They keep coming, and at an ever increasing pace
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Like Facebook, Twitter doesn’t explain what particular post offended its “Truth Proofers”, but perhaps it was this one
What's a nice old house worth these days?
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8 Hill Lane Avenue
8 Hill Lane, (that odd little street that runs downhill from Meadow to Willowmere in Riverside) cut its price today from $3.995 to $3.850, but I wonder whether that’s enough? Understand, I think this is a great house, one that’s been owned for the past 50 years by a highly successful couple who raised their family here with great results and without any observable mental dysfunctions among those kids, so it’s plain that the structure is family-safe. That said, it’s a dated, 1921 building on a half-acre, with a FAR allowance of 7,600 sq.ft., and I fear that its highest and best use will prove to be a building lot. I’ll emphasize, again, that I personally love this house, and would be delighted to put some money into it to bring it up to date and live in it happily ever after, but I have a pretty good sense of what my own, younger buyers and others of their generation are looking for, and I’m pretty sure this isn’t it.
So, what’s a building lot in a highly desirable Riverside neighborhood, with a great view but not waterfront, worth? I certainly hope for the sake of the owners that it’s close to this price, but I’ll be watching with great interest.
What I was saying
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25 Andrews Farm Road, listed at $7.850 million in September 2015 has, finally, sold for $4.650. The town has it appraised at $7,438,500, so I guess our tax collector will be as disappointed as the owner.
Reminder: a robust seller's market is still yielding losses for many owners
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One Old Round Hill Road (June 1 contract) has closed at $4.460 Million. Purchased new for $5,901,325 in January 2004, the owners put a lot of money into extra features and improvements and listed it for $8.495 million in 2016. Four years on, this is what they got for their efforts.
55 Mooreland Road
55 Mooreland Road, set on the market waters in July 2019 at $6.2 million, has sold for $4.4. It was purchased for $4.880 in 2007 (and $5.6 in 2003, when it was a wreck), but these sellers poured a lot of money into it, for naught.
As an aside, anyone tempted to pay in the $6s or $7s for a house these days might want to dig deeper into the inventory; there are a lot of deals in the low $4s available. And $3 buyers, if you can afford to dig deeper into your pocket, look up a bit, or negotiate harder on those $3s — it’s a hot market, but there are many $3.5 houses that are substantially inferior to many $4.5s, “inferior” by far more than $750,000 or so.
Everything that's wrong with public education, in one paragraph.
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School’s out forever? We can only hope.
The Portland (ME) Press Herald is concerned that home “learning pods” are creating a discrepancy between rich and poor. That’s a legitimate concern, and perhaps the teachers’ unions might want to reflect on why they think they shouldn’t be exposed to the same risks they demand of the grocery clerks they depend on. The answer is certainly not what they seem to be edging closer to, a ban on home schooling. We’ll see what happens in November.
But what will these home-schooled children be missing? This:
Cindy Soule, a fourth-grade teacher at Gerald E. Talbot Community School in Portland, said she was approached by families this summer who offered to pay her to teach their children in a pod. Soule turned down the offer.
“I take very seriously I am a white teacher working in a school that has 41 percent black students, 6 percent Latinx and a variety of other representation,” Soule said. “I am deeply concerned about our students who have traditionally been marginalized whether it be by classism, racism, ableism.”
It’s Portland taxpayers’ misfortune that they have to continue Ms. Soule’s salary while she exercises her wokeness, but if some of her former students can get a break from her political sensibilities for a term or two, that’s money well spent..
(Update): appropriate illustration
Austin slashes police budget, redirects funds to long term "solution", increasing black abortions
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“This moment has been born out of a lot of hurt in the community,” Austin City Councilman Greg Casar said during the council’s Thursday meeting. “We know we have a long way to go.”
Casar crafted the three-tiered plan to cut the police department budget by about one-third of its total $434 million budget. His plan calls to immediately slash around $20 million. The funds will be reallocated to abortion and food access programs.
On a national average, nearly 40% of all black pregnancies are terminated by abortion; in certain cities like NY, it’s over 60%. This fits in perfectly with Planned Parenthood’s founder Margaret Sanger advocacy for reducing the number of “idiots and Negroes”, but it’s still shocking to see a modern liberal push for this program.
Coup thwarted at Voice of America
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They’ll all come roaring back in January, but at least we tried.
President Trump’s new leader at the Voice of America and its parent organization made sweeping staff changes this week in response to a pro-Joe Biden video and a review of possible security violations in foreign worker hiring, The Post has learned.
Michael Pack, who took the helm of the US Agency for Global Media in June, previously fired a group of broadcasting chiefs as he seeks to redirect the global news service formed during the Cold War.
Among the latest heads to roll is Tabinda Naeem, digital managing director of the VOA’s Urdu language service, who was placed on leave — as part of a process that could result in termination — in response to the pro-Biden video, sources told The Post.
Four contractors involved with the video were informed Wednesday that their contracts will be terminated.
Pack separately informed seven senior leaders of the USAGM in Washington — via courier service on Wednesday — that their security clearances were suspended and they are on leave over concerns about the hiring of foreign workers, sources told The Post.
USAGM General Counsel David Kligerman, Chief Financial Officer Grant Turner and executive director Oanh Tran are among the seven placed on leave and stripped of their clearances, sources told The Post.
Naeem, Kligerman, Turner and Tran did not immediately reply to emails from The Post seeking comment.
A spokesman for the USAGM told The Post: “We took action today to restore integrity to and respect for the rule of law in our work at USAGM. We will take additional steps to help return this agency to its glory days.”
The pro-Biden video, released last month, touched off a furore within the agency. Pack and his allies viewed it as validation of their belief the agency had strayed from its original mission of sharing US views with the world in a non-partisan manner.
In the campaign-style VOA Urdu clip, Biden appeals for Muslim votes. “Make no mistake people, 2020 is our year,” a voiceover says. “We can see clearly that America is fighting for its very soul… let’s do our part and join the largest Muslim voter mobilization in America.” A jingle declares “brown power!” as Trump critics Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) strike power poses.
Michelle picks her running mate
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He’ll be gone by November
Kamala: She screwed her boss on the way up, she’ll screw us on our way down Of course, she does has a certain understaning of what’s required.
AND THIS
Does our BOE know, or care about what our $100,000-indoctrinators are teaching?
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Not a Greenwich teacher, but is he all that different? I think not.
