The Investors

The meeting last night went well for the most part. I was able to put a face to a name as it relates to both the investors and some of the neighbors. It also solidified -for me anyway- that our journey is just beginning and that we (the existing neighbors) are behind and have much to learn to catch up.

10 things I learned last night:

1. "The Investors" (in every meeting held to date) have been trying to get feedback from the neighbors so they can expedite their cause...which in turn exploits the neighbors in one way or another
2. "The Investors" plan to rezone and subdivide the property to maximize their return (i.e. 50 divisions will yield a greater return than 20 but will also greatly reduce the property value for the surrounding neighbors and produce significantly more traffic)
3. "The Investors" plan on selling these newly created subdivisions to other investors who could then sell to other investors and so on and so forth
4. The current owners, "The Investors", do not plan to develop the land themselves but rather they are in it to rezone and sell as fast as they can
5. Our neighbors MUST become better informed on the processes for rezoning
6. Our neighbors MUST become better informed about the proposed rezone (1-R to 2-R).
7. Our neighbors MUST be in-the-loop regarding letters (formal or otherwise) between the city and the investors as letters to City officials regarding public matters are public knowledge
8. "The Investors", though smoke-n-mirror-type tactics, continue to try to convince the neighbors that they will be building homes (see point 3 and 4 above) that will rival the value of the existing homes in the neighborhood although they really have no intentions to do so. They even went so far as to print out pictures of houses that would (read: could possibly) be built.
9. Since most of the neighbors have been there for 25+ years, most of them have never had to deal with anything like this. It is all very foreign to them.
10. My Mom and Dad are extremely strong willed people. I almost actually feel sorry for the City and "The Investors"

More to come as time permits...