Get on the Bus, Drive it over the Cliff

A reader sent is the snapshot below of a Claremont home. We are not sure if the house is actually a foreclosure, or whether the occupant--if any--has just decided to go with the whole drought-tolerant sustainably dead landscaping look, complete with leaning signs.

click image to enlarge

But whatever, the picture provides a good allegory of the school bond Measure CL situation.

The school district, and its bond supporters, want all homeowners in the district to assume financial responsibility for district mistakes reaching back more than a decade. They propose to do this with an increase in property tax of at least $200 (this is the district projection) per year for the average home--very possibly much more.

(This year's tax rate on Measure Y is something like $300 per year for the average Claremont homeowner, and that bond was only $49 million. Measure CL will be a $95 million bond and--we're not too good at math-- we don't find the district estimate all that convincing. 600 bucks per year seems much more probable to us.)

Add that to the already over-burdened Claremont homeowner-taxpayer, underwater on his mortgage, and you reach the property-tax tipping point, stop sending payments, dead lawns, liens on the property, foreclosure, and auction on the south steps of the County courthouse.

Your lawn can go dead while the bank takes over your house, too!

So, Get on the Bus! and drive it over the cliff.

Unkempt