Not a good way to ingratiate themselves

There is a guy in the neighborhood who is building a condo. It's back on the water. But he erected a big, marble sign out front on the main road. It was illegal.

There was no legitimate permit for the sign, which was illegal.

In the end, he was made to remove the sign, which looked more like a big massive headstone placed on a front lawn. Oh yes, forgot to mention, he bought the house on the corner so he could erect the headstone sign.

Anyway, zoning was quite upset because when the permit was applied for, they were told it was a temporary 30 day sign, something you would use for elections, you know, those things you stick in the lawn.

So zoning made them remove the sign. But then the developer erected a smaller sign and I guess zoning got to them again because that was removed. Now there is a hanging sign sort of like a realty "for sale" sign, which I guess zoning likes, or perhaps they don't. We'll see.

The neighbors don't like it and feel that this guy has taken over the neighborhood. Another developer on the other side of the neighborhood has commandeered a whole street. Almost daily, for a month or more, the street has been closed to traffic for private construction work.

It's interesting that these developers pay people off. Not so much city workers, but neighbors. They pay neighbors so that they don't fight them in city hall or in court. One developer told me of people in the neighborhood demanding payments in order to allow his project to go through. He asked me to help him out by writing good stuff in the Grapevine, yet he never offered to pay me off. I don't think I'm the type to accept a payoff, but just the fact that he's paid all these schmucks off and then wants me to help him but doesn't offer me even an ad sort of makes me feel like a schmuck.

Another developer years ago, who admits to paying people and neighborhood groups off, set his lawyers after me to get me to reveal anonymous comments left in the Grapevine that were not to his liking.  They would send me threatening letters saying less than smart things like, "If you show this letter to anyone, you will regret it." I still have the letters.

These scammers, I mean developers, also offered a public official bribes and that was part of that politician's downfall. It is just so mind boggling the stuff that goes on in the name of greed. When does a person have enough money? When does quality of life come into play?