Laurie David Curbs her Environmentalism

Radar Magazine ^ | 11/10/2005

[TX Bluebonnet]

Laurie David Curbs Her Environmentalism

Global warming crusader Laurie David may be an expert when it comes to lecturing others about the evils of SUVS and the redemptive power of energy saving light bulbs. But when it comes to conserving her own backyard, it seems she’s still a little green. Sources say David—a Martha’s Vineyard summer resident and the wife of Seinfeld creator Larry David—recently found herself on the receiving end of an indignant eco-critique after angry locals on the tony island accused her and her husband of endangering protected wetlands.

According to a “notice of apparent violations” issued by the Vineyard’s Chilmark Conservation Commission, the Davids were reprimanded last August for building a 26-foot-long barbecue station, stone-and-concrete bonfire pit, and outdoor theater on an environmentally sensitive patch of their 14-acre North Road property without the proper permits. They were also cited for tearing up protected vegetation to make way for a lush, sodded lawn, among other, pettier crimes against nature. The commission has since ordered the couple to remove the offending structures and restore the area to its previous state.

In a letter to the commission, the Davids laid blame for the violations on their former property manager, year-round resident Michael Halbreich, whom they claim failed to inform them he hadn’t secured the proper landscaping permits before breaking ground. Halbreich, a trained lawyer and one-time friend of the couple whose name was even used in a season-two episode of David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, declined to comment about the dispute, but has reportedly sworn that his clients were fully aware they lacked permission for the work.

Whatever the Davids’s excuse, the situation has the Prius-loving couple’s neighbors crying foul. Jacqueline Mendez-Diez, whose property abuts the David’s sprawling, seven-building compound, claims they knew full well they didn’t have permission but went ahead with the project anyway so it would be finished in time for the arrival of a VIP guest, National Resources Defense Council champion Robert Kennedy Jr.—the man who first introduced Laurie David to environmental activism at an L.A. breakfast seminar in 1997.

“Laurie didn’t want to stir up trouble and go for the permits because she wanted to have everything ready by the time Bobby Kennedy Jr. arrived” for an extended vacation in July, Mendez-Diez says. “There was a frenzy of building before he came. You couldn’t drive past the house because trucks would be spilling out into the road, and everyone was talking about what was going on there, wondering if the King of England was coming or something.”

Confronted about the violations, Laurie David herself sensed there was more at stake in her island imbroglio than just the good will of her neighbors. According to field notes taken by conservation officer Rusty Walton during his initial survey of the grounds, “Mrs. David was seriously upset about problems on the property which I cited in a notice of violation letter recently. Her agitation was heightened by the fact that she is seriously ‘into’ conservation herself, apparently largely in the field of global warming. The discovery of problems on her property was therefore embarrassing, as it gives an appearance of hypocrisy.”

A spokesman for the Davids, Tom Keaney, declined to say whether his clients had removed the barbecue pit and stage as ordered, referring only to a statement issued by Larry David: “Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the person (actually a friend) whom I hired to oversee installing a barbecue area (among other things) on Martha’s Vineyard, was completely negligent in obtaining proper permits, which he assured us and others numerous times he had. In short, we were scammed.” Kennedy could not be reached for comment by press time.

[GOPJ]

How much money a person spends is a fairly accurate indicator of how much energy they use. This woman might not know the energy it takes to create her gold bracelet - so she speaks endlessly of SUZ's. And if you take that bracelet and multiply it by all her "spendings", it's obvious she's the problem. In short, she's an idiot. Mrs. David might be able to delude herself, but that's about it... ( well, maybe her husband...)

[dennisw]

 

Photo by Richard Lewin

Susie News

 

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[dennisw]

Photo by Richard Lewin

"Donald, you're not my type either. Too egomaniacal and narcissistic. I can't be involved with a man who calls out his own name when he's climaxing."

[sauropod]

What is the Chilmark Conservation Commission, are they an official body, and do they have the authority to tell a private landowner to rip up his barbecue pit and "restore the area to its previous state?"

[TX Bluebonnet]

How much money a person spends is a fairly accurate indicator of how much energy they use. This woman might not know the energy it takes to create her gold bracelet - so she speaks endlessly of SUZ's. And if you take that bracelet and multiply it by all her "spendings", it's obvious she's the problem. In short, she's an idiot. Mrs. David might be able to delude herself, but that's about it... ( well, maybe her husband...)

