Perusing The Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle

Every month I try to pick up a copy of the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle, a free monthly newspaper that covers news and happenings in Glendale, Colorado - a suburb completely surrounded by Denver - and the nearby neighborhoods. It devotes a lot of space reporting on new construction and businesses starting up, which I like to read, but the publication has a definite right-wing slant. They editorialize about ballot harvesting by Democrats, and have had articles about the evils of the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) under a Democratic administration. Their featured columnist is Peter Boyles, a retired right-wing radio talk show host, who has denounced Denver's mayor Michael Hancock as a Marxist, although with all the development going on in the city, I am not sure how that could be. Years ago, when he was a radio talk show host, Boyles had an advertising deal with Hatch's Bookstore. At the time, I was the manager of the chain's University Hills Mall store. Boyles would promote books we were selling on his show, and appear in person at various Hatch's Bookstores to visit with his fans, most of whom seemed to be ex-military and dressed in fatigues, ready for battle. Boyles, to his credit, believes that the 2020 election was fair and free of voter fraud, and so although he is a right-winger, at least he is not insane, which is more than I can say about a lot of Republicans. And I mean that with all due respect.

A Bad Time Of The Year To Be Homeless

I drove past the old Turin Bike Shop at 7th and Lincoln this past Friday afternoon on my way to Denver's Christkindlmarket in Civic Center Park, and noticed that a large number of homeless people had set up camp there. Turin closed down for good a month or so ago after the building was sold to developers intending to build a new luxury high-rise apartment building. The police here in Denver do not usually roust the homeless unless someone calls in a complaint, or there is a health issue involved, and so camping out in front of an empty building is an attractive option for them. I was thinking about this encampment now that a cold front has moved into Denver, bringing snow, a high of 24 degrees, and a low of 3 degrees tonight. I don't see how anyone can stand being outside in such conditions, but most of these people refuse to go to shelters. They either suffer from mental illness or have drug and/or alcohol problems. It is my belief that the root of today's homeless problem is the direct result of the Reagan administration's trickle down economics policy, when they cut taxes for the rich and cut government spending on such things as public funding of mental institutions, where most of these people would otherwise be. Republicans view Reagan as one of their greatest heros. Thanks to him, today we have a small number of very wealthy individuals in this country, and many thousands of crazy people on the streets. Is this considered a successful strategy? How very sad.

Denver's Christkindlmarket Returns!

The Christkindlmarket has returned to Denver's Civic Center, seen in the photograph on the left, for the thrid year in a row, after being held for many years in a small, crammed area off the 16th Street Mall. Last year, it was voted the 5th best holiday market in the country in a USA Today survey, and I have to say, the current location is a great improvement. This year they have also moved the Mile High Tree, "America's tallest digital Christmas tree," to the holiday market, too. Of course, digital Christmas trees are ugly as hell during the daytime, but unfortunately, I did not have veto power over the move.

I visited the Christkindlemarket this past Friday afternoon, and was surprised at the huge line to get in, as seen in the photograph on the right. After waiting a few minutes, someone leaving the festival helpfully told everyone waiting in line that if we didn't intend to drink beer, we could just walk in and avoid the ID check, which a lot of us promptly did. Standing in line to present an ID so that I could order an overpriced beer has never been one of my favorite things.

The beer hall was packed, of course, but there were a lot of people going up and down the aisles visiting the many wooden huts selling food and clothing items, as well as various Christmas related goods. There were Christmas trees on display, Christmas carols were playing, and everyone seemed to be in a really good mood, no doubt helped along by all that German beer. Plus, unlike last year, I was there before the sun set, and therefore did not freeze my ass off. That definitely made my day.

A Treasure From The Bowels Of The Basement

I have been cleaning out my sister Susan's townhouse up in Fort Collins lately, and have spent a lot of time going through 35 years worth of items stored in the basement. In one box, I found the photograph on the left of my mother Mary and sister Susan posing at Stuart Beach, down in Florida. I suspect this was probably a gift to Susan from my mother, since the nautical themed frame is something she would choose. In any case, I think this was taken back in Susan's boogie board days, when she would head directly out to sea on it, as my mother watched with trepidation from the shore, until Susan headed back to the safety of the beach. Then we would drive back to my mother's condo to prepare dinner. This was a daily routine the entire time we were down there. I threw out that boogie board after my mother passed away and we were getting ready to rent out the condo. Since Susan is now 80 years old, I suspect she will never want to head out to sea on it again, demanding to know where it is, but you can never tell. If she does, I will, of course, just plead ignorance. I excel at that.

