No, not TARP, as in Troubled Asset Relief Program—you know, that US government program to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions.We’re literally talking tarp, as in the four varying-sized lengths of black, plastic tarp that drape down the steep slope behind this very big house on top of a ridge in Walnut Creek. Actually that’s what this house has instead of a back yard: tarp, tarp, tarp, and tarp. The sheets of tarp cover the steep areas of bald dirt and gullies that get muddy and slippery when it rains, as those areas have with the storms of the past couple weeks.
The owners unfurled the tarp several years ago at least, and they haven’t taken it down since. They leave it up all year, even during the long dry months of summer.
They apparently had the money to buy this Big Ugly House, no doubt for a million or two or three, but they don’t have the money to reduce the risk of their house sliding down the hill. Or, the house was built in such a way and in such an unstable location that it is beyond help.
If this house tumbles down the hill, it and all its mass will land in the playing field of a local elementary school.
With the rains, it looks like the owners have propped sandbags up on the hill, on top of the tarp, to hold the sheets in place. Let’s hope those sandbags do the trick.I could go on about how this house, perhaps more than others I’ve featured so far in Big, Ugly Houses, is a metaphor for our strange, shifting times. You get it, don’t you? A big house that someone bought with ideas of grand, suburban living (and with spectacular central Contra Costa and Mount Diablo views). But a house that sadly, for the homeowners and for the rest of us, was constructed on apparently unstable ground.
Obviously, this house is a literal representation of all those homes across America that people bought with risky loans, the shaky foundation that helped bring about our economic crisis and the creation of more government programs with weird-sounding acronyms like TARP.
10 comments:
I've seen that house. When homes began popping up on that ridge they looked out of place and spoiled the beauty of the ridge. Similar homes in the area have caused major drainage and flooding to their neighbors below them.
I think this home and the others are in an unincorporated part of Walnut Creek, so it was up to the county planning department and supervisors to decide whether these should be allowed to be built. Good job Supes! You sure know how to pick 'em. Don't we have you guys to thank for those other houses in Alamo above the freeway?
I use to ride motorcycles at Parkmead and ride along the ridge that these houses now align. I lived in one of the houses that sat below the ridge line and boarded the school. Those were the good ole days. Now it's a ridge of homes. Really sad and ugly. Progress I guess.
Alamo is voting on incorporating tomorrow... maybe having some more local controls will stop some of those ugly monster houses destroying what used to be a "scenic route" along 680 (are those scenic route signs still there? )
Dear Anon March 2, 9:35 a.m.:
What recourse do neighbors have in situations like this? Do you have file lawsuits against the other homeowners, developers?
Dear Anon March 2, 9:35 a.m.:
What recourse do neighbors have in situations like this? Do you have file lawsuits against the other homeowners, developers?
The owner of this house sued the developer but lost. His complaint was that part of the original hillside had been covered by fill. The big houses on the hill are in the county but the city has approved their share in the Parkmead neighborhood over the years, many despite neighbor resistance.
This thing should be condemned before it slides down the hill.
That's too bad if the owner sued the developer and lost. So they tried to fix the situation. Who is this developer? But anyone with common sense would look at that house and think it's not built in the most stable looking place.
Soomeone said that the owner of Zebra Tattoo owns one of the other big houses on the ridge.
I don't know who owns that other big house on the hill, the one Soccer Mom calls Xanadu, but here's a story from the Chronicle about how, before it was finally built, it twice burned to the ground, in 2001 and 2002, and arson was suspected in both cases. In that story, a different owner than the Zebra guy, Moe Delfani, was listed:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/08/02/BA44489.DTL
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