Eric Goulet: I can't Let it Go

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Seriously, you are supposed to be our SBOE rep. Start acting like it.

Why should he let it go? He probably would be Ward 3 Councilmember if not for Elissa Silverman.

Elissa Silverman is NOT why they dropped out. She was very late to the party -- almost a full month late. Her timing just happened to be when the candidates reached their tipping points.

The other thing is people forget that Elissa took the poll to show Tricia Duncan as viable so she could wade in to endorse her friend. The poll (apparently) showed Tricia in much worse shape than expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I didn't vote for him, I find his antics annoying, and I don't like tax evasion... but I have to say it sounds like none of these people should be paying property taxes on this land, because they don't own it. Have they fenced it off from the public? Do they treat it as their backyards in any meaningful way other than "they use it more often than anyone else does"? Doesn't seem like anyone here is doing anything wrong, especially since the streetcar line had presumably been defunct for decades before Goulet bought the house.

They aren't paying taxes, but they have incorporated the land into their back yard. Someone of the neighbors have it fenced off. I think Goulet has not.
Its the city that hasn't done anything.
But Goulet, as a city official, should voluntarily offer to take over the land as owner and begin paying property taxes on it. Who do you think mows it? Goulet or DC government?
Here is a good example:
https://goo.gl/maps/7S49TwzfAkXXdftx7

I don't really care who mows it? If he's mowing public land at his own cost, great, good for him. If his neighbors have fenced public land in, the city should demolish the fences. But I don't think there's any problem with "considering" the land part of their back yard even if it's not theirs.

What exactly do you want the city to have done? In the case of the people who have enclosed public space, that's obvious, but what is the city supposed to do about Goulet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I didn't vote for him, I find his antics annoying, and I don't like tax evasion... but I have to say it sounds like none of these people should be paying property taxes on this land, because they don't own it. Have they fenced it off from the public? Do they treat it as their backyards in any meaningful way other than "they use it more often than anyone else does"? Doesn't seem like anyone here is doing anything wrong, especially since the streetcar line had presumably been defunct for decades before Goulet bought the house.

They aren't paying taxes, but they have incorporated the land into their back yard. Someone of the neighbors have it fenced off. I think Goulet has not.
Its the city that hasn't done anything.
But Goulet, as a city official, should voluntarily offer to take over the land as owner and begin paying property taxes on it. Who do you think mows it? Goulet or DC government?
Here is a good example:
https://goo.gl/maps/7S49TwzfAkXXdftx7

The land has been vacant since 1961. Whatever value it brings would be reflected in sales prices, which are what ultimately drive property tax assessments. I doubt many of those houses haven't changed hands in 60 years.

But it'd be impossible to judge how much of the sales prices are due to this random slice of public land. Are you suggesting those houses have no back yard at all, except for the public land? Or is it just that the public land makes the yards look bigger?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Seriously, you are supposed to be our SBOE rep. Start acting like it.

Why should he let it go? He probably would be Ward 3 Councilmember if not for Elissa Silverman.

Elissa Silverman is NOT why they dropped out. She was very late to the party -- almost a full month late. Her timing just happened to be when the candidates reached their tipping points.

The other thing is people forget that Elissa took the poll to show Tricia Duncan as viable so she could wade in to endorse her friend. The poll (apparently) showed Tricia in much worse shape than expected.

Tricia has a grand total of like 12 donations in the month of April, Bergmann wasn't too different. Neither of their campaigns were going anywhere and they both knew it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Seriously, you are supposed to be our SBOE rep. Start acting like it.

Why should he let it go? He probably would be Ward 3 Councilmember if not for Elissa Silverman.

Elissa Silverman is NOT why they dropped out. She was very late to the party -- almost a full month late. Her timing just happened to be when the candidates reached their tipping points.

The other thing is people forget that Elissa took the poll to show Tricia Duncan as viable so she could wade in to endorse her friend. The poll (apparently) showed Tricia in much worse shape than expected.

Tricia has a grand total of like 12 donations in the month of April, Bergmann wasn't too different. Neither of their campaigns were going anywhere and they both knew it.

And yet neither bothered to drop out until Silverman called them? Hmmm….