Non-political things that make you say...WTF?!?! (Welcome To Florida!) **NOT CV RELATED** NO TALKY!

You make it super easy for someone to steal your car.

It's getting to be a regular occurrence in some parts of town here. Sometimes with your kids in the back. Just in case seeing your car drive away wouldn't be shtty enough.

http://www.ajc.com/news/local/car-s...ith-twin-girls-inside/t5jZvfO9nSEmWqbhiVt8dN/

http://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/...n-atlanta-gas-station/8ujN3QfXivmUvDu0WmDyZP/

http://www.ajc.com/news/queen-latif...th-fulton-gas-station/D2uaTI1gbWaUOtwCBQ83fM/

 

Doh!

Residents of an exclusive San Francisco street didn’t pay their taxes. So someone bought their street.

Can you buy a city street? Is that even possible?

Residents of Presidio Terrace, the oval-shaped privately owned street commonly known as one of the most exclusive communities in San Francisco, learned the answer the hard way.

Tina Lam and Michael Cheng of San Jose said that in 2015 they were looking at parcels being auctioned online by San Francisco’s tax office when they saw a description of “this odd property in a great location.”

“Part of Pacific Heights, the right location, land in a good neighborhood. We took a chance,” Cheng told the San Jose Mercury News. He said they bought the land sight-unseen, beating out 73 other bidders and dropping $90,000 for the street and its common areas.

In an expensive city, the homes on Presidio Terrace are in a league of their own. One had an asking price of $16.9 million last year, which dropped by $2 million. It’s a steep price to be neighbors with the likes of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who have called the street home.

Lam and Cheng are now the owners of the common space of Presidio Terrace, which includes its sidewalks, garden islands, leafy palm trees and other lush greenery beautifying the homes of 35 mega-mansions after the association that manages the common areas failed to pay property taxes going back decades, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“We just got lucky,” Cheng, a real estate investor, told the Chronicle about the April 2015 sale.

The homeowners on the street are looking to challenge that luck and win it back, according to court filings.

The Presidio Homeowners Association, which has maintained the space since 1905, blames a wrong address for the misdirected tax bills at $14 a year, bound for an accountant who had not worked for the association since the 1980s. The debt grew to $994, and the street was sold to recoup additional fees and penalties.

But the association did not know the back taxes threatened ownership of the street, the suit against Lam said. No notices were posted on the street, and no one on Presidio Terrace knew it changed hands until May 2017, when an investor representing Lam asked whether the association wanted to buy it back, according to the suit.

“I was shocked to learn this could happen, and am deeply troubled that anyone would choose to take advantage of the situation and buy our street and sidewalks,” said one homeowner, who asked the Chronicle not to be named because of pending litigation.

Scott Emblidge, the association’s attorney, issued a statement to the Mercury News calling Lam and Cheng “savvy real estate professionals” who waited for over two years to approach the homeowners’ group, “presumably so the property sale would be more difficult to rescind.”

Cheng and Lam “would like to exploit a bureaucratic oversight to their advantage,” the statement said.

The homeowners petitioned the city’s tax office board of supervisors for a hearing to rescind the tax sale, which is set for October, the Chronicle reported.

Cheng did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It is not clear why no one in the association noticed the lapse in tax collections. There are 181 private streets in San Francisco, the Chronicle reported, and the owners must pay taxes on all of them.

“Ninety-nine percent of property owners in San Francisco know what they need to do, and they pay their taxes on time — and they keep their mailing address up to date,” said Amanda Fried, a spokeswoman for the city’s treasurer and tax collector, the Chronicle reported.

“There is nothing that our office can do” about the sale, she said, adding that to her knowledge the San Francisco Board of Supervisors “has never done a hearing of rescission.”

Lam and Cheng could rent out the 120 parking spaces to residents to start making their investment back, an idea suggested by others, the Mercury News reported.

“As legal owners of this property, we have a lot of options,” Cheng said, adding that nothing has been decided yet.​

 

WTF?

 

Around here in New England most places have signs to turn your engine off before pumping gas. But they are right next to the signs that say no cell phone use while pumping gas, and people ignore them too.

 

Only problem is where they're located. The political leanings of judges and jurors aren't as likely to be in favor of the new owners as they might be in locations where the residents tend towards a different political leaning.

 

Not sure where it came from but for some reason folks thought the cell phone battery produced enough spark to ignite fumes. Its been proven time and time again that it would take the spark from about 25 phones all at once to even come close to being an ignition source.

 

LOL.

Thinking about it a little more, the former owner’s complaint isn’t with Cheng and Lam, but with the city government. However deep the former owners pockets are for legal counsel, the city has lawyers on salary (most likely). Also the city has a very strong interest in not setting any legal precedent for people being able to claim ignorance in their failure to pay taxes.

Cheng & Lam just need to sit and wait. Worst case they ought to be able to settle the matter for a “reasonable” profit whether it comes from the city or the former owners. Best case they’re sitting on a gold mine.

 

Or 1 samsung...

 

She never had it.

 

If I leave it running I am either sitting in it while my gas pumps or standing right there. It would be very unwise for someone to try and steal my car as I carry. If I plan on going more than 10' away it gets turned off

 

Just answering the question you asked with what's happening pretty regularly here. Standing right there hasn't stopped others from losing their cars.

As for carrying... Maybe South FL is different, but even in 2A friendly GA you'd have a tough time successfully claiming you were firing in self defense as the thief sped away.

But hey, just keep on doing what you're doing. As I said above, just answering the question you posted. Not telling you to do anything different.

 

Are those track marks on her arm? She has been going down hill for years.....

 

Last song by her I liked was Mandinka

 

SOLD ON 8/8/17 FOR $16,650

 

did she ever have it together? I didnt watch the video...but I gather shes broke, pity party blah blah blah...

 

She has always been controversial since coming on the music scene in the early 80's but she had her stuff together for many years....

 

$13K for wheels/tires/suspension found here