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Posted on 06/20/2006 3:45:57 PM PDT by gubamyster
A Santa Ana man who reports his Latino neighbors for city code violations says he's just trying to raise property values. Some view his actions as part of a culture clash.
How you view the recent news about a Santa Ana man who pleaded guilty to selling cars from his house may depend on which side of South Broadway you live on.
On the east side, Tim Rush says he's "ecstatic, and doing a jig."
For more than a year, Rush had regularly complained to city officials about problem neighbors, particularly Pedro Reyes Rios, whom he nicknamed the "Cal Worthington of South Broadway." Reyes was selling cars parked on the street and in his yard.
"A man's home is his castle," said Rush, 51. "I shouldn't have to be infringed upon by people selling cars, refrigerators and corn on the cob, plus people playing ranchera music at all hours of the day."
On the west side of South Broadway, Reyes and other residents are annoyed with Rush and his stream of complaints, which some view as racially motivated. Some see him as a meddler, an outsider who complains about people and customs he doesn't understand. One neighbor wonders if he's just lonely.
The congested street in the heart of this heavily immigrant city forms an odd divide between the sensibilities of a white man driven to bring suburban order to the street and his mostly Latino neighbors who feel their lifestyle is under siege.
The neighborhood skirmish, say those who study land use issues, is typical of the tension that erupts in densely packed communities in Southern California, where cultures collide.
"The small issues are a sign of a bigger question about how do people with different lifestyles get along," said Kris Day, an associate planning professor at UC Irvine.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
and all of Baja California lives in the garage.
The law doesn't make it illegal for Latinos to sell cars unlicenced from your yard, it makes it illegal for ANYone to.
Same for noise ordinances.
Open House 1-4PM.
The Section 8 tenants on the top floor decided to break condo rules by sitting on the concrete steps of our 6 unit building.
No cars stopped to visit. Not one.
I'm with Mr. Rush.
What are you a smart-aleck? Keep thinking that way and before you know it we won't be able to charge racism and immigrant-bashing...
How mean-spirited is that?
Whew! At first glance, I thought the title read "Nitty Nosepicker"!
So, am I right in assuming personal preference trumps conservative values? Leaving aside the illegal dealership, the guy's complaints seem to be that he doesn't care for his neighbor's taste in music and things like that. If a "man's home is his castle" your support for him seems like a justification for the nanny-state and governmental intrusion into non-state matters.
I get upset about my neighbors' dogs. I know I wouldn't put up with what this guy is putting up with.
No bias in that paragraph is there?
What if it had been written this way:
THEY feel THEIR lifestyle is under siege? From Americans? That one takes the cake.
Other then that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?
When I lived in Orange County they had an ordinance that said one residence one family. (two adults+kids). I don't blame him I'd ge PISSED too.
If they don't like their lifestyle being under siege, maybe they should just go back to Mexico.
Simple, effective, neat.
The next thing you know, they will be raizing goats, chickens and cattle in their back yards or balconys. Wait- they already do.
.....
With each of the several houses I've bought,I've always sought to live in the most affluent town I could possibly afford.Doing so eliminates problems like the one you've described.I'd much rather live in a 300 sq ft garage in Greenwich,CT than in a 5,000 sq ft mansion in Bridgeport.
Serving food from your home around here is generally a no-no, yet a few streets away apparently you can sell tacos from a roach coach parked in your driveway.
The man's complaint seems to be that people are blasting their stereos, have barking dogs, living 10+ people to a house & have turned their front lawns into various business. I don't think it would matter to him if they were playing Ranchero music or Lawrence Welk, blasting music at 2:00 am as well as the other issues are all violations of the law.
Your profile page doesn't say where you live, so maybe you haven't been to Santa Ana or some parts of LA recently. If you had, you would see/hear all of the above in addition to roosters tied up in front lawns & crowing early every morning. You would also see vacant lots or empty parking lots turned into swap meets with people selling their junk. Or you would see every chain-link fence in front of peoples' houses hung with clothing for sale or your neighbor setting up a taco stand right on the corner cooking & selling tacos or meat on a stick. Maybe where you live there are no city laws, and maybe you are not taxed for enforcement of these or laws but in SoCal we are.
Frankly I don't understand why Latino business owners who have to pay rent, utilities, pass health inspections, buy business permits and comply with other laws don't complain themselves about these people who set up shop on their front lawns or corner & compete with businesses.
They come here for a better life, and then they want to change it to their OLD way.
I know Klinger was a Section 8........?
Reported to condo committee?
Sorry to hear this.
Read welfare subsidized
Someone who qualifies for tenant housing assistance under Section 8.
In addition to not having any risk of non-payment of rent...the landlord can even get the government to replace and/or repair broken items or damage done by the tenant.
What a country!!
"So, am I right in assuming personal preference trumps conservative values? Leaving aside the illegal dealership, the guy's complaints seem to be that he doesn't care for his neighbor's taste in music and things like that. If a "man's home is his castle" your support for him seems like a justification for the nanny-state and governmental intrusion into non-state matters."
