialists give various explanations for the continuing popularity of megamansions.
"People are spending much more time at home," Finton said. "They want to be comfortable."
For the super-rich, being comfortable can mean turning your house into a resort.
Drew Fenton, another real estate agent, said that no one sets out to build a megahouse; it just happens:
"You keep adding the rooms you think you need. The ballroom, the screening room, masters with his and hers, and a beauty salon and a massage room. And the house keeps growing. I can't explain why someone needs a gift-wrapping room or a florist room. That is a question of culture."
Or of ROBBERY!!!!
Others had another explanation: ego.
Joe Edmiston, director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which has fought to preserve open space:
"Each year it seems there are more extremely rich people with ever-larger egos that have to be right on top of the mountainside . . . so everyone will know - aha - there is the richest person on the hill."
But even as plans are drawn for ever-larger houses, there is a growing chorus of people who are questioning the concept of the megamansion.
Spurred by complaints from homeowners that "mansionization" is ruining the character of many neighborhoods, the Los Angeles City Council last month approved new limits on the sizes of many Los Angeles houses.
The law applies only to the city's flatlands, but officials are working on a companion law for the city's hillsides, where many of these giant houses are slated to be built.
That is little comfort to homeowners who say an influx of giant houses has already hurt their neighborhoods.
Some of Kroh's would-be neighbors, for example, oppose his plans. They say they worry about landslides and the rumble of trucks up their hilly street during construction.
Kroh dismisses these concerns, saying his project, if he builds it, will make the area safer by giving it better fire truck access and better drainage.
But the residents also talk about a less tangible issue: the way that an influx of megamansions can change the character of a close-knit community.
Many original buildings in the area, built after the 1961 Bel-Air fire, were modest ranch houses of three and four bedrooms."Oh, the "regular" people not too happy with all the commotion.
I can understand that!
And there is the BANKING HOUSES:
"Investment banks' woes spur call to act" by Associated Press | June 19, 2008
WASHINGTON - A top banking regulator says the government must do a better job of planning for the failure of a large investment bank after the near-collapse of Bear Stearns Cos.
They just got another $75 BILLION! WTF?!?!
Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said in a speech yesterday to the Exchequer Club, a group of lawyers, lobbyists, and trade association officials, that the government should prepare contingency plans in the event a major investment bank fails:
"The government cannot be put in the position of having to simply write a blank check when these institutions get into trouble."
Even though THAT is what they are DOING!!!! Not fooleyed, lady!
Continuing trouble at investment banks has been apparent this week. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. posted a $2.8 billion loss on Monday, and Morgan Stanley said yesterday that its quarterly profit dropped by 61 percent.
While Congress appears unlikely to tackle the thorny issue of overhauling financial regulations this year, initial discussions are getting started.
One possibility would be for the FDIC to run a failing investment bank after the Federal Reserve or Securities and Exchange Commission decided to shut it down, Bair told reporters. The FDIC has long done so for commercial banks, and has handled four bank failures this year.
Why am I smelling the stench of fascism here?
Lawmakers have expressed concern over the Federal Reserve-backed rescue of Bear Stearns as it came close to filing for bankruptcy protection. Bear Stearns was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in March, with loan assistance from the Fed.
Some Democrats questioned why the central bank put $29 billion at risk in the JPMorgan-Bear deal to protect Wall Street, while millions of homeowners face the risk of defaulting on their mortgages and losing their homes.
Letting you know WHO THEY WORK FOR, aren't they?
Bair defended the Fed's actions as necessary to shore up the financial system:
"There is a playbook for the failure of a commercial bank . . . but there isn't any for the failure of an investment bank. The Fed had to invent one on the fly."
What BULL CRAP!!
And speaking of shit, that leads you to the next set of houses!
The SHIT HOUSES:
"26 who lost their homes get them back; Mass. says lawyer's 'rescue' cheated them" by Kimberly Blanton, Globe Staff | June 19, 2008
Twenty-six Massachusetts residents who lost their homes in an alleged foreclosure-rescue scam will regain ownership of the properties as part of a legal settlement.
