Burning down the house

[Mizmoon]

What does a wealthy homeowner do when he can afford a perfect hilltop property but it comes with an unimpressive house?

For W. Christopher White, a Manhattan real estate attorney, the answer was to burn it down to make room for a larger, more luxurious house.

And what does he do when a neighbor's roof is the only flaw in an otherwise unobstructed 180-degree water view? He buys that house for $2 million and burns it down, too.

White, a senior partner in the Wall Street law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, donated both houses to the Montauk Fire Department for training purposes.

Sunday, firefighters torched the second of his acquisitions on the ridge above East Lake Drive. The 2,500-square-foot, two-story Tudor had a turret, stained-glass and mullion windows, a two-car garage, and a swimming pool. It was built just five years ago.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lihous0516,0,530234.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines

[hobbit709]

1. Burn down his house

maybe with him in it.

[warrens]

16. Well, give him time to leave

The arrogance of these rich fucks just leaves me stunned. A five year old house...and this shit can show off his wealth to the point of burning it down. I certainly hope that at some point his dream home burns down too.

[gratuitous]

19. Whaddya mean "show off his wealth"?

He donated the houses to the Fire Department for training fires. He got a big, fat tax deduction! You and I are paying for his new house.

[HeeBGBz]

2. I despise people like that

Sounds like a 1%er Bushbuddy.

[unhappycamper]

3. He's probably building the new one with his tax cut. nt

[Ganja Ninja]

4. Behold the smoking gun ...

that proves we are over taxing the rich. :sarcasm:

[Ezlivin]

5. Gee, it must be nice to be fiscally omnipotent

History will look as kindly upon this type of behavior as it did the excesses of emperors.

I wonder if this guy has ever heard the definition of the word "homeless." It would do him good to experience it.

[truthisfreedom]

6. i dunno. sounds like he stayed within the law and got his way at the same

time.

much more righteous than bushco, who does whatever the f*** they want with our hard-earned tax dollars. think about it.

[goddess40]

8. Staying within the law isn't the same as being ethical

If the only excuse for bad behavior is "it's within the law" it means they know they're jerks but screw you and anyone that looks like you.

Ethics have disappeared from most of America - we seem to have the attitude that if we can "afford" it financially and it isn't really illegal than its OK. Then there are the privileged in every city that feel the laws don't apply to them and for the most part they don't - how often do you see a ritzy car or SUV pulled over?
Yesterday at my son's athletic banquet when it was time to eat (pot luck) the coach told the first table to eat and two republicans (fathers of athletes) from the third table got up and went too. They knew they were wrong, but no one said anything - I was home sick but my hubby did shame the one wife into waiting her turn.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. Did I miss something?

It's not as if he wouldn't have bought the houses and demolished them anyway. At least this way *some* good came of it.

[sweetheart]

9. Sounds like fun to torch a mcmansion

Such is the case quite often in britain, as the older housing stock
is of poor quality... but to fix up a property, you pay 17.5% tax on
everything. Whereas to build new, there is no VAT (17.5%)... so the
trick wherever possible is to build new.

Its rather stupid of the taxman, as the result is an unchanging legacy
of crap housing stock... and really a good bit of it should just get
torched.

As well, when you want to build quality and the previous house is low
quality, there is nothing to attach new structure to... its a nightmare
and you're better off just bulldozing it. I don't have any feelings at
all for this chap and his house burning. Its his free will to do so,
and i hope he feels good about what he replaces it with. He empowers
us all, by that, to not be limited by the legacy of yesterday, but to
see what could be done, even though yesterday's architects were crap.

[tinrobot]

10. Donated?

Usually when rich people "donate" something, it's for a tax break.

Please don't tell me this guy got a tax break for letting the fire department burn down his house.

[Tyler Durden]

11. Donate = Tax Deduction in the Neocon Lexicon

And don't you believe it could possibly be any different: if they got a reciept and 100% deduction every time they kicked a fiver to a homeless person, the homeless would be housed and fairly well fed.

[Bridget Burke]

13. Demolition costs money.

Especially when the house being demolished is sturdily built.

In this case, it doesn't sound as though any architectural treasures were being destroyed. Just one garish pile replacing two slightly older garish piles.

[mainer]

12. This is not worth getting outraged about.

So the man's rich. So he bought two houses and executed his property owner's rights, and in the process, didn't screw anyone else's rights.

Move on, people. This man did nothing wrong.

[DemoTex]

14. I agree. However, there is something Faulkner-esque about it.

Know what I mean?

[Gregorian]

15. Americans are energy STUPID.

And it's a big issue. Not confined to this particular article. This is precisely the problem with the country. I get livid when I see people who don't have a fucking clue- driving here, driving there. It's almost a form of intertainment.

Smart people know what it takes to mill lumber, transport it, sell it, install it. Smart people would put an ad in the paper to see if anyone would dismantle the house. Places like the huge recycled warehouse in Berkeley, called Urban Ore, only exist because of intelligent people. Having said that, my father bought property with a terrible house on it. He had the fire dept. do a burn exercise on it. But not after living in it to build his new house, and realizing it couldn't be recycled. However, he had an old barn that people did dismantle.

[goddess40]

17. ding ding ding - we have a winner

You said it much better then I did - what a tremendous waste of energy and resources.

When they tear down, especially a public building, I can't understand why they aren't dismantled and rescue much of the materials. Sounds like it would be a good business - unfortunately Americans seem to want new or easy.
One thing my city does right - but they threaten to cut every year is big garbage pick up day. Everything I put out for big trash pick up day was taken before the garbage collectors got here - as was my wish. (every year our city does a big garbage pick up, so we can put out big pieces of furniture, left over building supplies, small appliances...) it is like a free rummage sale. If an item is at all salvageable it disappears. OK, I'm done semi-patting myself on the back.

[Gregorian]

18. Unfortunately, it keeps the economy rolling.

I may not be bright, but I'm observant. I've been watching this like a hawk for decades. It seems so simple to me. And it's hard to watch the violation of nature and common sense.
We have the option of taking the easy way. Inevitably, those without morals, take the easy way. But there's a big catch. And that is we pay the price. To the last drop of "their" blood. The easy way means turning a blind eye. The easy way means stealing from other countries. Noam Chomsky says it when he talks about why we never see the real news. The things that the corporations are doing in our names. It's because they don't want us to know. Because if we knew, even the most blind and careless would begin to see and care.
Having said that, I'm not innocent. I have joined the human race. I used to only ride a bike. I commuted everywhere on a bike for ten years. Now I have three pickup trucks. One is the biggest you can buy. Bigger than a Hummer. I drive it ten miles a week. I had to have it to tow a trailer. But I chose to move. In another time, that wouldn't have been an option. We're all burning houses. I wish we could see it. Life is complicated now.

Edit- I want to say that this country condones use. Saving is condemned. A real leader would bring up important issues. What's more important- the economy or the environment?