From Cuba, to Los Angeles, to Minneapolis, decline is an option

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At least there are no lines at the checkout counters

PowerLine

How to Destroy a City

American cities, like states, are moving in two very different directions. Some, like Miami, Nashville, Austin, Charleston and Salt Lake City, are thriving and growing. Others, like Chicago, Portland, Minneapolis, and–soon, anyway–New York, are caught in a downward spiral. It all depends on governance, at the local level but also on the state level, as it is much easier to thrive in Tennessee, for example, than in Oregon.

Minneapolis is a case in point. Its leadership in recent years has been terrible. The Minneapolis City Council is one of the most absurdly left-wing bodies in the U.S. And it suffers further from bad policies at the state level–high taxes, overregulation, rampant fraud and corruption, and so on.

As a consequence, commercial real estate values in Minneapolis have cratered:

Vacancy rates don’t tell the whole story, because they only measure space on which rent is not being paid. There is a vast quantity of office space in Minneapolis (St. Paul, too) that is in fact vacant, on which the tenant will stop paying rent as soon as its lease expires. So the worst is yet to come.

>>>>

Minneapolis’s collapse has nothing to do with covid, as many cities around the country are thriving. And it has nothing to do with climate; Minneapolis could only dream of growing at the rate of Sioux Falls. It is 100% due to lousy liberal policies at both the local and state levels.

It's no wonder blue state politicians and NGOs fight so fiercely to protect their kingdom; or as this editorial calls it, the nonprofit-industrial complex

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plus another $500 million on related “services”

NYC burning $81K per homeless person — with nothing to show for it

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli just revealed that New York City is now spending $81,000 per street homeless person — in a town where average take-home pay is no higher than $40,600.

And Mayor Zohran Mamdani want to spend more: City Hall projects it to hit nearly $97,000 in the coming year.

Overall, this spending has skyrocketed from $102 million in 2018 to $368 million last year, up 320% even as the street-homeless population grew just 26%.

Office of the New York State Comptroller

These figures don’t include about $500 million a year for supportive housing, mental health co-response teams, the NYPD’s homeless-clearing work or other outlays for this population.

It’s certain that almost none of the $81,000 actually benefits these street people: Outreach workers get paid to count the “unsheltered” and to try coaxing them into shelter or arranging some kind of housing they’ll accept. 

This is just one particularly damning example of how New York’s nonprofit-industrial complex has morphed the city’s multibillion-dollar outlays in the name of fighting homelessness into a jobs program that simply pretends to manage it.

UPDATE Reader DJ has thoughtfully supplied this video of another branch of the industrial welfare complex, the hospice scam, California edition; Teslas and BMWs for all.

Decades in the making, it’s finally lights out for the Wokes’ winter retreat

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Trump didn’t create this shithole, communism did, but if he helped speed the process to its final collapse, good on him

Cuba's Energy Grid Collapses, Entire Island Loses Power

Officials in Cuba reported an island-wide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen...

The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system and said it was investigating.

Cuba has experienced multiple blackouts in the last few months, including one nearly two weeks ago which left a large part of the island without power. That particular blackout was caused by a failure at a particular power plant which took days to repair.

A failure at Cuba’s main thermoelectric plant has caused a massive blackout affecting two-thirds of the island, the Cuban government confirmed Wednesday. The partial collapse of the island’s National Electric System (SEN) — the second in a month — has left nearly 7 million of the island’s almost 10 million inhabitants without power. The outage is also affecting the capital, Havana.

It's not clear if today's collapse is the result of the same plant running out of fuel or if this has more to do with the plant itself being long past its expiration date.

William LeoGrande, a professor at American University who has tracked Cuba for years, said the country’s energy grid hasn’t been maintained properly and its infrastructure is “way past its normal useful life.”

“The technicians working on the grid are magicians to keep it running at all given the shape that it’s in,” LeoGrande said...

“And on top of all that, the Cuban government doesn’t have the hard currency to import spare parts or upgrade the plant or grid itself. It’s just a perfect storm of collapse,” LeoGrande said.

Fortunately, our favorite autistic is on the case:

Who ya gonna trust, your own country's networks and Democrats, or Al-Jazerra?

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Stories you won’t see on America’s media or admitted by Chris Murphy:

A SURPRISINGLY CLEAR-EYED ANALYSIS, FROM AL-JAZEERA, NO LESS: “The US-Israeli strategy against Iran is working. Here is why.”

“When you look at what has actually happened to Iran’s principal instruments of power – its ballistic missile arsenal, its nuclear infrastructure, its air defences, its navy and its proxy command architecture – the picture is not one of US failure. It is one of systematic, phased degradation of a threat that previous administrations allowed to grow for four decades.”

