[lbo-talk] Expropriate the Golf Courses!

joanna 123hop at comcast.net
Thu Aug 31 22:22:39 PDT 2006


Ha. That reminds me of a wonderful George Carlin routine in which he likened watching golf to watching flies fuck and in which he recommended building housing for the homeless on all the golf courses.

Ha!

Joanna

mike larkin wrote:


>http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2059
>
>Caracas Mayor Announces Expropriation of Golf Courses
>Thursday, Aug 31, 2006
>
>By: Michael Fox  Venezuelanalysis.com
>
>Caracas, Venezuela, August 31, 2006 In a move that
>could affect thousands of Venezuelans, the Greater
>Caracas Mayors office decreed the expropriation of
>two Caracas golf courses, in order to build housing.
>However, in a declaration yesterday, the
>Vice-Presidents office announced that it is not in
>agreement with the expropriation decision.
>
>Greater Caracas Mayor Juan Barretoa member of
>President Hugo Chavez MVR partyfirst announced the
>expropriation of La Lugunita Golf Course in a
>controversial speech on August 22. On August 24, the
>official decree was registered in Gazette 00152 of the
>Metropolitan District of Caracas, declaring the
>
forced acquisition

of the Valle Arriba Golf Course
>(43 hectares) and the Caracas Country Club (80
>hectares) for the
Endowment of housing for the
>habitants of the Metropolitan district of Caracas.


>
>Barreto stated that the lands of just one golf course
>could provide housing for 5,000 individuals, and that
>this first phase of expropriations could benefit
>25,000 people.
>
>According to Barreto, 500,000 people in the Greater
>Caracas region live in
precarious situations.

"We
>have done serious studies that demonstrate that one
>square meter of golf course turf consumes what 20
>families of 10 people need to survive for a week,


>said Barreto.
>
>According to El Universal, Fernando Zozaya, President
>of the Caracas Country Club, said that the
>expropriation would affect 11,000 people
>directlyemployees and membersin the Country Club
>alone. He also stated that it would have a negative
>impact on all of those in the nearby community,
>because the terrain is not suitable for housing.
>
>"You would have to make a very costly investment in
>order to make these lands adequate for housing,
>because they werent designated for that since the
>beginning,

he said. Zozaya is still waiting for an
>official acknowledgement of the expropriation.
>
>Leopoldo López, the mayor of the Municipality of
>Chacao, in which the Caracas Country Club is located,
>agreed, and accused Barreto of not having a plan or
>having carried out studies of the land, which,
>according to El Nacional, he says is
meteorologically
>and seismically

high risk land.
>
>Instead, López said he would rather see the housing
>built on public property, such as with the plans for
>10,500 homes on lands pertaining to La Carlota
>airport, and for 11,000 homes on part of Fort Tiunas
>property, which López stated were accepted by
>President Chavez. López further suggested that a
>referendum be brought to Caracas citizens to see what
>they would like to use these spaces for, and which
>spaces they would like to see used for housing.
>
>According to Carlos Ciordia, Metropolitan Advisor for
>the Chacao, Baruta and El Hatillo Municipalities the
>execution of Barretos expropriation plans are
>
impossible and illegal.


>
>
In order to expropriate housing, you need to have the
>resources to be able to pay the indemnization
>established under the property law, when you are
>talking about an expropriation for public utility or
>social interest,

he said.
>
>But according to El Universal, Barreto announced this
>week that there are some irregularities in the deeds
>to the Valle Arriba and the Caracas Country Club golf
>courses.
>
>
We are respectful of private property, but here you
>have a dispute,

said Barreto, because in 1983 and
>1955, they carried out a purchase of the land of these
>golf courses that were in the name of a Mr. Alejandro
>Ávila Gil, who was dead. They revived him, because he
>died in 1949, and six year later, they got him to sign
>some purchase documents.


>
>Barreto further justified the means of forced
>acquisition in that they are recuperating a public
>space and
democratizing housing.


>
>
The deeper discussion that we are proposing is the
>use of urban space. In some, you can construct
>housing, in others parks, in others, spaces of
>recreation for multiple use,

he said.
>
>Vice-Presidents Declaration
>
>In a declaration yesterday, however, Venezuelan
>Vice-President José Vicente Rangel announced that
The
>National Government does not share the decision
>adopted by the Mayor of the Metropolitan District of
>Caracas& in which the forced acquisition is declared
>of the land& considering that the same could affect
>constitutional and legal norms of the Bolivarian
>Republic of Venezuela.


>
>
The National Government respects and must respect the
>current legal order and condemns whatever attempt
>aimed at suffocating, regardless of where it may come
>from, the structure of the rule of law. In this way,
>under no circumstances, will it accept that the right
>to property, in which it is conceived in the current
>Constitution, becomes vulnerable in any way,

reads
>the declaration.
>
>Housing Expropriations
>
>Meanwhile, the Greater Caracas Mayors office also
>decided that 95 buildings in Caracas will be
>expropriated, benefiting 25,000 families that
>currently rent apartments in these, before the end of
>2006. The compensation to current owners is estimated
>to cost $93 million. The daily Ultimas Noticias
>reported that 24 expropriations have already been
>carried out since January.
>
>It was also announced that thus far, approximately
>3,000 families renting in the Caracas Metropolitan
>region have asked for their apartments to be
>expropriated and turned over to them, for which they
>will need over $1 billion to resolve everyones
>situation.
>Garcia called on the National Assembly to pass
>legislation putting a hold on forced evictions.
>According to Ultimas Noticias, there are close to
>2,000 planned evictions.
>
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