Cedar Glen

I see in the Mt. News that they took down a chimney on Alder for the press, a few residents and the Supervisor. I guess you would call that a photo opportunity. No one was around when DH took down about 5 chimneys for free in the Spring of 2004 - but he didn't call the press! I guess you would call that a missed opportunity!

Coral,

I'll bet the people are happy about being missed. I don't think they would be happy having the county running over to charge them a bunch of administrative fees. You guys saved those other folks a lot of grief.

Well, it was not just us. It was thanks to the Baptist group and the Salvation Army - DH just worked with them until the County would not let them take down any more chimneys.

I wonder what it cost to bring up the tow outfit from Riverside? No one on the hill would be qualified to do that with a excavator or backhoe?

I would think that the "chimneys" would be included with foundations, walls etc in the County's contract to clean-up Cedar Glen. The contractors have been hired I guess the hold up for starting is/was the "Photo-Op" of chimney's coming
down???? Wonder what's next???

This may have been a hard to get to chimney. Some have no access except from the road. Oh well, I am sure they got all the other "hard to get to" chimney's at the same time. That would make more sense? Or would it?

Is the Mt News still blocking access to its articles online? I'd like to have seen that one.

I always buy a paper when I'm up at the cabin.

I think the Alpenhorn had an article too. It seems like it was different a different angle though.

Any links to the Alpenhorn article?
I know this "era" of clean up is painful for political and monetary reasons; however, I have to admit that it WILL be nice to move on to a new vista, one without the "physical scars" on the landscape. Is this selfish of me because I have a non-burn out property ("virgin" land)?

I don't know because before all this many thought having a burned out foundation "footprint" was better for building on in the future due to "old school" set backs, which were transferable to a new owner for a time even if they weren't the ones who suffered the original damage. (This "transferable" right--which increased the value of lots with burned out foundations--this never seemed right either. To have cleaned it up would then lower the value in that scenario, continuing "blight.")

After this perhaps we'll all be on the same page without this "division" between us?

Don't worry Lindengirl, the value of the lots is getting lower every day, no matter what is done to them. Of course, there are always suckers who will buy and pay a little more because they think it is by the lake.

The Mountain News still wants you to subscribe so they just give a teaser line or two!

Thanks for the links.
I must be a "sucker" then ...
Looking a listings, it seems like values have improved a little over a few years back.

Lindengirl - I was not even thinking about you. There are always people who come around looking for the lot they bought at an auction and paid outrageous prices for a lot that could never be built on in our lifetimes. Like straight up and down with no place for off street parking, grade too steep for septic and no utilities. They leave pretty disappointed and learned an expensive lesson. Never buy before you look!

There are people advertising houses and lots for a more money than they are worth but they are not selling them. There is always a chance they will get that one buyer that will fall in love with the house or the lots and be willing to pay too much. We would all like that!

Did you guys get the letter from the County today? About 1/3 of the properties have opted out of the County plan and are going to do it with a private contractor for less money. Looks like they only have until Friday to tell the County that they have a private contract. Lots of activity today!
Our friends on Linden called to ask what to do. I will wait and call them back when DH gets home.

We saw a white p/u, older model, driving up and down Hook Creek Rd. They were loaded up with what looked like scrap material. Not sure where they got it but suspicious that they were just taking it. I was going to get their license number but they had no plate!!! We were busy with the bulbs or I would have gotten the camera out and snapped a few shots. It all reminded me of the looters after the fire.

Did you know...... that at least one company is sending letters to lot owners, giving them a price for clean up and then offering to buy the property if they don't want to spend that much money? Sounds pretty unethical to me. I know that a lot of people would be happy to buy the property next to them and pay for clean up but have not had a response on offers. I think a lot of us would be very unhappy if we found out that a contractor bought property next to us without our knowledge.

What company is that? It's not NRLL (an auction company), is it? They've sent us letters ever year since the fire wanting to buy the property?

Anyone have the name so we can research?

I'm guessing it is the same one that sent letters out after the Old fire. Wouldn't surprise me if they are the ones behind the 'blight removal'.

Coral, that's bad news about the white pick-up. I'm afraid this circus-like atmosphere with the clean-up is going to have the effect of bringing in some undesireables.

There needs to be more of a law enforcement presence around the area at this point. As a person who has rebuilt, I'm really concerned that someone will just walk up to our property and take whatever they feel they want that's not nailed down.

Even though I grumbled about it when we rebuilt, I have to admit now I'm glad that Allstate urged us to put in a monitored alarm system. We'd never had problems in the past, but that may change.

I should have clarified that the "company" was a local contractor! And I do know who it is! I am getting some info together to contact the County with this information.

We were told last night that the white truck belonged to a contractor who did not get the bid. Not sure which one though.

What concerns me is that so few people are around during the day. Once they went past our property there is no one home at all in that area of Hook Creek. They were not there very long otherwise we would have gone down there. Plus they already had a big load. We need more security.

Another problem is that there are construction trucks driving all over in the old burn area. Except for two contractors we have not seen one of those trucks with a sign as to who they are. If they are going to work in the area we need to know who they are....

I sent an email to Supervisor Derry plus others regarding these situations. It looks like we are being invaded again. Just like after the fire when we had people swarming all over the place taking everything they felt like.

Contractors working in the area, legally, should have signs on their trucks so we know who they are and that they belong there. Is that too much to ask? They should have identification showing who they are and who they work for so we can have some feeling of peace. Why is our community constantly being harassed like this? We need to buy more no trespassing signs!