But..but.. if she uses special lightbulbs and drives a Prius, it makes it all okay, doesn't it??

[Still Thinking]

Just think of all the CO2 that pit will generate.

Just think of all the CO2 liberals generate when they talk...and talk...and talk...

[TX Bluebonnet]

http://www.ci.chilmark.ma.us/Pages/ChilmarkMA_Conservation/index

Looks like an official commission for the town of Chilmark

[chemicalman]

Someone's complaining because they weren't invited to a bar b que.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Martha's Vinyard and Nantucket were almost completed deforested in 19th Century. (See Melville's description in Moby Dick.) Lack of fuel for heating was the price they paid for access to fishing and whaling grounds. There are few old trees on Martha's Vinyard. I vactioned in the house on Oak Bluffs on MV were President Grant witnessed the 1876 Centennial Fourth of July Fireworks. It is really a kewl place, if it weren't for all the damn liberals.

[Still Thinking]

The neighbors are probably either conservatives sick of preachy liberals getting special treatment, or liberals who were shocked then they cooked, gasp, meat on that barbecue instead of tofu.

[rvoitier]

Same as Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and Ron 'Tater Salad' White.

[Cecily]

Speaking of hypocrisy, I wonder if "fighter for the little people" and environmentally responsible algore ever cleaned up his rental property in Tennessee?

[flashbunny]

If this is a federally protected wetland, get a federal prosecuter to go against them and throw them in jail for serveral years on a felony conviction.

Let the liberal environmental activists be on the receiving end of their laws for once.

[GOPJ]

But..but.. if she uses special lightbulbs and drives a Prius, it makes it all okay, doesn't it??

Yes, of course -- my bad. You're right, one "special" light bulb will undo 30 million dollars worth of consumption -- all the energy used in the building supplies to build 2 or 3 of their lavish homes. And the prius? A prius will "undo" the energy used in 40 private jet flights and over a hundred commercial jet trips to Europe. Yes, we all need to look up to the Davids and all their Hollywood friends for showing us the way... We'll cheerfully put our families in cramped cars so these glut... I'm mean, Davids can eat cake, I mean we'll eat water, I... I .. I mean we'll all look up to the witty and wonderful envir-"mental cases" Davids -- I... I... I.

[GOPJ]

I still love his show. It was hilarious Sunday night.

I'm sure he wouldn't want to hear this, but I like his show too... think "guilty pleasure".

[LouD]

A quick little back of the envelope calculation:

Seinfeld was on for 6 years, approximately 50 weeks a year (including repeats) - I'm not even counting syndication.

During those six years, the show averaged twenty million viewers.

An average television uses 100 watts per hour.

The total electriciy production of the U.S. in 2003 was 3883 billion kWh; Generating that electricity resulted in 2409 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and 4396 thousand tons of nitrogen oxides emissions.

Consequently, Larry David's show was responsible for over 186,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions during its regular lifetime, and is still a major polluter now in syndication. If David had not produced such a funny show, all those viewers could have turned their TV off and played Scrabble.

I loved the show - but these people are already more than a little hypocritical, without building a fire pit on wetlands.

[HHFi]

I think the wife just hosted that "Earth to America". I didn't see that either, but it sounded like a condescending preach fest.

Someone on these boards said he was in Vegas and attended that show, and that it was nothing but leftwing Bush-bashing, blaming Bush for everything from global warming to the L.A. smog. He also noted that the show was so sparsely attended, they had to move all the people up to the front to make them look like a crowd on TV.

Cedric the Entertainer was in it, and I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel, "joking" about how they were all there to raise awareness about the environment, so they were flown in on private jets and taken to the hotel in limos. Kimmel asked if they went all the way and wasted food by throwing it out the limo windows as they drove in.

[GreenFreeper]

ECO-PING

FReepmail me to be added or removed to the ECO-PING list!

[TX Bluebonnet]

Someone on these boards said he was in Vegas and attended that show, and that it was nothing but leftwing Bush-bashing, blaming Bush for everything from global warming to the L.A. smog. He also noted that the show was so sparsely attended, they had to move all the people up to the front to make them look like a crowd on TV.

That story warms the cockles of ma heart :)

Cedric the Entertainer was in it, and I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel, "joking" about how they were all there to raise awareness about the environment, so they were flown in on private jets and taken to the hotel in limos. Kimmel asked if they went all the way and wasted food by throwing it out the limo windows as they drove in.

Okay, back to being POed.