[at-l] Sweet Deals (was Intimate Dopamine.....)

[bullard@northnet.org (James Bullard)]

At 08:28 PM 6/30/01 -0400, Slyatpct@aol.com wrote:
>If I wasn't mistaken the people that "own" this land have had a ninety-nine
>year lease for short money and a sweatheart deal with the state and now that
>it's almost over they're feeling cheated.

This sort of thing was common umpteen decades ago in NY and not just on 
public lands .  There were tracts of land that were owned by lumber 
companies which they then leased out in smaller chunks.  The lease holders 
then built on the land as if it was theirs.  After several generations they 
came to expect that the leases would automatically be renewed when they ran 
out.

Many got surprised when the State decided not to renew but to actually have 
the public land open to the public (what a concept!) and even some lease 
holders on private land are getting a shock when the corporations sell the 
land to the State because they aren't making a profit.  Strangely enough on 
one recent deal the hunting clubs that held leases didn't buy the land when 
it came up for sale, they waited for another private owner to buy on the 
expectation that the new owner would automatically continue the deal.  When 
the State bought it and gave them 5 years to vacate they cried "foul" and 
are still trying to contest it in court.  One club I know of learned the 
lesson and is now in the process of buying the land themselves.

Saunterer