We recently received a nice note from the organizers behind the ‘Save 39 Chattanooga’ campaign:
Thanks for including 39 Chattanooga so prominently on your site! We’ve gotten several responses already. The more we get the word out, the better our chances are of finding a buyer who wants to buy the house because of its history, rather than in spite of it.
So please keep passing it along, and thank you to everyone for ‘plugging in’. Oh, and as always, don’t forget to invite us to the housewarming…
∙ Victorian By Definition [SocketSite]
∙ Save 39 Chattanooga Street! [save39chattanooga.org]
Let’s be serious here — who in their right mind would want to buy something where the neighbors have more to say about your own property than you do?
And if the neighbors really want a museum piece in their neighborhood, why don’t they just band together and buy it?
All this nonsense makes even 2002 California more attractive!
Henry – true, but one of the reasons we appreciate the ‘Save 39 Chattanooga’ approach is that it appears they are actually trying to find a market rate buyer (albeit not themselves) rather than simply trying to block the rights of the seller (or future owner).
But they are “blocking” the rights of the seller. Did you see the list of things the owner tried to do and got the hand? It’s on the website.
The only way anyone is going to buy that thing is if there is a huge discount on the property. The neighbors actions (with a complicit BOS who overruled the Planning Dept) have basically appropriated a chunk of the value of the property for their own benefit without paying the owner back for what they took away.
At least with eminent domain, the government has to pay market value to compensate the owner. This is much more insidious.
SF neighborhood mob rule at its best.
I totally agree with Henry. I have been in that property and it is actually a blight on that block, not a piece of history. These neighbors should cast aside their cloak of architectural aristocracy and face the reality that this is simply Nimby-ism run amuck.
“The only way anyone is going to buy that thing is if there is a huge discount on the property.”
Someone just bought the house. There’s a sold sign in front of it right now. Apparently, they paid well over the asking price of $749,000.
Maybe preserving the house isn’t as horrible as you think.