The Grand Illumination Takes Place Tonight!

Tonight the annual Grand Illumination takes place at Denver's Union Station. This event starts at 5:00 P.M. and features holiday classics sung by the Denver Dolls (an Andrews Sisters style musical group), Santa and Mrs. Claus posing for photos with children in the crowd, and the lighting of the 40 foot tall Christmas tree in front of the station. The inside of Union Station was remodeled a number of years ago into a hipster haven, with lots of bars, restaurants, and shops, and it too is decorated for the holidays. I took the photograph above last year, as I waited for what seems like hours for the station to be lit up so I could take a photograph and get home and out of the cold. Does that sound grinchy to you? It should. That's me in a nutshell.

Thanksgiving 2022

I hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my condo here in Denver yesterday for my friend Stuart and sister Susan, seen in the photograph on the left chowing down on turkey, dressing, sweet potatos, and other assorted goodies. However, looking at this photo and comparing it to the one I posted yesterday of a long ago Thanksgiving dinner, it is clear that I need to start focusing on setting up a more attractive table. I am so focused on cooking the meal that I never think about a tablecloth, dishes that match, candles, and all those other little extras that add to the ambience like the table seen in yesterday's photo. Of course, after cooking the meal, my attitude is usually to hell with ambience - let's just eat.

The photograph on the right was taken of my mother Mary standing proudly in her dining room on Easter Sunday, back in 1957, in our home in the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago. The common element in each photograph is, of course, the china cabinet, which I inherited from my mother, along with her collection of Royal Doulton Toby Mugs. I was 4 years old when this photograph was taken. I assume I must have been in the kitchen at the time, cooking the meal, washing dishes, scrubbing the floors, etc. But not learning how to set a good table. So sad.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving, and in honor of this holiday, I am featuring a photograph from years ago of my mother Mary, sister Susan, and brother-in-law George that I took at their townhouse up in Fort Collins on what may or may not have been Thanksgiving. Perhaps it was Christmas, but what does it matter? Holidays are all about family, no matter the occasion. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! 

Checking Out The Exchange In Fort Collins

I stopped at The Exchange in downtown Fort Collins the other day to check out the scene there. It is an outdoor food court, and is usually hopping during the summer, but not so much on a cold autumn afternoon the day after a snowstorm. Crooked Stave Brewery has a taproom there, as seen in the photograph on the left, but there was nobody out on the patio when I was there. Hopefully they were doing a better business inside.

Another popular spot at The Exchange is The Churn, an ice cream shop in the shape of a churn and owned by Little Man Ice Cream Company, the most popular ice cream outlet in Denver. It was not doing much business, either, which was not surprising, since it was not exactly ice cream weather. Perhaps The Exchange needs a retractable roof, like many sports teams have at their stadiums, so that when the weather turns cool, they can cover the place up and turn on the heat. Just a suggestion. And I know how much they are appreciated.

Portrait Of An Unknown Woman

I just finished reading Portrait of an Unknown Woman, the latest Gabriel Allon thriller by Daniel Silva. This novel finds Allon, former head of Israeli Intelligence, retired and living in Venice with his wife Chiara and their two children. Julian Isherwood, an art dealer friend, contacts him about the supposedly accidental death of a woman who was on her way to meet him, allegedy with evidence about a painting Isherwood recently sold for millions of dollars being a forgery. This begins a search for the people behind the biggest art forgery ring in history. I really enjoyed this book. It is well worth reading, but I have to say that the plots were more exciting when Allon was head of Israeli intelligence, matching wits with Islamic State terrorists and Russian assassins. Hopefully the next Gabriel Allon thriller will find his old service calling him back for a special assignment.

