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Message: [QUOTE="bevosu, post: 4162284, member: 46"] Two comments. My dad and mom were among the first to buy a home in one of the first post-WW ll suburban developments, Levittown, Long Island. The developers capitalized on the GI Bill. Low or no down payments for WWll veterans. The problem was black veterans were excluded. It was impossible for black veterans to get a mortgage for a home in Levittown in the late '40s/ early '50s. May have extended even longer. Blatant discrimination and this wasn't Alabama. Back in the late '80s my wife and I bought an old house in the hills of western Camillus. Country, 14 acres with a couple of horses and a horse barn. Shortly after we moved in we got word that a local developer was thinking about purchasing a couple of hundred acres of farmland (a local farmer had farmed that land for many years). That land was right across the street from our property. I was concerned. Sure enough, there were a number of town meetings to discuss the viability and the concerns of the residents of the area. I went to the hearings and it was evident that the existing homeowners were adamantly opposed to the potential development. water run-off concerns, traffic, changing the rural character of the neighborhood. The only speakers in favor of the proposal were the lawyers for the developer. Luckily the developer who bought the land soon ran into some financial problems and family problems and the project was put on hold. We were happy. But 2 years later another builder stepped up and bought the land from the original developer and proposed something like 150-200 homes. Somehow, even though the people who lived in that area were unanimously opposed to the plan, the town approved. (wouldn't surprise me if the Town supervisor at the time probably profited?) We moved out after 6-7 houses were built directly across the street from our house. Over the next couple of years, 100+ houses were built on that farmland. Ruined the character of that rural area, but it probably increased the tax base for the town. [/QUOTE]

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