So the neighbors trespass, and find that someone is keeping garbage inside their private structure? Good thing they don't look in my home, I have garbage too!
It's also a bit funny that they say they did everything they could to keep the land clear, when he bought it for $21300; they could very easily have bought the land from or instead of him, as they did for the $1.4MM parcel.
> He has encouraged neighbors to continue using the land for walks and runs, writing, "I would love to meet you and discuss the project."
He invited them onto the property. The property has been damaged (presumably not be those complaining, but the conspiracy minded will come up with something I'm sure):
> Rhinehart bought the parcel of land beneath the shipping container at auction in December for $21,300, property records show. Since then, neighbors say the container's glass windows have since been smashed and the entire unit has been extensively tagged with graffiti.
He isn't maintaining it. He isn't securing it. I do agree that the community ought to have considered buying it. But he bought it and he's poorly administered his property, to the point now of apparent negligence and potential criminal wrongdoing ("criminal", not sure I agree with that, seems like it should be a civil thing to be me, but they are criminal charges that have been brought up).
>He invited them onto the property. The property has been damaged (presumably not be those complaining, but the conspiracy minded will come up with something I'm sure):
I don't think he invited Instagram user 'sashifly' into the container to take pictures of the garbage bags inside, though you may know more than me.
It seems like he isn't keeping the property clean all day every day, but leaving the remains from a barbecue outside one night and into the next day is far from negligence, and the fact that people take his property for granted doesn't incur any obligation on his part. The business about securing the container down is ridiculous; it isn't going anywhere in an earthquake (you'd have bigger problems than that if it did), and the people who want it gone should have bought the property themselves (or made an agreement with Rhinehart). The fact that others are coming on to his land and vandalizing his property is cause for Rhinehart to complain about poor policing and behavior on the part of the locals. If the windows were broken by meteorites, I might agree that he should fix them, but when people are repeatedly damaging your property, you have a limited responsibility to clean up after them.
From what I can see, the locals want a nice, clean, flat place to hike, and they don't want to pay for it, so they've begun a witch-hunt.
Wow, they're not wrong to complain... the least he could do is dress it up a little. Maybe a rusted out car on blocks and tires strewn about. An old washing machine would definitely add character. Or, say, a couple coils of chicken wire and a stray dog...
Assuming that's all he eats, I agree that aspect is boring.
Regarding the container home: I'm not sure it's totally boring. These things are often about the size of a typical mobile or modular home. It's more like they've repurposed the space. It could be well-done on the inside (no pictures, can't say in his case). And you could (with proper permits) place them in a lot of interesting locales.
Well, it's not all he eats. Just for routine meals. He treats regular food as a treat or experience to spend your entertainment budget (of both time and money) on.
Eating is a boring activity. I would even take it a step further than soylent and like to be injected with all the required nutrients once, daily.
If you take into account how much time goes into buying, preparing, eating and cleaning up food, the picture becomes much rosier for something like soylent. If you cut out all those activities, you would save literally years of your life for activities that are actually fun.
Complaint says he didn't have a permit. Where I live, we aren't even supposed to install a toilet without a permit. Want to cut down a tree in your own back yard? Permit from the "tree committee". Put up a sign in front of your home or business? Multiple permits from zoning and building committees. Thus it does not surprise me that some process is required prior to dropping a live-in shipping container in a major urban area.
The "web" link under the title on the discussion page does exactly the same thing your search link does; there is no need to 'Google' things for the rest of us.
"The "web" link under the title on the discussion page does exactly the same thing your search link does" would have been sufficient. The second half of your comment comes off as snarky.
The paywall issue has been discussed a number of times, and dang has ruled that paywalls should not be discussed in comments. I believe that the relevant rule is:
"Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think a story is spam or off-topic, flag it by clicking on its 'flag' link. If you think a comment is egregious, click on its timestamp to go to its page, then click 'flag' at the top. (Not all users see flag links; there's a small karma threshold.)"
For the record, I was not complaining about there being a paywall, just informing others that there was one. And for the record here are dang's comments pertaining to paywalls: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989
"It's ok to ask how to read an article or to help other users by sharing a workaround. But please do this without going on about paywalls." Sorry I wasn't aware of the new 'web' link feature.
If you pay $750k for a home and someone buys the highest parcel in the neighborhood (which used to be open park land), and puts up a shipping container that gets graffiti'd, your real estate value is going to take a hit. The neighborhood is now uglier, has less aesthetic quality, and is potentially endangered in case of earthquake.
Many cities have ordinances such that someone can't buy a lot in a neighborhood and turn it into a landfill such that everyone's property values suffer.
Cities have a complex web of zoning laws and construction permits for many, many reasons. Some of them are indeed health and safety related (fire codes, sewage transport to avoid disease outbreaks, making sure an industrial plant isn't manufacturing dangerous substances close to people's homes); some of them are aesthetic (making sure the neighborhood keeps a certain appeal); others are record keeping for future archival needs and dispute resolution (filed plans can be used years later to check the history of a property or verify the layout of it).
A city is a community that wants to protect community interests like not spreading disease and not irritating every single neighbor you have and keeping the continuity information of ownership and property history.
“Unpermitted structures pose a safety risk,” City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement. “They also can be unsightly and erode the quality of life in a neighborhood.”
Basically, there are building and lot codes that are in place to protect neighboring real estate values against urban blight or non conformance to community standards.
IMHO that's a trivial detail that doesn't really change the discussion or topic (but I don't really get why this attracts so much discussion at all, so maybe I was to quick about that)
http://la.curbed.com/2016/7/21/12245620/soylent-illegal-ship...
Has some pictures of what they're talking about with respect to graffiti and trash.