The homeowners were allegedly tricked out of their homes by a Brockton lawyer, Alec G. Sohmer.
The attorney general's office accused Sohmer of persuading the homeowners to transfer the titles to their properties to him as part of an effort to avoid foreclosure. Sohmer then charged the former owners rent and sometimes sought to evict them when they could not keep up with the payments - which Sohmer knew they could not afford, the state said. The former owners hoped to regain title to their homes through refinancing.
But now Sohmer himself has filed for bankruptcy protection. US Bankruptcy Court in Boston, which is overseeing Sohmer's case, approved the settlement last week...."
And then there are the TENT HOUSES:
And for some, NO HOME at ALL!!!
A farm was flooded by the Mississippi River after the Indian Grave Drainage District levee broke north of Quincy, Ill., and south of Meyer, Ill. At least 10 levees have been breached in Illinois and Missouri in recent days. (STEVE BOHNSTEDT/QUINCY HERALD WHIG VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS)
""Small towns along Mississippi River wait for the worst; Some fear floods will wipe out tiny communities" by Allen G. Breed, Association Press | June 19, 2008
OAKVILLE, Iowa - Yesterday, Iowans assessed their losses from flooding that inundated Des Moines and Iowa City. But small towns up and down the Mississippi still awaited the worst of the flooding; some rivers were not expected to crest until today.
Storms and flooding across six states this month have killed 24 people, injured 148, and caused more than $1.5 billion in estimated damage in Iowa alone - a figure that's likely to increase as river levels climb in Missouri and Illinois.
Federal officials predicted as many as 30 levees could overflow this week, leaving industrial and agricultural areas vulnerable, but sparing major residential centers. So far this week, 20 levees have overflowed.
At least 10 levees have been topped in Illinois and Missouri in recent days.... Governor Matt Blunt of Missouri sent 600 members of the National Guard to the northeastern part of the state, plus another 100 to the St. Louis area to help towns farther downstream. In Illinois, 1,100 National Guard troops have been sent to help flooded communities.
Even if population hubs are spared, some fear entire communities may be lost forever, possibly wiping off the map names such as Columbus Junction, Fredonia, Palo, and New Hartford.... In Cedar Rapids, officials allowed more people into damaged homes and businesses.
South of Iowa City, the town of Columbus Junction, population 2,000, suffered a major blow because it's below the confluence of the Iowa and Cedars rivers. The medical center, pharmacy, day care, senior center, a hotel, and a dozen other businesses were under about 10 feet of water after a levee broke Saturday.
Connie Lewis, 78, who has lived in Columbus Junction for 40 years, often wondered who would keep the town going when her generation passed, [and] when she saw droves of young people filling sandbags and vacuuming the United Methodist Church so it could be used for a shelter, she got her answer:
"And now we know we are going to be OK. It was such a good cementing experience. Children of all colors were helping. You find out when you need them, they step up to the plate."
Then quit knocking them so much (besides, such an attitude will be good for the coming draft).
These are places where people have learned to lean on one another instead of waiting for outside help.
That's because there isn't any coming; this government has been tapped-out by wars, occupations, and looting.
Jon Fye, a local excavating company owner, steered a small boat gingerly around submerged cars and past a picturesque Victorian house where an American flag hung limply from the porch into muddy waters that reeked of diesel fuel and hog waste.
Fye, as he cleared corn stalks from the propeller of his boat, said wealthier farmers should bounce back from the disaster fairly quickly, but for many friends and neighbors already living on the edge, the floods could spell doom:
"For some it's a bad year, a terrible year, but for some, it's the end."
Even the nation's house has been neglected, readers:
Gee, I WONDER WHERE THAT MONEY WENT!!!!
The Mall draws 20 million visitors a year, more than the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite parks combined. It is the location of the nation's most famous monuments and memorials and the site of some of the country's most historic public gatherings....
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat:
"It got this way through complete and total inattention. You've got to keep the lawns mowed. But if nobody's looking, you don't have to do much more than that."
Not only was nobody looking, critics say, but few Washington insiders seemed to care."
There is only TWO things Washington politicians care about now -- campaign cash and Israel!
Isn't that obvious?