Lunching With Mark At Spicy Asian

I had lunch with my friend Mark, seen in the photograph on the left, at Spicy Asian on Monaco Parkway here in Denver yesterday afternoon. The food was pretty damn good, and they gave you extremely generous portions, so much so that I took the leftovers home for dinner. Mark just got back from a road trip with his brother Mike to New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Their first stop was in Santa Fe, which is just a magical place, and after that Albuquerque, where Mark toured the Al Unser Museum and Mike the botanical garden (Mike works at the Denver Botanical Gardens and likes nothing more than a busman's holiday). After Albuquerque, they headed south to Roswell, east to Portales, home of Eastern New Mexico University, and then to Amarillo, Texas, Clinton, Oklahoma, and a final stop in Dodge City, Kansas before heading home to Denver. If it was me, I would have stopped at Santa Fe and spent the entire time there, but that's just me. Both Mark and Mike had a great time checking out Middle America and the many reminders of the Wild West that still exist in those places. Sounds like a wonderful trip to me.

Discovering Lost Family Photo Albums

I have been cleaning out my sister Susan's townhouse up in Fort Collins, Colorado lately, getting it ready to put on the market. Susan has decided she does not feel comfortable living by herself, even though she is only a mere 80 years old, and so we need to either get rid of or store a lifetime worth of stuff. As I have been going from room to room, I have discovered all kinds of photo albums that belonged to my late brother-in-law George, with photographs ranging from his childhood in the Panama Canal Zone to life in Chicago to our time here in Colorado. The photograph above is of my mother Mary, father Nelson, and Susan taken sometime before 1976 in front of our house in Country Club Hills, an ugly suburb south of Chicago that had neither hills, a country club, or for that matter even trees. On the bright side, almost the entire extended family lived close by, which as I look at it now, was reason enough to live there. Once we all left the Chicago area, I think we lost something really important. At least we have the photos.

A Winter Wonderland? Maybe Yes, Maybe No...

I took a walk in Denver's Washington Park yesterday afternoon, the day after a day-long snowstorm. There wasn't all that much snow in this part of Denver, but due to the variation in altitudes, some parts of the metro area received a foot or more. I must admit that the snow made Washington Park look very pretty yesterday, as seen in the photo on the left, but the older I get, the more I believe it should stay up in the mountains where it belongs.

Whenever I think of snowstorms, I remember having to drive up to Fort Collins a few years ago to take my sister Susan to the grocery store. The snow had not been cleared off the side streets, and was so deep I got stuck three times before deciding to park in a nearby strip center parking lot and hike to her townhouse instead. If you are able to sit in a house like the one in the photograph on the right, and just look across the street at the snow in the park all day, fine. But if you actually have to go anywhere, it is a major pain.

Winter Returns With A Vengeance

Winter has returned over much of the country, especially around the Great Lakes, where Buffalo is predicted to get up to 4 feet of "lake effect" snow. Last year, we didn't get our first snowfall here in Denver until December 10th. This year is quite different. It snowed all day yesterday and didn't stop until early this morning. It isn't Buffalo, but what is? Fortunately, since I am now retired, I can just stay inside, take a photo out the bedroom window of my condo, as seen above, and head back to bed. Living the dream! Wake me up for the first day of baseball spring training.

Is This A Cute Photo Or What?

Lately, I have been going through the hundreds of boxes in my storage locker and closets, discarding the junk and consolidating the rest, in order to make room for my sister Susan's junk that she needs to move out of her townhouse in Fort Collins, which she is in the process of selling. In the process, I ran across the photograph above of myself posing with Susan's Yorkie Tutu, who passsed away a couple of years ago. People always made a fuss over Tutu, which made her other dog, Blackberry, run up and try to get a little attention, too. Now that Tutu is gone, all Blackberry has to compete against is me. Definitely no contest.

Back To Normal At My Condo Building After A Murder

All is back to normal at my condo building across the street from the University of Denver, and seen in the photograph above, after a murder took place in the club room a month ago. A 16 year old was shot and killed during an argument about a pair of $400 sneakers. Our building has a wide variety of tenants, and everyone I have met seems very nice and friendly. The shooting was an isolated incident, and residents have moved on. Nothing else you can do. Stronger gun control laws is the obvious solution, but given the political environment, that is not going to happen. Compromise and reason are no longer valued in Washington, and I suspect this will not change for years to come. One political party's solution would be to arm everyone in the building. I'm sure that would work out well.

