Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Gripes of the day.

I was just perusing my HOA website as my neighbor had forwarded the link so I could read up on why the pool is closed. Turns out we have vandals that decided to scale the fence and rip up the filter and cause general havoc. Little bastards. I don't know what it is about people. Are we that bored or that stupid that we can't find anything better to do than screw things up? It's like the hackers, why do they write horrible viruses that crash peoples' computers? Because they are bored and just want to see if they can. Seriously, people need to get jobs and get lives. Go to the library, go to Sonic and get a coke, go bowling, but for cryin' out loud, STOP SCREWING WITH SHIT! Use your knowledge or your angst or whatever motivates you for the good of the world. If these vandals (whether real world or cyberspace) would put half the effort into doing something constructive for our planet, maybe we would have figured out how to power our vehicles without relying on foreign oil, or maybe we might have a grip on global warming, or possibly figured out how to wipe out diabetes or HIV! And what makes people so apt to be assholes? I don't know, could it be the fact that practically every show on television is this "reality" bullshit that basically shows a bunch of people being assholes to each other. Trying to screw each other over in order to get the money or the man or the fame? Sometimes I feel like the only shows worth watching are my son's shows. At least the little characters help each other, help animals and strive to be good little citizens. We as adults could learn alot from these values!

OK, bitch number 2. On this HOA website, I also found out that someone is trying to get a portion of our rural area re-zoned for commercial space. I understand that this part of town is growing, there is alot of development going on. This area was zoned specifically to offer a buffer between the commercial land available on the main road and the neighborhood. But whoever bought the land next to the main road wants to purchase this land to expand the Asian marketplace that is scheduled to go in. OK, first of all, the land they have for this venture is plenty big! It could be a massive shopping center, why do they need more? Mostly since not more than a mile and a half away is a brand new Asian marketplace that is HUGE!!! It kind of seems like overkill to me. Like having two malls within 2 miles, what's the point? I welcome a small and quaint center with some new cuisine and possibly a nice market, it sounds great, but I don't at all want some huge paved giganto commercial space backed right up to the neighborhood. So I guess I'll be sending my email to the zoning people and telling them so. Maybe there will be enough people in the neighborhood bitching that they'll get the point. But I'm not terribly optimistic. Seems like commercial business pretty overrides just about anyone and anything in this day and age. After all, ask the folks off Anderson Lane who didn't want that gargantuan 24-hour Wal-mart in the middle of their neighborhood! They petitioned and boycotted and wrote to city council, showed up for the meetings and did everything they could, but in the long run, Wal-Mart had better lawyers and more money so they prevailed. I am interested to know just when private citizens became the bottom of the heap. We hire politicians to speak for us, yet they are funded by big business, so it seems as though no one is looking out for the little guys (Average Joe and Jane aka you and me!). Pretty messed up if you ask me.

2 comments:

past prime said...

Don't be naive about business. Money talks ...and loudly. Your neighborhood pays maybe seven hundred dollars per house in property taxes. A large mall or shopping center will pay many thousands of dollars in property and other taxes. In the city's eyes, greed rules and the tax money talks louder than your enjoyment of quiet time. Besides, the city could empliment another legal tool and simply purchase your house out from under you and allow it to become a mall or shopping center. And, you have no recourse but to sell. The next time you hear the words, "Land of the free." I would take a mild exception.

Little Mama said...

I wish my property taxes were $700, they are actually close to $4K. And yes, big business will beat out the little guy everytime. Makes me ill.