Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more.
Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more
How could I know?
Muslim terrorist Hoda Muthana suggests therapy as a suitable punishment for her treason. That’s not harsh enough, but if she were assigned Andrew McCabe as her tent mate, I suppose it’d be okay.
39 Keofferam, Old Greenwich, $3.150 million, is reported as pending. I wrote about this property two weeks ago, praising it, but noting that it sold for $3. 250 million in 2007, and wondering how such a great house could drop in value after extensive renovations and an addition of 1,000 sq.ft. I still don’t have the answer for that, but I’m glad to see that someone else saw the merits of this home,
35 Locust Street, nestled against our western border, has been placed on the market today at $3.595 million; the sellers paid $3.495 for it in 2014. A genuine antique (1802, with bits of it perhaps dating to 1750), with a couple of rental cottages that throw off enough cash to pay the mortgage, it’s bound to sell, but its location works against it. What was once a bucolic setting is now bounded by I-295 to its left, and Westchester Airport’s flight path overhead, and that’s a nasty combination.
The previous owners tried for $4.195 in 2011 and waited three years before a buyer appeared and paid them that $3.495. He, in turn, should be so lucky.
46 Sawmill Lane is down to $1.795 million, which represents a huge loss from its 2005 purchase price of $2.7. Maybe it’s a bargain now; I do know that I used that 2005 sale as a cautionary tale to my clients back then that the market had gone crazy.
But a nice house offering one-floor living, close to town. It’s in the North Street/Central school district, which is a plus, but I see this as more of a grandparent’s home.
West Virginian goat farmers will appreciate this
JUST GLUE IT
Duke star Zion Williamson’s Nike sneaker explodes, but fortunately for the manufacturer, Colin Kaepernick is unscathed.
“Meh” — Nike Chairman told FWIW, “we do social justice, not product. Some idiot in a Vietnamese sweat shop screws up and makes a bad shoe, who give’s a f**k? Coach Krzyzewski’s got his five-million for endorsing our crap this year, the kid’s gonna be better, sooner or later, so screw it, he’ll live; let’s Move On”
Apparently she does have friends, and we should be glad and rejoice in that, for her sake
She may be crazy, but this local GOP committee is in even worse shape
(Mind you, this article is from one of my favorite conservative websites, The Daily Caller.)
The Philadelphia Republican Party’s endorsed candidate for mayor, Daphne Goggins, hasn’t worked a paid job in eight years due to anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, she revealed during a phone interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Goggins became the first black woman to receive the endorsement of the Philadelphia GOP on Feb. 13, but her endorsement swiftly came under fire after one of her primary opponents, Billy Ciancaglini, said she hasn’t held a paid job since 2010 and has been relying on federal disability benefits to support herself.
The revelation prompted party chairman Michael Meehan to organize a meeting Monday with ward leaders to reconsider the party’s endorsement of Goggins. The disability benefits she receives are meant for people unable “to perform any job in the national economy,” Meehan said. “I think the mayor’s job is one in the national economy and is a sticking a point.”
The ward leaders voted 29 to 18 on Monday against reconsidering Goggins’ endorsement, solidifying the Philadelphia GOP’s support of her in the lead up to the May 21 primary.
Goggins, who is a ward leader herself, kept her colleagues in the dark prior to Monday’s vote regarding the conditions that qualify her for disability benefits. Goggins said in January she suffers from fibromyalgia, a musculoskeletal pain disorder, but told reporters Monday that isn’t why she collects disability.
Goggins, a 56-year-old single mother of three, revealed to The DCNF on Tuesday that mental illness is what’s kept her away from the paid workforce since 2010.
“The reason I was actually disabled is mental illness,” Goggins said in a phone interview. “I take a chance in saying this because I may lose some voters.”
“Bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety is what I treat for,” she said.
Goggins said her mental illnesses materialized after she stopped snorting cocaine in 2005.
“When I first got clean from snorting cocaine and being a functioning addict, I realized that my job was to stay clean,” she said. “As the years went on I saw the issues that I had. Then I got the breast cancer. Then the diabetes came along. I actually fell into a coma last year because I took the wrong medication.”
“I went from making $60,000 a year to living off of $600 a month and food stamps,” she said.
Goggins says she’s ready to re-enter the workforce after her nearly decade-long hiatus. Her first stop is the mayorship of the sixth-largest city in the U.S.
“I’ve managed my life enough to be able to be a mayor because I’ve worked on it and I have been endorsed by my party,” she said.
Goggins said she will only give up her disability benefits if she becomes Philadelphia’s next mayor.
Goggins’ primary opponent, Democrat-turned-Republican Ciancaglini, lambasted her justification to continue collecting disability while claiming she is fit to be the mayor.
“That is not how disability works,” Ciancaglini told The DCNF. “You don’t say, ‘I’ll get healed if I get a better job.'”
Goggins said she is “physically, emotionally and mentally capable of handling the duties of Mayor of Philadelphia,” in a statement Saturday in response to the revelation that she’s been on disability benefits for nearly a decade.
