Riverside's been doing well for quite some time now.

29 Spring Street sold for $1.8 million after just a brief flash on the market. Back when I entered this execrable trade in 2002 I worked for a boutique firm, some of whose backcountry agents liked to point out that they never showed houses in Riverside because “I get lost there”. The introduction of GPS or their natural faculties for scenting money has worked wonders, because the few of them still working can often be found in this modest neighborhood.

(Note: major re-do after the 1995 purchase)

Richmond Hill sells

85 Richmond Hill Road has finally sold for $3.550, after beginning in 2016 at $5.250. The seller paid $4.825 for the place in 2013, so he must be a bit disappointed, but not as disappointed as the original owner, who anted up $7.1 for it when it was new in 2006.

Follow the math

According to this article in today’s (Maine) Portland Press Herald, there are 1,060 million registered voters in Maine. That struck me as odd because Maine’s total population is only 1.34 million, and though it is the state with the oldest population in the country, could there really be only 300,000 under-18 children? Turns out, no: there are 557,219 of them.

According to my iPhone’s calculator, that’s a difference of 277,219 — is the headcount of under-18s off by that much, or are the voter rolls loaded with non-existent ghosts?

I know what I suspect, but really, this is more a post about the incurious ignorance of today’s reporters. You’d expect — I’d expect, anyway — that a Maine reporter or at least his editor, would know the size of the state’s population, and a figure like 1.060 million voters would ring an alarm bell, but the ability to hold two facts in the brain simultaneously seems to be a lost art in modern “journalism”.

By the time the last person leaves California they'll be no need for them to turn off the lights; Governor Newsom will have done it for them

Newsom orders that all new cars sold in state in 2035 must be zero emission vehicles.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), perhaps unsatisfied with the misery of rolling blackouts to which ill-considered climate restrictions have subjected Californians, has ordered that no new gas-powered cars shall be sold in California beginning in the year 2035. What could possibly go wrong?

California “is phasing out the internal combustion engine,” the governor tweeted in announcing his sweeping executive order. “By 2035 every new car sold in CA will be an emission free vehicle. Cars shouldn’t give our kids asthma. Make wildfires worse. Melt glaciers. Or raise sea levels.”

Leaving aside the fact that switching to electric cars doesn’t mean zero emissions — it just shifts the pollution to other states and other countries — for a state that already can’t produce enough electricity, where does Newsom think all this new energy will come from?

And how many millions of chargers will have to be installed on streets and in apartment tower garages to keep the state’s motoring public mobile? Sounds pricey. Of course, forcing people out of their individual cars and onto buses so that their betters can dictate when and where they travel is not a bug, it’s a feature.

Gobsmacked

12 Saint Claire Avenue, Old Greenwich, was listed art $4.6 August 26 and had a contract on September. The sale price was reported today: $4.9 million, and a direct sale, which usually means that the sellers paid no commission. Wow.

2009 construction, 1/2-acre lot, on Saint Claire, which is a street with modest homes that have much to be modest about. A direct sale implies buyers who were either friends, neighbors or at least someone familiar with the house, so I guess they knew what they were getting, but this is another one of those sales in the time of COVID that I wonder at. Someone still in this business ten yers from now should follow up.

Yes, there's still some real estate news to report

480 Cognewaugh

480 Cognewaugh Road has a contract. Currently asking $2.225 million, down from last year’s price of $2.750, and considerably lower than its 2005 purchase price of $2.875.

4 Knollwood Drive

Also under contract is 4 Knollwood Drive East, asking $2.995 million, dropped from its opening price of $3.525. Again, not a home run for the sellers, who paid $3.9 for it in 2004.

1363 King Street

On the other hand, 1363 King Street just sold for $2.925 million just four days after opening at $2.999. Westchester refugees? Airplane aficionado? I’m a bit surprised at the quick, almost-full-price offer; I’d have thought there’d have been no particular rush to beat other buyers. But for someone desperate to escape the City and be settled in by fall, maybe.

Kim Klacik Ad

Barometer Soup linked to it, EOS endorsed it, here’s the Youtube edition

I doubt she has a chance in Democrat Baltimore, but I made a modest contribution anyway

Gotta love initiative

Pimp, self-proclaimed “Street Czar” gets on Seattle payroll at $12,500 per month

I assume the job comes with health benefits, so nice gig if you can get it; my congratulations to Mr. Andre Taylor.

Seattle taxpayers can do what they want with their money, but I’m delighted that Trump has moved to cut off federal tax monies going their way.

Just fire 'em and move to a new model

Uh huh

Kenosha schools cancel classes at 11th hour after union teachers refuse to show up. The announcement came late Sunday night, hours before thousands of parents had planned to go to their own jobs.

A Kenosha Unified School District spokeswoman announced to families late Sunday that due to the high number of teacher absences, school would take place through virtual classes rather than in-person for students at 7 districts, FOX 6 reported.

“We genuinely apologize for this very late communication,” the statement says.  “Due to a surge of employee absences being reported for tomorrow, Monday, Sept. 21, we must move Bradford, Harborside, Indian Trail, LakeView, Lincoln, Reuther and Tremper to virtual learning for the upcoming week due to a lack of coverage for in-person learning.

The district said they had 276 teacher absences, although a statement by school officials to FOX 6 does not clarify the reason for the absences. The switch affects 3,600 students. 

“Our system does not collect the reason why, so we are doing our research today. We have a 43% fill rate, meaning we have 43% of the positions needing coverage covered by a substitute, and the other 57% we will be working to cover in one of the following ways: with substitutes, by combining classes with other virtual sections, or by repurposing certified staff from other areas in the district. Teachers who call in sick will are not able to teach virtually or from home,” said Kenosha Unified School District officials.

The district had three confirmed cases of coronavirus among staff, and a total of 10 confirmed cases, with 7 among students, according to FOX 6.

There’s nothing most teachers have to offer these days except illiteracy (85% for inner city blacks) and Marxist indoctrination, so closing the schools won’t hurt the students, but something better should be offered. Since the “teachers” unions control their politicians, the first step towards reform is to fire the current crop of politicos. Then Move On.

Lake Avenue sale

487 Lake, $2.4 million, started at $3.685. Purchased for $2.5 in 1998. Land sale?