My American Dream, not yours

An agenda item at a local Democratic Committee meeting was a issue regarding the building of condos/apt on a patch of two acres. The two acre patch is located in a residential community. The developers want to build 84 units on the two acres, a concession from 88. The units would be sold for 250-300K.

The gentlemen laid out the facts. His arguments were an increase in traffic; the backyards would no longer have the open space of that land; and increase in taxes because 10 children would be added to the community.

Then he said, the posse of homeowners, did not want those types of people, "condo/apartment dwellers," moving into their neighborhood. Worse, these units would bring down the property value of their home. More importantly, these people should have to earn their way into the neighborhood.

It gets better..

It would be ok if the developers built a handful of million dollar units. He pointed out that he lived in the city and a up in coming rural area. He EARNED the right to live in his community. Change is bad. These people who live in these communities simply don't belong in his neighborhood.

His solution was to build a park with County money. Money supplied by "other people" who have no clue where these two arces are located.

Did I mention this was a Democratic Committee meeting?

Let me be clear, putting 84 units on two acres of land is just dumb. Its too much in a small area. That is a sound enough argument to kill or modify the terms of the project. Period.

But its not ok to build a park with "other people's tax money," as long as "they" don't move into his "piece of the American Dream."

The rest of his argument of keeping "those types of people" out his neighborhood, made my brain seize up. He was stunned by how he offended, the old white land owning women in the audience.

Could let this go? Not a chance. I did not "call him out" during the meeting. The seniors managed to do well without my assistance. However, I spoke with him after the meeting. He assured me that he meant no harm.

I guess its ok to experience the American Dream of home ownership as long as you play by the rules of faceless snobs.

I challenged him, "what makes him think, that a million dollar condo owner would want to live next door to someone whose home is only worth 700K"?