[BrianL99]

This doesn't happen often, but when it does, it warms the heart of Real Estate Developers everywhere.

I was once building an "Affordable Housing Development" in a very affluent community, west of Boston. We needed a Special Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals (40B, for those who might know of such things).

The meeting of course, was open to the public and when the time came, the snobs came out of the woodwork. One particularly obnoxious neighbor, basically said ... "we're not used to having people like that, living in our neighborhood".

The next one was a classic. One woman stood up and gave an impassioned monologue, of all the years she had been looking out her kitchen window, at this "wide open, beautiful, open land" (It was actually just a small, 1.5A lot, covered with weeds & junk).

When she got done, the Chairman of the Board of Appeals, said: "Ma'am, just to be clear, you've been living there for 20+ years and that land has been vacant all that time?".

"Yes", she replied.

His answer: "So you could have inquired about buying it, anytime in the last 20 years"?

Checkmate.

In another episode in front of the exact same board, a group of neighbors banded together, to protest a subdivision I was building, next to theirs.

After an impassioned plea from the Homeowners' spokesperson, who gallanted recited what an absolute travesty it would be, to see all those trees cut down and the land cleared for housing ...

The Chairman responded:

"Sir, isn't there a very large subdivision next to yours, that was built 5 years before yours"? "I'll bet you a dollar, those people were in this room, with the exact same complaint that you're making, when someone wanted to build your home."

"I guess it was alright that they stripped the land to build your house, but you're opposed to anyone else getting a home ... do I have that right?"

Checkmate.

Pull up the ladder, I'm up !