“If you can physically, mentally and emotionally do that, you can be a secretary, a teacher, a data-entry analyst,” Ciancaglini said. “Daphne wants to keep collecting disability by saying, ‘I’m unable to work,’ but yet, ‘I’m going to run for mayor, and if I win then I’ll say I’m healed.'”
When asked why she says she is capable of serving as mayor but won’t make efforts to reenter the paid workforce, Goggins responded: “So do they want me to give up my income now and not pay my bills?”
“I think I’ve gotten to the point where I can reenter the workforce,” she said. “Now, I’m not absolutely sure of that, and that’s the problem. You are never sure. Things happen. You’re never sure, but I’m taking this chance because I believe God wants me to.”
Goggins said she’s confident she has what it takes to serve as mayor of the sixth-largest city in the country because her cabinet would do most of the work for her.
Goggins was blunt about her chances to become the city’s next mayor.
“I’m going to be honest with you. Everything that I’ve done in my life I’ve failed at,” she said. “So chances of winning are just as good as chances of losing for me. So I’m going to say it’s 50-50.”
“But I don’t understand what none of that has to do with me,” said Goggins, who says her own mental illnesses shouldn’t prevent her from serving as mayor.
“Why should I be ashamed of having mental illness?” she asked. “I think that the voters of Philadelphia should get to decide.”
“And I think they just might choose me,” she added.
The odds of a Republican being elected Mayor of Philadelphia are approximately the same as the air suddenly disappearing from your living room, so no harm, no foul here, but … really?
Why is this man smiling?
Jusse Smolett is about to be indicted
Chicago police on Wednesday said they believe that “Empire” star Jussie Smollett made up claims that he was the target of a racist and homophobic attack — and evidence against him was being presented to a grand jury.
“Case Update: Jussie Smollett is now officially classified as a suspect in a criminal investigation by #ChicagoPolice for filing a false police report (Class 4 felony),” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted.
“Detectives are currently presenting evidence before a Cook County Grand Jury.”
From what I’ve read, his greatest exposure comes from the penalties for federal mail fraud — he shouldn’t sent himself that threatening letter.
107 Meadow Road, a 1925 mansion owner by the widow of Mr. Brace of Harcourt-Brace publishing fame, tried for $6.995 back in 2016, but because of severe deed restrictions that prevented any change in the exterior or any addition in space, its market value was hammered. Still. it did find a buyer at $3.7 million, and that buyer has restored and renovated it and today returned it the active listing list at $8.695. Hmm.
Meadow is a fabulous street in a great neighborhood, and this house, on three acres perched high above on the hill, enjoys a wonderful view over Od Greenwich Cove, so there’s nothing to argue about the setting.
Some may object to the house itself, however. The builders were constrained by those deed restrictions, so the house remains the same size: at 7,603 sq.ft. that’s hardly an obstacle, but they might have redone/rearranged that space, if permitted, and the garage remains a detached structure.
They did manage to install central air — I’d wondered whether outdoor compressors would be allowed — and replaced the old heating system, so that’s all to the good. I’m not sold on the kitchen, which seems to have retained its tiny, cramped size, albeit with modern appliances added, and the bathrooms, while updated, remain pretty-much what they were.
But it is a great location, so someone may fall in love with this grand old dame.
It may not date to 1925, or even pre-war, but this pool could have used some updating after its service to the previous owner: at least, for $8.695, one might expect so. (By the way, I’ve never before seen staged pool statues — hope for low winds)
What could go wrong? These geese aren’t leaving.
It takes a bit of effort (not much) to wade through Lamont’s verbiage, but here are some of his new income sources:
Goods and services will be taxed equally: Equal tax treatment levels the playing field and discourages the purchase of certain items in lieu of others. For example, it doesn’t make sense to apply the full sales tax to the purchase of a movie on a disc, but not the electronic downloading or streaming of the same film. Nor does it make sense to tax the materials you need to repair or renovate a home, but not on the architect, engineer, or contractor who do the work.
So sales tax on building services, and tax on your Netflix.
Governor Lamont is proposing a municipal cost-sharing plan under which each municipality or local board of education will be responsible for at least one-quarter (25 percent) of the normal pension cost paid on its behalf by the state. Those municipalities who have teacher salaries above the statewide median will be asked to pay a share equal to each percentage point they are above the median. To avoid further burdening struggling towns and cities, all distressed municipalities will contribute five percent of their associated normal cost.
Greenwich and a few other towns will pay 25% of their teachers’ pension costs, the rest of the state gets a pass.
(You can ignore the rest of the Governor’s spiel about state workers’ unions contributing towards reducing the deficit: they’ve already pronounced any such idea as dead on arrival.)
Add on Lamont’s fellow-Democrats’ plans to raise the income tax on “the tippy-top” of earners — that would be Greenwich residents— and a new 1% property tax, and we’re in for a rough ride (and don’t forget tolls and higher gasoline taxes.)
Spending cuts? hahahaha
35 Close Road, $11.180 million. House last sold for $14.7 million in 2007, but still, a lot of money. I heard about this pending sale a month ago, but kept my mouth shut until it closed. NYC-based Chinese buyer, no mortgage, looking to add to his weekend home collection.
Back country owners should hope he has friends.
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