A Quiet Sunday Afternoon In LoDo After A Broncos Loss

I walked around Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo) this past Sunday afternoon, and was surprised at how quiet it was, especially since every parking spot was taken. It was not all that cold, but I imagine everyone was in the bars, drinking to forget the Denver Broncos latest embarassing loss, this time by the score of 17-10 to the Tennessee Titans. This shouldn't be a great shock to fans - the Broncos haven't made the playoffs since 2015, when they won the Super Bowl with Peyton Manning as their quarterback. This past offseason, they signed former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, and from the hype that followed, fans expected another return to the Super Bowl. Not this year, people. Wait until next year. Or the year after. Or the year after that. Or perhaps never. Deal with it.

Sunset Over Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium

I walk my sister Susan's dog Blackberry past the University of Denver's Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, seen at sunset as a silhouette on the left side of the above photograph, almost every day, and until recently have never given any thought to who Peter Barton was. It turns out he was the founding president of Liberty Media, which became a primary shareholder in major cable television programming providers such as the Discovery Channel, Time Warner, and TBS. After graduating from college, he became a professional skier for two years before entering the business world, and left Liberty Media in 1997 with a $100 million stock portfolio to spend more time with his family here in Colorado. What strikes me the most is that he died from cancer just five years later, at the age of 51. Does that not make you think about work, success, family, and what is most important in life? Barton was a big donor to the University of Denver, but what his connection to lacrosse was I do not know. It just seems like a life lesson for us all.

History Repeats Itself. So Do Hurricanes

Hurricane Nicole made landfall just south of Vero Beach, Florida this past week, resulting in extensive damage to beachfront property there, despite it being only a Category 1 storm. Since hurricanes in the Northern Henisphere rotate counter-clockwise, all of the damage was to the north, which was a relief to my sister Susan and I, who own a condo that we rent out in Stuart, about 30 miles to the south of Vero. This reminded me of the time Susan and I visited our mother Mary at the condo in Stuart back in August of 1995. Hurricane Erin hit Florida while we were there. It too was a Category 1, and made landfall at the same spot as Nicole. As I recall, it made for a pretty exciting evening. The West Palm Beach television stations provided continuous coverage, the theme more or less being "we are all going to die." As the track of the storm continued to move north, they would send their rookie reporters up there to broadcast their reports in front of the raging ocean, the wind blowing fiercely, reminding viewers not to venture outside like them. Back in Stuart, when the storm made landfall, it was windy and raining hard, but it was basically just a tropical storm. I can't remember if there was damage farther north, but I think there has been significant erosion to the coastline since then, resulting in more and more beachfront property susceptible to major damage. The moral of the story: resist buying real estate in Florida right on the ocean. It is all fine and good except during hurricane season, which humorist Dave Barry says runs from June 1st thru May 31st. And yes, that is indeed me at Stuart Beach in the photograph on the left, the day after Hurricane Erin, a mere lad of 42.

The View From Aurora: The Horror. The Horror...

As regular blog readers are aware, I am not a big fan of suburbs, especially truly ugly ones like Lakewood, just to the west of Denver, and Aurora, just to the east. However, the other day, I had to take my sister Susan to a doctor's appointment on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. While waiting in the reception area, I snapped the photograph above of the view from the 5th floor. In the background can be seen the large radomes (a fancy name for geodesic domes) at Buckley Air Force Base (now called Buckley Space Force Base, although I have yet to see any spacecraft take off from there, either ours or alien ones). And as you can see, beyond that is absolutely nothing until you get to Kansas City, 600 miles to the east. And even then, you are unfortunately in Kansas City. Getting there is one ugly drive that starts in one ugly city, but hey, a lot of people evidently like ugly. To each their own, I guess.

Veteran's Day 2022

Today is Veteran's Day, a holiday which honors all who have served in America's Armed Forces, and therefore, I am once again featuring the above photograph of my father Nelson (seen on the right), posing with two of his fellow officers in what I suspect was Abilene, Texas, where he was undergoing training during WWII before being sent off to Okinawa. My father was a dentist, and was surprised as hell when he was drafted at the age of 35. He hated being a dentist, and my mother Mary once told me he actually liked the army, and considered working on teeth in Okinawa a break from his usual routine back in Chicago. Of course, there were several typhoons when he was there, and each time he lost all of his possessions. But at least by then the fighting was over, except for shots fired by the occasional sniper, which I assume must have been annoying. To say the least. It reinforces the fact that this truly is a very somber holiday.

