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Saturday, March 31, 2007

The Nest Egg and the Nuisance.

The Anoka County Library has many investment advisory books saying putting the investment money into more rather than less house is arguably unwise. Arguably, the opposite is true. A small businessman in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle, a rug cleaning, repair, and fire/water damage insurance contractor, second generation, with a steam truck and a rug cleaning machine-plant gentle enough for the worn antique Persian collectible carpets of the most confirmed Yuppie households, advised employees - if nothing else I would buy a modest condo - something to establish a credit history beyond consumer debt.

This is the nest egg part. The - I inherited this acreage from my kin, when I age and cannot keep it up I want to see I have funds for my last years and something to pass on to the children. It is my right. I shepherded this land, worked it, and should not have brueaucrats tying my hands. Or - I bought it I own it. I use it as I see fit. Why's your nose in my business? All that.

On the other hand you cannot open a tannery or nuclear waste reprocessing site where you please. Establishing polar extremes hardly helps, as is obvious. Yet, what is land use regulation law and the law of nuisance other than imposed rules saying you must conform to the rights others have over your land and buildings and how you use them. Whether the BNSF trains blow their warning whistles at night is a property use issue not involving real estate. But is it a nuisance, or a safety benefit?

Leave aside the opportunism of those successful in gaining a hold on reins of power, in order to impose their development will on others.

It happens. It happens a lot. It happens too much. But leave it aside for now.

Here are a selection of photos. I intend them to suggest we need a spectrum of consensus, cooperation, tolerance, and concession if Ramsey's 2008 Comprehensive Plan is to not end up dictated by the deep pockets - the ones we left aside - the ones able in a weak and incoherent community to gain a hand on the reins sufficient to satisfy their wills and profit motives.

If you do not want the gold to simply rule, and who does but the rich men, then you have to have views on the following photo diversity, captioned by me since I put it together.

It is my statement on Well Planned and Controlled [but diverse] Housing - an earlier Comp Plan goal, but without phrasing it in it's much, much, much more presumptive "Guiding Principles" form:

"A Place for Well Planned and Controlled Growth."

This is the first thing I write looking at earlier "Comp Plan Guiding Principles," Ralph Brauer unobtrusively tasked me and others at the beginning of the most recent RAMSEY3 session to consider.

I may write further, on my blog, about the "Guiding Principles." Or I may submit for publishing consideration other thoughts or images to the RAMSEY3 people, in hope it will invite others to submit items the same way. For reasons I will not get into, this set of photos might not be approprate for inviting publication by those people.

These are pictures from three overlapping series of photo sessions - taken days apart this past fall - of a range of things I have edited to a few items (including taking out home pictures showing campaign signs from the last election). Here are the photos captioned my way:

Dense housing does not have to look ugly:


But if you try hard enough, you can make it Super ugly:


A Ramsey cul-de-sac front yard and grounds, with space from the neighbors, and owners doing autumn yard work:


A Ramsey back yard in autumn, where I live, a tree-yard more than a sun-yard:


Another Ramsey back yard, about a mile from where I live:


Ramsey - Horse acreage:


RV acreage:


No acreage: