This is how the town ought to operate

School Board rethinks its policy and opens Hamilton Avenue School to community meetings. I don’t fault the Board for setting policy, but I applaud our new superintendent for acknowledging that the policy was wrong, at least for this group. Good for him, and good for all the parties involved who worked this out.

Greenwich tea party tomorrow at Town Hall, 5- 7 PM

My personal inclination is to work to throw out people like Congressman Himes, but if this is your thing, go for it.

But liberals are intelleckshuals

NYT: Tea Party backers wealthier, better educated. No sh**t, Sherlock.

New lead rules will cripple contractors

Joy oh joy! EPA and anti-lead advocates cheer, while the cost of repainting your house or fixing your toilet just tripled. As always, “if it saves the life of just one child” rules.

We’re in trouble

Up in Hartford, the House has “solved” this year’s (year ending June 30th)  $350 million budget deficit by trickery: delaying payments to nursing homes which will have to be made after June 30th anyway, shifting costs from one account to the other and hoping for more federal funds. That works, technically, but the deficit for next year is already calculated at $700 million, and spending hasn’t even started.

Aha! A little real estate news of note

12 Horseshoe Road, a Cos Cob contemporary that sold for $1.775 million in 2005, is under contract – last asking price was $1.495.

6 Stillman Lane, purchased for $5.1 million in 2003, is also under contract – its last price was $5.495.

8 Dairy Road, the Mariano spec house that wouldn’t sell at $10.750 back in 2007 and which mysteriously reappeared as an active listing yesterday turns out to have sold March 30th for $8.2 million. really? The assessment is $4.509, which is probably low, but $8.2? Apparently so, demonstrating …something.

40% of us pay 86% of all federal taxes, not just income

And no, that’s not the bottom 40%.

Ain’t nothing doing in real estate these days

This really is a blog intended to be mostly dedicated to real estate – really – but there’s almost nothing of interest to report. The action these days is in the distressed properties, which is where I was this morning, but coming back to the office and logging on to the GMLS website, I see no contracts, no sales, a handful of meaningless price cuts and a smaller number of new listings, none of which reflect current market conditions.

I know how many houses are facing foreclosure, so it’s kind of surprising to see the power of denial. I understand it, but it still surprises me.

Chinese defy sanctions, sell gasoline to Iran

Money talks. Bomb them or give up – but economic sanctions are useless.

News from the Amazon

Daughter Katie’s got some great pictures up. (Yes, I’m proud of her, and love her, and no, you may not post any mean comments – attack me, anytime, but not my Katie!)

Shareholders own the company? Right.

Abecrombie & Fitch promises its  CEO $4 million if he’ll only stop using the corporate jet so much. Leaving aside the fact that I’d have been willing to forego use of their jet for far less, does it makes any sense, from a shareholder’s perspective, for a company to bribe its chief executive so that he won’t abuse his perks?

I’d fire the guy, save the $4 million and probably a whole lot more.

Keeping people out: charge $300,000 for a water meter

Bolinas, California, doesn’t want development and keeps it that way.

Google biased?

"Smiling Muslim boy", per Google

Interesting – I searched Google Images.com for “scowling muslim” for a picture to illustrate the previous post, and got  the message, “Showing results for smiling muslim. Search instead for scowling muslim” “smiling Muslims” as the result. When I tried just “scowling”, that’s what Google produced – including, of course, George Bush. Try this experiment yourself – funny, easy and instructive.

Not even music?

Muslims shut off music on Somali radio stations – it’s “un-Islamic”. These fellas better be planning a hell of a party in Paradise because their idea of life here is definitely joyless. They probably don’t even approve of older math teachers instructing young boys in sex!