tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10635442.post112402925102877436..comments2023-10-21T03:07:18.017-05:00Comments on Enclave: Belmont's Power EquationS-townMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05948307051485318061noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10635442.post-1124140109341383092005-08-15T16:08:00.000-05:002005-08-15T16:08:00.000-05:00Bill--"Steal" is a loaded and pejorative term that...Bill--"Steal" is a loaded and pejorative term that I did not mean, else I would have said "steal." Apparently you did not see my response to your initial defense of Belmont:<BR/><BR/><I>By the way, here's how Mr. Roget defines "to appropriate":<BR/><BR/><B>VERB: 1. To set aside or apart for a specified purpose: allocate, assign, designate, earmark. See COLLECT , MONEY . 2. To lay claim to for oneself or as one's right.</B><BR/><BR/>My description of Belmont's attempt to appropriate neighbors' property by easing the zoning seems "appropriate" in both senses of the verb.</I><BR/><BR/>Since even one of those definitions includes your understanding of what Belmont is doing, it is hardly slander to define Belmont's attempts as "appropriation." I already agreed with you that Belmont is earmarking surrounding land it might like to obtain. However, I disagree that the only purpose of the overlay is to express "hopes"; the purpose of an overlay is also to "ease" the process to obtaining property hoped for.<BR/><BR/>I do not see any purpose to going off the deep end and accusing me of lies or slander where there are none.S-townMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05948307051485318061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10635442.post-1124138756035629692005-08-15T15:45:00.000-05:002005-08-15T15:45:00.000-05:00Mike, you wrote that an institutional overlay woul...Mike, you wrote that an institutional overlay would allow Belmont "to <B>appropriate</B> neighbor's neighbors' property."<BR/><BR/>That is patently false, a lie, a slander. <BR/><BR/>An institutional overlay certainly does not empower Belmont to steal property - which is, after all, what "appropriate" means in the context you used it. <BR/><BR/>An institutional overlay also provides no power to force a sale of the property, or even give Belmont any right of first refusal if the property comes up for sale.<BR/><BR/>Belmont simply can not expand into the neighborhood without the neighbors willingly selling their property.<BR/><BR/>And any real estate broker will tell you that if there is a desperate buyer for a piece of property, the seller can ask a higher price, or even enjoy a bidding war. And at the end of that bidding war, the owner is still free to sell to whichever buyer he/she wishes to sell to.<BR/><BR/>By the way, the institutional overlay process was created at the instigation of homeowner groups that wanted a clearer picture of the long-term development plans of big institutions in their neighborhoods. It's a little bizarre to claim now that the institutional overlay process is a bad thing for homeowners.Bill Hobbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01027995840068836161noreply@blogger.com