"In my own Mexico City neighborhood, there are poor "whites" and well to do dark skinned people. There are some people of African descent, but mostly immigrants from the Carribean or Brazil (or Africa, surprisingly). Slaves in Spanish culture were allowed to marry whomever they chose, which were usually free women (mostly indigenous women)-- the few Afro-Mexicans around now are backwoods country folks, seen much as "hillbillies" are seen in our culture. That's a stereotype, but not "racist" in the sense we use it."
What kind of neighbothood do you live in?
They miss that stench caused by overcrowded nieborhoods using back lanes as urinals. Now it has that "back home" smell and feel.
Furthermore, Section 8 tenants do have *some* responsibilties.
http://library.findlaw.com/1999/Mar/12/126750.html
Responsibilities to the Project and to Your Fellow Residents
Conducting yourself in a manner that will not disturb your neighbors.
Not engaging in criminal activity in the unit, common area, or grounds.
Keeping your unit clean and not littering the grounds or common areas.
Disposing of garbage and waste in a proper manner.
Complying with local codes that affect the health or safety of the residence.
Maintaining your apartment and common areas in the same general physical condition as when you moved in.
Reporting any defects in building systems, fixtures, appliances, or other parts of the unit, the grounds, or related facilities to the management.
Caution: Despite some websites that stress only tenant *rights*. See:
http://www.tenantsunion.org/STOP/37/section-8-tenants-rights
From the article:
Two years ago, Rush, a longtime city resident who trains real estate agents for a living, bought a home on the fringe of Wilshire Square because, at $439,000, it was one he could afford in Santa Ana after his divorce.
Also, the article says some of his Latino neighbors are happy he has been able to clean up the neighborhood & get rid of the used car dealership.
Yes, it is time to sell when you neighborhood reaks of Section 7.9
I'm sure the area was much different years ago. Not sure how long he's lived there, but it could be the area changed, all his old neighbors moved away, and he's one of the only Anglos left there.
Dude, you are in Mexico...
Sounds like the guy is already outnumbered; glad to know he is white, that adds a lot to the story.
I had a neighbor like that. She moved into the house when I was 12. Apparently while I was gone, she terrorized the whole street. I thought it was weird that a rare pleasant day was filled with nothing but birds squacking, instead of kids playing pick up ball games in the street.
I want to have some sympathy for the person complaining, but I've had to put up with quite a bit of chicken raising, mariachi blasting, car repair on the "lawn", that it doesn't even phase me. Better "hola amigos", then have some stringy old witch call the police on us, the minute we walked outside the house.
Btw, my bf sold some used cars. We used to live on a frontage road parallel to the I-15, and with our landlord's permission, sold them. Of course, he fixed all his cars and trucks at a steep discount ;) He does body work.
Got a fix for that. . .
Beeman R9 Goldfinger Air Rifle.
-ccm
And get the jump on those who wait to sell when it hits 8;)
John & Ken ( KFI AM 640) will be talking w/ Tim Rush after the 6:00 news.
The guy's 51; he very likely lived there twenty years ago -- BEFORE it got the way it is now. Santa Ana, since you prolly have no clue, has REALLY gone down the flusher in the last two decades.
In the fifties, all my kookiest relatives moved to Southern California where you could be yourself. Now they are all moving out of there because you can't unless you are illegal or some movie star.
I read that building codes aren't enforced in Los Angeles and San Fransisco. It isn't just the Hispanics. The Asians will add on without permission - all the time
Couple of years ago I went back to the little city in VA where I grew up. Sad. At the time nearly everyone on the street was military families (as were we). Lawns and houses were clean, neat and maintained. Now, 80% of these houses have wood decks coming off the front porch along with cars, toys, bicycles and whatnot all over the fron yards. Your first impression as you drive down the street is that somehow you are looking at the back yards of the houses.
Talked to a lady on the street. She said the local government is vexed with trying to stop multiple families in single family zoned hoods. They were considering changing zoning to limit the number of residents by the square footage of the house. Don't know if it happened. I suspect not.
The house my dad sold for $19K was worth $240K (3 years ago) and looked like a dump.
I've never made any secret that I live most of the time in Mexico City. My question was more about the willingness to abandon conservative principles ("A man's home is his castle" and the general sense that one is free to live your life however you damn well please -- even if it pisses off the nosy neighbor down the street), not to mention the conservative -- or perhaps libertarian -- belief that the state should stay out of private economic affairs.
It sure looks like people are spinning the story to justify state intervention in the marketplace, in personal affairs and in people's general liberty to me.
BTW, nothing in the article said anything about "illegal" immigrants. Either something is missing from the article, or people are reading in what they want.
"My question was more about the willingness to abandon conservative principles ("A man's home is his castle" and the general sense that one is free to live your life however you damn well please -- even if it pisses off the nosy neighbor down the street), not to mention the conservative -- or perhaps libertarian -- belief that the state should stay out of private economic affairs."
I'm conservative and a contractor in California and I have a real respect for why we have strict building codes and licensing for contractors.
When I go into a neighborhood like the one described, I can see the consequences and danger of much of the illegal work being done, not to mention the hell of living among illegal businesses, like some guy running an illegal car lot off neighborhood public streets.
I've never heard of conservatives that support your standard of total chaos.
It seems odd you would choose to live in one of the world's oppressive countries, hope you are working hard to bring freedom to Mexico.
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