Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Public Right of Ways and a Scam

A little background. In most cities and counties, the streets are NOT owned by the municipalities. Cities and counties rarely buy the underlying property, what they have instead is a public easement. The easement is given for the good of the public and it is illegal to block it without permission. If you own your home you can look at your deed and will see that your property extends to the middle of the street and you have an easement on that part (that means you cannot prevent people from being on the street).

A few months back there was an article on a Southern California paper discussing how the City was considering putting mini-parks on platforms taking away parking spaces. Today, I saw a piece on San Jose doing a similar thing. I will include a link at the end. Here is the thing, if San Jose allows restaurants to utilize these spots, they will be constructively partially vacating the easement. If their little trial does not work out, they could end up permanently losing that part of the street for public use.

There is an attack being aimed at driving. Throughout the nation, bike lanes and encroachments into the right of ways are restricting traffic and at the same time, cities and counties are increasing parking fees and fines.

Yahoo - San Jose Considers SF-Style 'Parklets' For Outdoor Dining

Could Not Sleep Last Night

I couldn't sleep last night, I just lay in the bed with my eyes closed and semi-dreamed or something. As a consequence, I have been groggy all day and am just trying to stay up late enough to not ruin tonight's rest.

I tried to be some use and took care of bills and business. I was dealing with a personnel issue and had just finished talking about it on the phone when my phone rang again. It was my attorney's office, I go back to court this month to have the amount I pay in alimony reduced. The court set the date three years ago and I thought it was at the end of March. Light at the end of the tunnel. It is just now hitting me.

Here is a little story that might make you smile. A little boy asked the Lego company for help and they helped. Yahoo News - Boy writes letter to LEGO after losing minifigure, gets awesome response.