Military folks sometimes like to say their functions are to "kill people and break things." I guess in this instance the thing the US Army Corps of Engineers wanted to break was the Delaware Water Gap.
I'm still working on how the Naval Academy's |dairy farm| played a role in killing people or breaking things.
In my short residency in Southern California, I was eminent-domained out of two places. One was for [LAX expansion], the other was for a park. The park is now townhouses. Progress!
"Higher and better land uses," in urban planning euphemisms.
Both actually made sense to me at the time. My boss/landlord at both places even made a little money on each forced sale. The noise from takeoffs over the one house was pretty objectionable, and the whole hillside got bought and razed. The mansion should have been preserved, but back then historical preservation wasn't as big a thing as it is now. The years that the land was actually used as part of the park was pretty neat, but eventually the developers threw enough money at the planning department to make it go away.
There are still a few wells near the coast, but those particular ones were long gone before I got there. As a kid up by SF, my feet were always black from spilled bunker fuel that coated the beaches. Job-killing regulations have sure hindered shippers' ability to wantonly pollute the shoreline and air.
Military folks sometimes like to say their functions are to "kill people and break things." I guess in this instance the thing the US Army Corps of Engineers wanted to break was the Delaware Water Gap.
I'm still working on how the Naval Academy's |dairy farm| played a role in killing people or breaking things.
Whoa. What happened to the land?
Edit: [Got it.]
Not plastered with sticks of the townhouse-style condos so favored in the DC conurbation. Nice time!
<img src="https://thumb9.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/1118300/112472876/stock-photo-a-row-of-new-townhouses-condominiums-along-a-city-street-112472876.jpg"/>
In my short residency in Southern California, I was eminent-domained out of two places. One was for [LAX expansion], the other was for a park. The park is now townhouses. Progress!
"Higher and better land uses," in urban planning euphemisms.
Both actually made sense to me at the time. My boss/landlord at both places even made a little money on each forced sale. The noise from takeoffs over the one house was pretty objectionable, and the whole hillside got bought and razed. The mansion should have been preserved, but back then historical preservation wasn't as big a thing as it is now. The years that the land was actually used as part of the park was pretty neat, but eventually the developers threw enough money at the planning department to make it go away.
Another victim of the Vietnam War?
Like I quoted a few days ago, the bully hyper developer of Tyson's Corner here in NoVA once said:
If it wasn't for developers, we would have no place to live.
This is the house the city bought for the park:
<img src="https://paradiseleased.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/aaa-en-40-20.jpg"</img>
This shot is before it was moved inland a few hundred feet to make way for Marina del Rey. It was built for silent film star Mae Murray.
There are still a few wells near the coast, but those particular ones were long gone before I got there. As a kid up by SF, my feet were always black from spilled bunker fuel that coated the beaches. Job-killing regulations have sure hindered shippers' ability to wantonly pollute the shoreline and air.