The Crimson And Gold - The Inspiration For The Village?

Before the start of the pandemic, the Universitiy of Denver announced plans to build "The Village" in a two square block area located just across the street from my condo building. It would consist of a grand entryway into the University of Denver campus and would be lined with shops, offices, various academic buildings, and a hotel to be run by students from DU's School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management. At the time, I attended several "Good Neighbors" meetings to make sure tearing down my building wasn't part of their plans. The person running the meetings said that the university wanted a gateway into the campus to impress visitors, and that currently the first thing they saw was the Crimson and Gold Tavern, which the university felt was unacceptable. That was almost 5 years ago, and The Village has yet to break ground. However, the Crimson and Gold still stands, as seen in the above photograph. And no, the master plan did not call for tearing down my building, which is happily still here too.

A Paris Flashback

It is, of course, November, and I was recently thinking about how years ago I traveled to Paris around this time, and was surprised to find that everything was closed on November 1st, due to it being All Saint's Day, a French, as well as Catholic, holiday. The day after, I visited the Galeries Lafayette, and discovered that that department store had already decorated for the holidays, and featured a huge Christmas tree in it's atrium. It seemed quite early to start celebrating the holidays, but I remember being quite impressed with the decorations. And did I take a photograph of the tree in that atrium? I think so. But if I did, I would have been shooting slides back then, and would have to spend days trying to find where I put them. Instead, since I am hellbent on featuring Paris on today's blog, I am presenting a photograph that I took back in May of 2019 on the Ile Saint-Louis. Paris is Paris, no matter the time of year or the location. Right? Makes sense to me. Enjoy!

The Bridge Connecting Hipsters With Ultra Hipsters

Driving back and forth between Denver and Fort Collins on Interstate 25, I have to drive under the pedestrian bridge connecting Denver's Lower Downtown neighborhood (LoDo) with the Lower Highlands neighborhood (LoHi), which are two of the most popular spots in Denver with the hipster crowd. LoDo was the hot spot for many years, but LoHi seems to be even more popular these days. For years LoHi was a mainly Hispanic neighborhood, but since it is so close to downtown, with great views of the city, developers have been building there like crazy. A co-worker at the Tattered Cover grew up in the Lower Highlands, and still lives in the family home. She said that years ago the place was filled with poor people and crack houses, but the neighborhood was uncrowded and property taxes were very low. Now the place is overflowing with hipsters, people park in her driveway all the time, and property taxes are very high. She longs for the good old days of a neighborhood filled with crack houses.

Wash Park In The Fall

It was a mellow afternoon this past Friday in Denver's Washington Park, crisp but sunny, and there were a surprising number of people there enjoying the day, including myself and my sister Susan's dog Blackberry. Blackberry is getting old now (she's 15), and doesn't like to walk as much as she used to. She mostly seems to be checking the ground for food, and when she does find something, she often snaps it up so quickly I can't stop her from swallowing it. To say Blackberry is undisciplined is a major understatement.

The trees here in the city are still showing their fall colors, but the leaves are falling fast. In the mountains, of course, they have already had a lot of snow, and I imagine the trees up there are quite barren, although I don't know for sure. I tend to stay out of the mountains this time of year, since I have neither snow tires nor chains. Just this past week, a snowstorm was so bad heading west out of Denver that many unprepared motorists couldn't get up the inclines, traffic ground to a halt, and Interstate 70 had to be closed. As per state law, the offending drivers were taken out and shot. A harsh penalty, but necessary as a warning to other drivers.

The Colder It Gets, The Better Florida Looks

As the temperatures get colder here in Denver, the more I think about the good life in Stuart, Florida. My mother Mary lived there for almost 30 years and just loved it. One of the great things about visiting Stuart is having lunch on a restaurant patio along the ocean. Years ago, my mother and I would head to the Island Reef, which later became Rottie's, where I took the photograph above of my mother back in April of 2000. Eventually Rottie's closed, and a new, very upscale and expensive restaurant opened at that location. That restaurant went out of business due to a conflict among partners, and was replaced by Kyle G's Prime Seafood and Steaks, which does not sound cheap, either. Once Rottie's closed, we decided to lunch on the oceanfront patio at Shuckers, which is just as nice, and has more reasonable prices. I wish I could head there for lunch today, but the logistics would be complicated. Perhaps next spring.