UPDATE: As I was saying …

Duck! Pintail listing soars past offering price

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17 Pintail Lane, asked $3.950 million, sold for $4,271,00.

It may be time to adopt the English practice of just posting “Guide Prices” which suggest the seller’s desired starting point.

(Of course, these properties are off-limits to native English-speakers)

AI Overview

In Great Britain, "suggested" prices in real estate ads are commonly listed as

Guide Prices, which are estimated valuations based on market data, demand, and comparable sales rather than firm selling prices. These guide prices are often used for auctions or premium homes and are open to negotiation, with buyers typically offering 5–10% lower or higher, note haart.

haart

Key Aspects of UK "Suggested" Price Ads:

  • Guide Price Definition: A guide price is an indication of the seller's minimum expectation and a guide for the starting price, but it is not a guarantee of the final sale price.

  • Negotiation Flexibility: Unlike a "Fixed Price" or "Offers Over" listing, a guide price encourages offers, allowing buyers to gauge interest and sellers to test the market.

  • Typical Usage: Frequently used in property auctions and high-end listings on portals like Rightmove.

Bonus material

While prowling the internet looking for examples of British guide prices, I came across Sotheby England’s page — If a cottage on Rogues Hill strikes you as too plebian and far below the minimum price that will impress your friends and tell the world how important you are, you may want to move your search across the pond; I’m sure Joe Barbieri would be willing to assist, and perhaps he’ll let me tag along.

TDS sufferers? Sure, but the media's one-sided cheering for the Iranian oppressors makes clear that it's actually just plain old anti-America.

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Also anti-Semetic, which is curious, but that’s been the case for years.

Start with the actual facts: Last Thursday a muslim loaded up his car with explosives and deliberately crashed it into a Jewish pre-school:

Would-be Michigan car bomber rammed explosives-laden truck into Temple Israel preschool — before security guards shot him dead

The media immediately rushes to explain the Lebanese bomber’s motive: his brother was killed in an Israeli air strike last week, and the poor fellow was so distraught and angry that only killing innocent American children could assuage his sorrow. Who was the brother, and how was staying busy while in Lebanon? Ah, that was left unsaid, until the IDF said it:

Israel confirms Michigan synagogue attacker’s brother was Hezbollah terrorist commander

That was made known within hours of the attack, but ignored. In fact, just yesterday, the major news source for the liberals I know, the media branch they rely on to shape their knowledge of currents events, turned its sympathies to the rocket family.

His brother, Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali, was responsible for managing weapons operations within a specialized branch of Hezbollah’s Badr Unit, the IDF said in a statement Sunday morning.

This unit of the Lebanese terror group is responsible for launching hundreds of rockets toward Israeli civilians throughout the recent war with Iran, the IDF said.

The will of the people? Not hardly

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Glenn Reynolds:

MAKES YOU WONDER WHY ALL THESE COUNTRIES’ GOVERNMENTS ARE PURSUING THIS STRATEGY AGAINST ALL OPPOSITION:

“Oh, no, no, the popularity of our priests and our message isn't waning, it's just that their appeal has become more selective”

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The Episcopal Diocese goes land developer

Episcopal Church plans to demolish Darien church, build four homes

DARIEN — The Episcopal Church of Connecticut plans to demolish an inactive church at 471 Mansfield Ave. and subdivide the property into four single-family home lots, according to plans expected to be submitted to the town this spring.

The Missionary Society of Connecticut, which owns the property, plans to submit a formal application to Darien’s Planning & Zoning Commission by spring, said Rosanna Rosado, the church’s canon for finance and operations.

The church stopped holding worship services at the Darien location in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when services moved online. [And haven’t returned in six years — just sayin’. Ed]

“We have a vibrant Episcopal community in the Fairfield County region,” Rosado said. “We have 30-plus communities of Episcopal churches," so members in Darien found other communities to worship in, she said.

Christian Charity

In addition to the church building, the property includes two single-family homes and a garage. One of the homes is currently rented to a family that helps maintain the property, Rosado said.

If the redevelopment plan is approved, the homes would also be demolished and the family would have to move, , Rosado said. 

(Somewhat related update) AI is getting scary good.

The article published in CT Insider and linked to here included a picture of the church as it exists today. I uploaded that to ChatGPT and gave it the following prompt: “Using this abandoned church as a model, show the building being razed with heavy equipment, perhaps by one of those claw-armed wreckers”. AI took it from there, tearing off the facade, piling rubble around the base, and even thought to add a traffic cone and runoff screening. Here’s the original photo: compare it with the one AI created — looking at the “enhanced” photo, I’d easily believe that the church is already in the process of being torn down.