NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/alt/philosop/objectiv/958

Text File | 1993-01-24 | 2.8 KB | 62 lines

Newsgroups: alt.philosophy.objectivism
Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!news.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!gambit
From: [e-mail] ()
Subject: Re: Private Roads in an Objectivist Society
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail] (Net Noise owner)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 04:42:03 GMT
Keywords: Private Roads
Lines: 49

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Tim Starr) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Chris Holt) writes:
>}[e-mail] (Tim Starr) writes:
>}>[e-mail] (Frank Perez) writes:
>}
>}>}This might sound a little ridiculous, but what if I own a house and the local
>}>}road is owned by someone else and that person does not let me use his road.
>}>}I now have a house but I cannot enter it because all the local streets
>}>}surrounding the house are owned by this person who will not let me use his
>}>}road. Do you see a possible problem ?
>}
>}>First, this market failure would be rare.  Second, few juries would convict
>}>you of tresspassing unless you did much damage as a result.
>}
>}The question is how rare it would be, and what level of failure
>}would be tolerable in such a society.  People do get into feuds,
>}and bear grudges.  As far as damage goes, the road owner could
>}do something like put a streetlight right in front of the driveway
>}of the houseowner, so getting a car in and out would knock it down.
>
>The rarity would be great that any homeowner would sell away their property
>right in the road leading away from their driveway.
>
>}If this ever gets to the jury stage, does it not seem like a
>}ridiculous waste of resources?
>
>Yep.
>
This question was discussed by a friend (who is a city planner in Pennsylvania)
and I.  We were attempting to figure out the optimal way for people living
in residential areas to deal with the problem of roads, as well as other
things such as fire departments and emergency services.

We finally realized that the best way to deal with such a situation would be
to have a "Homeowner's Association" in which all residents of the neighborhood
would own a share (included in the cost of a house).  This takes care of the
road problem.  Emergency services would be handled by payments made to the
HA.  (And if someone didn't pay, they could be sued, lose their right to the
services, etc.)

Definitely would be cheaper than property taxes!


------------------------------------------------

Benjamin W. Lagow
Grad Res Asst, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign