27 Replies to “O, Sweet Saint Of San Andreas”

  1. I’d give the land back to the bank and walk away. The world would be a better place if bureaucrats were told to eff off more often.

    1. But first, liquidate all real property and chattels, secrete cash abroad, then find some dioxin to dump on the property. Then bugger off out-of-state with no forwarding address.

      There are so many more people who want to call the tunes than are willing and/or able to pay a piper.

  2. In Pelosiville, San Francisco, apparently a man’s home IS NOT his CASTLE!
    I foresee a renewed exodus from California to points beyond.
    Who needs to worry about external immigration, when they want to hasten internal immigration?

    Immigration Song – Bring us your poor…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2xa4qHCGKw

    Feeling tired and poor, that’s because you’re rebuilding the house you just tore down!

    Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief

    1st Saint Nicolaas Army
    Army Group “True North”

  3. I doubt he could build it exactly as it was:
    a) I suspect the local building codes would not permit this.
    b) aren’t all newly constructed homes in California supposed to have solar panels?
    So isn’t he now being asked to break the law?

    1. Wouldn’t it be interesting if their was asbestos tile, insulation, or siding, etc, in the original house?
      Guess it would have to be installed in the replica house. sarc.

      Agree with other comments that a renovation permit is different from a demolition permit. But maybe that depends on the definition of “is”.

  4. SF sounds like its headed in the direction of England where local building boards and hertitage committees get to decide whther you can tear down or even remodel older homes…..oh yes SF is going as left, progressive, socialist, we are your masters as England has been for years.

    1. To be fair, England had some heritage to preserve (sad that the buildings are the only part they are preserving, but that’s off the point.)

  6. The political class parrots the mantra of “affordable housing” while essentially everything they do makes housing less affordable. In BC, they have virtually enslaved the landlords while lionizing tenants ensuring no one in their right mind will increase the inventory of rental units. My (Captain Obvious) prediction is that they will continue the mantra, rationalizing the “innovative” policy of public housing, IOW, a return to the “projects”.

  7. My default suggestion to municipal overreach is to raise pigs on desputed lands.
    Or in this case, create a temporary parking area, for trucks hauling livestock, even a couple hours a day….. till they cry “uncle”.

    Give them an inch and they go mental…..

  8. No sympathy for this person. They live in California. There are laws for everything.
    They know this. They voted for this. Now they think they are “special”.
    Will they learn ? No. There is no reason to think even a Mag 9 earthquake
    can halt the stupidity.

  9. I don’t have a problem with this. He had a building permit for renovation work, not demolition work. Building permits aren’t a California thing. Every entity on the planet makes you get a building permit. I think it’s a creative way to punish someone who oversteps the bounds of what they are allowed to do.

    If you think there should be no such thing as building permits, fine, get rid of building permits, but as long as we have them, there is nothing unreasonable about this. Every person here would complain if their neighbour either tore down their house, or built something that impacted their property. The only difference here is that the city actually did something about it.

    1. Glad I’m not alone on this. In Canada it’s just a matter of starting the demolition and apologizing later. You might get fined, but most developers consider that part of doing business. As you say, if you have these things they should be realistically enforced.

      2. there are many places in Canada where you would not experience the rebuilding demand but you would never get to renovate, or expand the building. we all are aware that there are no property rights in Canada except for indian reserves.

    2. He received Planning Approval to substantially remodel the existing home. That is different from a building permit. It is common, when beginning partial demolition of a home … to encounter lots more rot and decaying materials than originally anticipated. As a result, it is often cheaper, and better to demo the whole home. This has happened on at least 50% of my remodel projects. I suspect that is what happened here. The Neutra home was really, really, old and frankly built FAR BELOW current building code standards … esp. seismic standards. I suspect the owner intended to rebuild Neutra’s design from the beginning of his decision to demolish the home. This is just an exercise of POWER and PUNISHMENT by the SF Planning Dept. (which is 85% Chinese BTW). Behaving like Communist Chinese here in the People’s Republic of CA.

      But this Home is no Neutra masterpiece. I like Neutra’s work … but this house is clumsy and stilted in its design. Add to that, the far inferior construction, and it makes sense to tear down and rebuild to current code standards … Hint: even the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece ‘Falling Water’ has been substantially, if not completely rebuilt because of poor waterproofing and substandard structural design (the giant cantilevered wings and patios were sagging and leaking. Great Designer … a so-so Detailer.

      No, this is all about POWER! The Planning Commission wields their POWER with a steel bludgeon. They WILL NOT BE CROSSED!!! Or ELSE!!

      1. Great Designer … a so-so Detailer. Therefore a lousy architect. FLW is a darling of modern architects, but he worked exclusively for rich clients; very easy to be an “architect” under such conditions.

        I suspect today most architects are merely project managers for large building corporations.

      2. Years ago a restaurant (the Knotty Pine?) located on the southeast corner of Richmond and Fanshawe in London, Ontario burned to the ground. Well almost. A small entrance vestibule remained and was carefully re-supported. i was told by a local that that vestibule allowed the owner to apply for a renovation permit and not a new building permit which would come with a lot of rules. The rebuilt building did not look much like the original, except for one of the entrances.

  10. I read a few days ago he got a deal on that house due to it’s “historic value” and agreed to specific terms for the reduced cost of the property.

  11. I predict there will be a statistically improbable surge in accidental fires in newly acquired old houses.
    “Some vagrants or illegal immigrants must have burnt it down. It’s City Hall’s fault there are so many homeless and that it’s a “sanctuary city” so I’m suing.”

  12. I learnt long ago from a colleague who owned a “building of historic value” that you do not want to own them because the local government and all sorts of busybody-do-gooders want to tell you what color wallpaper and style of toilet you should have.

    It’s almost as if they owned the home, not you and are envious or something.

  13. Close to where I live a guy built a home without any permits and lived in it for 10 years without paying any municipal taxes. Milton town officials found it on Google Earth. He was forced to pay 3 years of municipal back taxes. This year he sold the 3,600 sq ft home on 100 acres for over $2 million. Nearby a friend is trying to develop a 4 acre lot (legally) and was warned by his lawyer to expect $150,000 in building permits. It took the environmental people over 6 months to come out to survey his property for areas that could be environmentally sensitive (and therefore areas where you can’t build).

  14. I live in Oklahoma. In the 30’s, a lot of people quit Oklahoma for the wonderful state of California. We, whose families toughed it out, called them quitters then and carpet baggers now. Now, they are flooding back, with a lot of money in their pockets from the sale of their inflated real estate. Most of them seem to be infected with that pelosi-like shit. We don’t need them now. We needed them then to help recover from a economic and ecological disaster. They ruined Colorado. They are ruining Texas. Send them back to the shit hole they created.

    We most certainly need a big fence on the southern border of the US. I believe that we also need one from the west edge of Texas all the way up the continental divide.

  15. I remember a case of ethnic lightning. The owner was most definitely ethnic. It was the middle of November about 35 years ago and it was announced that to get good tax treatment on an apartment building, footings had to be in by December 31. As good fortune would have it, the building accidentally caught fire, the tenants were evicted without notice, the building was torn down, and the footings were in place on time. I wouldn’t doubt there was a fortuitous insurance claim involved.

  17. huh.
    my late brother bought a house ‘for a song’ intending and then moved it onto a new lot and foundation.
    meeting every condition and requirement to the letter.
    inspector shows up with a ‘ya need this ya need that’
    oh really?
    so he pulls out the original permit he got prior to the move and checked off
    everything
    exactly
    as
    specified

    and asked if they wanted to face a ginormous lawsuit for breach of contract or some such thing and delaying his occupancy of said property.
    they caved.

  18. building permits?
    we lived in st catharines back in the 80s. there was a case where some ‘do it my waaaaaay’ type put a huge expensive house . . . .
    right on the friggin flood plain. despite, or perhaps *because* he could NOT get the permit.
    do it my waaaaaaaay.

    I cant recollect 100% but I think the officials made him tear it down. I dont blame them.

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