The November Issue Of Chicago Magazine

I just finished paging through the November issue of Chicago Magazine, and am wondering if I am losing touch with my old home town. One of the feature stories is about "The 20 Best Vegan Dishes in Town," which the article claims even non-vegans will love. They are wrong. And the real estate ads feature properties with prices ranging from 1.7 up to 6 million dollars, which is slightly out of my price range, if I was looking to move back to Chicago from Denver (I am not). The listing of the month is a former two-flat in Rogers Park selling for $950,000. Years ago, my Grandfather and Grandmother Spillard rented the lower level of a two-flat on East 85th Place, on the South Side of Chicago, from Mrs. McKenzie for $86 a month. My sister Susan, who lived there with my mother Mary when my father Nelson was overseas during World War II, just loved that apartment and the surrounding neighborhood. I walked around the area when I visited Chicago 12 years ago, and both the neighborhood and the two-flat still looked good. However, I suspect it would not sell for $950,000, although I could be wrong. I need to get back to Chicago soon to see if things there are that different from what I remember, or if I am getting a distorted view of the city from Chicago Magazine. But is that even possible?

The November Mutts Of The Month

I took the two photographs of the November Mutts of the Month in a large yard directly across the street from Denver's Washington Park. It is more like a coumpound, and contains two houses designed in what I consider the Cotswolds cottage style, as well as an attractive gazebo. Both dogs were very attentive, and happy to pose for a photo, including the one in the photograph on the left.

Those two houses are very impressive, as are the sizable grounds in what is a very expensive neighborhood, and I therefore have to assume that both these dogs are used to living the good life. No doubt each has it's own room, and they dine on tenderloin steaks twice a day. A dog's life indeed.

Packing Up Memories

I have been going up to Fort Collins almost every day lately to pack up things my sister Susan wants to keep after she sells her townhouse, after deciding she no longer feels comfortable living alone. And I cannot believe how many knickknacks Susan and my late brother-in-law George have collected over the past 35 years up there, not to mention the number of collectible model toys George has stashed away. Every cabinet I open in the den, the basement, and the garage seems to have dozens of metal cars, trucks, planes, and boats. I suspect I will be spending the rest of my life trying to figure out how to sell those items on e-Bay. And if e-Bay's customer phone support is like virtually all companies these days, most of the time I will be figuring out which button to push to connect to an actual person. Thank God I have insurance for my smart phone for when I throw it against the wall.

A Found Photograph Of Indigenous People's Day At DU

My point and shoot camera that I carry everywhere I go - to the annoyance of everyone - needed to have the shutter repaired, and so I took it to the camera store where I purchased it. The curmudgeonly clerk seemed dubious that the extended warranty I paid for would cover the damage, but agreed to send it to the repair people anyway, and they would give me a call. Although I suspect not this year. Or even next. In any case, in the meantime, I am using the camera on my cellphone, on which I discovered a photograph I took of an Indigenous People's Day celebration on the University of Denver campus this past October 12th, and seen in the photograph above.  The tepee in the photo has on it words to the effect of "Give us back our land." I am not exactly sure how that would work. Would all non-Native Americans be deported to the countries their ancestors came from, and would those countries even take us? I have visions of 320 million or so boat people adrift in the ocean, which might be a problem. Perhaps we could just give the Native Americans Texas. That would solve a lot of problems on many levels.

Changes Are Happening In The DU Neighborhood

I took my sister Susan's dog Blackberry for a walk around the neighborhood west of the University of Denver the other day, as seen in the above photograph, and once again was surprised at all the scrape-offs and new construction going up. This Denver neighborhood has always consisted of very modest houses built for veterans and their families after the Second World War. More and more of these homes are being torn down and replaced by McMansions. It used to be that the nearby Washington Park and University Park (east of campus) neighborhoods were the favorite targets for these scrape-offs, but perhaps even rich people can't afford the real estate prices there anymore. Maybe they should set up GoFundMe pages asking for financial help, and in the process explain why they can't be expected to live in the bungalows and modest frame houses that are already there. I'd just love to hear the answer to that one.