"New truths go
through three stages. First they are ridiculed. Second they are
violently opposed and then, finally, they are accepted as being self-evident."
violently opposed and then, finally, they are accepted as being self-evident."
– Arthur Schopenhauer --
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About 30 years ago, a homeowner near where I lived in NY was in some kind of dispute with the town. So he painted his house violent purple and orange. With red and yellow and green florescent trim. Oddly, none of his neighbors complained. Everyone seemed to consider the whole situation comical.
Now there's a guy who, fifteen years ago, purchased a few hundred acres of farmland about 10 miles down the road from here, in a very residential area. The township won't approve his building houses on it. They want either agricultural use, or commercial. I used Google maps to check it out, and the plot is surrounded by homes worth probably $400K+ (small lots, two stories, likely 2,500 sq ft, attached 2-car garages, with minor details they all look pretty much alike, solidly middle class). Commercial developers who have looked at the land and its location have determined that it's just not commercially viable. The guy has been growing soy beans and other crops, but it's not "paying the rent", so to speak, and he's steadily losing money on his investment.
So, he has announced that he plans to turn it into an enormous pig farm. That's agricultural. He doesn't need permission, since he won't be building permanent structures. He's in active negotiations with a big pork producer who will actually run the operation, and expects to move in the first batch of (free range) hogs in October, gradually ramping up to thousands.
I can wait to see what happens next. I doubt the neighbors will consider it comical.
.
Now there's a guy who, fifteen years ago, purchased a few hundred acres of farmland about 10 miles down the road from here, in a very residential area. The township won't approve his building houses on it. They want either agricultural use, or commercial. I used Google maps to check it out, and the plot is surrounded by homes worth probably $400K+ (small lots, two stories, likely 2,500 sq ft, attached 2-car garages, with minor details they all look pretty much alike, solidly middle class). Commercial developers who have looked at the land and its location have determined that it's just not commercially viable. The guy has been growing soy beans and other crops, but it's not "paying the rent", so to speak, and he's steadily losing money on his investment.
So, he has announced that he plans to turn it into an enormous pig farm. That's agricultural. He doesn't need permission, since he won't be building permanent structures. He's in active negotiations with a big pork producer who will actually run the operation, and expects to move in the first batch of (free range) hogs in October, gradually ramping up to thousands.
I can wait to see what happens next. I doubt the neighbors will consider it comical.
.
