09/12/2023
๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐๐?
๐๐๐ค๐ช๐๐๐ฉ๐จ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐จ๐จ ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ค๐ง๐๐ค๐ค๐โฆ
When we moved to our modest home on West Clarkstown Road nearly 30 years ago, the welcoming committee came knocking at the door. My next door neighbor, with a tin of butter cookies in her hand, gave me the lowdown on the neighborhood.
We were teachers, social workers, plumbers, clerks, and paramedics. We were Italian, African-American, Irish, East Indian, Haitian, and Central American. We were Catholic, Jewish, Evangelical, Protestant, and โnon-affiliated.โ We were the melting pot of Clarkstown.
Who are my neighbors today? Itโs hard to tell.
Over the past few years, many homes in the area have been purchased by LLCs (Limited Liability Companies). Most are being used as rental units, and are not owner-occupied. Pride of ownership has diminished. Owners are invisible.
Who lives here, and whoโs just passing through? Why are there 12-15 cars in the driveway on any given day? Why is there a sofa and a swimming pool on the front lawn?
One LLC-owned house sits empty since it was sold almost eight months ago. Whatโs the plan? How long before it is โassembledโ or merged with the surrounding LLC-owned properties to build a school, a house of worship, senior housing, or other over-sized and over-scaled facility?
I know that LLCs are perfectly legal and offer many benefits to property owners, especially those whose property is primarily for investment purposes.
But LLCs donโt make great neighbors, and donโt make for great neighborhoods.
After all, you canโt bring cookies to an LLC.
--๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ.
