Edina Neighbors Distraught Over Teardowns
By Bruce MacDonald
We sometimes think of Edina as a wealthy enclave but it’s really an old Minneapolis suburb comprising smaller houses, by today’s standards. Neighbors on Oakland Avenue have produced a video to express their outrage at builders who teardown ...
VIDEO here
Mega-Mansion Quiz:
Where would you expect to find the new gated community called Palais De Fortune?
1) Norway
2) Wisconsin
3) Los Angeles
4) Beijing
5) New Orleans
6) Inside the Beltline
On a tour of a model home in Palais De Fortune, sales manager [Madam Doe] points out features one might expect in any French-style chateau. There are sculptures of cherubs adorning the front gate, a Swarovski crystal chandelier hanging above a sweeping central staircase, and a maid in a lace-ruffled uniform waiting at the front door.
WSJ | Oct 19 : A look inside [these] "villa compounds," gated communities of multi-million dollar homes that give a view of what it's like to be rich in a country that's coming to terms with being communist in name only. WSJ's Geoffrey Fowler reports.
Just 10 meters away, another miniature Versailles rises out of the Beijing smog, and down the road there are 172 more like it. The sight is a jarring reminder that this gated community, where houses cost about $5 million and measure approximately 15,000 square feet, isn't in France. It's one of the most exclusive, if architecturally incongruous, neighborhoods in China. ...
OPINION Letters: Little Forest Hills
Saturday, October 20, 2007 | Dallas Morning News
Residents want to 'Keep Little Forest Hills Funky.' Is that reasonable in the age of teardowns?
Builders Johnny-on-the-spot with big houses
Re: "'We got discovered' – Some say teardowns tear at charm of White Rock neighborhood, push for conservation district," Wednesday news story.
I'm so glad Little Forest Hills builders have come to our rescue. I don't know what we would do without their "help."
I'm sure there is no other solution than a 3,000-square-foot home in a neighborhood where two-thirds of the homes are between 700 and 1,200 square feet.
How much does a builder make on a 3,000-square-foot home anyway?
Dan Levine, Dallas
Pleasant Little Forest Hills ambiance is lost
I have lived in Little Forest Hills since 1994. I fell in love with the neighborhood as soon as I found it, which was not so easy back then.
The neighborhood has changed. I do not enjoy walking to the park anymore because of the large homes that have been built.
Jeff Dworkin said, "By building houses, are you ruining the neighborhood or are you bringing in new people?" Well, you know what? I like the people that are already here.
Not long ago, the residents of the Ash Creek mobile home park, which had been here for decades, were driven out of their homes. As new development came in, the new residents could not tolerate that mobile home park.
Are the residents in Little Forest Hills going to face the same thing? Will there be excuses made to try to condemn our little homes so the developers can have our lots?
Steven Boll, Dallas
There are always trade-offs
Jeff Dworkin states that Little Forest Hills' great location makes people want to move in there, but people don't want houses that small. Sorry, but people do want to live there, and they already are.
Mr. Dworkin means his customers don't want houses that small. Tough. Some people want to live in Highland Park for the great schools but don't want the mortgages or taxes. There are always trade-offs.
Sandra Matthews, Dallas
Noticed a large van emblazoned with GEEK SQUAD coming out of my neighborhood. It even had ladders on the roof rack.
Odd, I thought, computers are so much smaller these days. Then I noticed the side said "Home Theater Division."
Now it makes sense.
But only sort of. When you think about it, going to the movies used to be a social activity, so now we are trending that to being more part of our private lives. And need a room for it. Okay.
But now we prefer to have a cup of coffee as a social occasion?
Market trends. Something I will never really understand.
The first street in this neighborhood to undergo "revitalization" was Claremont. Young couples were moving into new houses that were built in the style of old bungalows, with more size and amenities. Builders were working their way up and down the street a house at a time. The downside was the loss of affordable housing, the upside was the new houses had nice setbacks and yards and attempted to blend with the older tone. It was a little odd to see craftsman-style homes replacing homes that were built after WWII, and some in the early 60s, but teardowns-aside, respect for other values was in the right direction, something that has not been observed in many rebuilds. 
Concern for original houses remained, though, whether the house next door would also bite the dust as the new neighborhood appeared. It's a size thing, you know; this row is now in play.
Then some other forces entered the mix. As the land rush continued, million-plus dollar homes began appearing. Three of three are still empty at this time. Note the unique blending of home styles as individual speculation continues.
And now, across the street from another perfectly unfitting 3 story river house, comes not one, but two new large builds. One is clearly intended to be a mansion. The other merely a very large house. Le Manse is being squeezed in between a new bungalow and beautifully kept older ranch. This one goes for another style, huge and genteel is the best I can come up with. It kinda dwarfs most of the other new houses. 
This ranch is the vine-ripened tomato in a huge speculator all bun sandwich. Best I can tell, the only way they offended the gods of fate was to settle in and love their homestead. Surrounded on all sides and their view across the street obliterated, by what market rule do they get protection?
from CBS News Assignment America:
Steve Hartman visits a Seattle woman who refused offers for up to million for her home in a redevelopment area.
Video URL
What I really like about this story is that she has befriended the workers, thus re-making a construction zone into a small community, like the one that was destroyed. Heart is heart, and hearts don't give up easily.
