The shoveling and mowing since 2007 total more than $3,700.

Is that a fair price in the area or a government price? Government-mandated snow removal around here can be billed around $50 for a pass with a snow blower. Because they can.

Coelacanth: I want to show you guys something.
Here's a Google Maps link Link (new window)
Zoom in and look at the neighborhood I used to live in.
Do you see that white car there?
When I first moved here, that taco shop was an electrical supplies store and there was a station wagon parked where that white car is now. Four yeas later, somebody investigated what was going on with that station wagon, and discovered the body of a woman inside behind the wheel. The front windows were covered from the inside with black poster, and the back was so full of personal possessions and household goods that you couldn't see past them.
It's assumed that she had tried to sleep during the day and had forgotten that she was in the desert.
It just blows my mind that nobody bothered to look for the first four years I was there.

Hey! Free station wagon!

ZAZ: The shoveling and mowing since 2007 total more than $3,700.

Is that a fair price in the area or a government price? Government-mandated snow removal around here can be billed around $50 for a pass with a snow blower. Because they can.

This is Wisconsin, so say you have 8-12 significant snowfalls per year that require snow removal, then maybe 8-12 lawnmowing sessions. If they're being reasonably aggressive and prudent about keeping up abamndoned houses, that's between 64-96 visits, or between $38-$60 per visit. No matter the price. it's fair, even at $60. You're having city employees transport themselves and gear to individual houses to do one-off jobs. It's not a cost-competitive model.

It's not the cheapest way to get shiat done, but I doubt the city's making money off these services.

He wins the Best Masked Decompostion Award then. That's gotta count for something.

Babwa Wawa: ZAZ: The shoveling and mowing since 2007 total more than $3,700.

Is that a fair price in the area or a government price? Government-mandated snow removal around here can be billed around $50 for a pass with a snow blower. Because they can.

This is Wisconsin, so say you have 8-12 significant snowfalls per year that require snow removal, then maybe 8-12 lawnmowing sessions. If they're being reasonably aggressive and prudent about keeping up adamndoned houses, that's between 64-96 visits, or between $38-$60 per visit. No matter the price. it's fair, even at $60. You're having city employees transport themselves and gear to individual houses to do one-off jobs. It's not a cost-competitive model.

It's not the cheapest way to get shiat done, but I doubt the city's making money off these services.

There, fixed.

I hope when I die, no one says things like "The best estimate is that his suicide happened in late 2007."

Coelacanth: I want to show you guys something.
Here's a Google Maps link Link (new window)
Zoom in and look at the neighborhood I used to live in.
Do you see that white car there?
When I first moved here, that taco shop was an electrical supplies store and there was a station wagon parked where that white car is now. Four yeas later, somebody investigated what was going on with that station wagon, and discovered the body of a woman inside behind the wheel. The front windows were covered from the inside with black poster, and the back was so full of personal possessions and household goods that you couldn't see past them.
It's assumed that she had tried to sleep during the day and had forgotten that she was in the desert.
It just blows my mind that nobody bothered to look for the first four years I was there.

Guess we know where the taco place got their taco filling from.

Why do I get the feeling the that the guy left the house in his suicide note or will to the daughter he fathered?

If so, this raises some serious complications.

Fireproof: The Iconoclast: Babwa Wawa: ZAZ: The shoveling and mowing since 2007 total more than $3,700.

Is that a fair price in the area or a government price? Government-mandated snow removal around here can be billed around $50 for a pass with a snow blower. Because they can.

This is Wisconsin, so say you have 8-12 significant snowfalls per year that require snow removal, then maybe 8-12 lawnmowing sessions. If they're being reasonably aggressive and prudent about keeping up adamndoned houses, that's between 64-96 visits, or between $38-$60 per visit. No matter the price. it's fair, even at $60. You're having city employees transport themselves and gear to individual houses to do one-off jobs. It's not a cost-competitive model.

It's not the cheapest way to get shiat done, but I doubt the city's making money off these services.

There, fixed.

?

I thought it was clever (the fix - mine was a jen-u-wine typo).

Fireproof: The Iconoclast: Babwa Wawa: ZAZ: The shoveling and mowing since 2007 total more than $3,700.

Is that a fair price in the area or a government price? Government-mandated snow removal around here can be billed around $50 for a pass with a snow blower. Because they can.

This is Wisconsin, so say you have 8-12 significant snowfalls per year that require snow removal, then maybe 8-12 lawnmowing sessions. If they're being reasonably aggressive and prudent about keeping up adamndoned houses, that's between 64-96 visits, or between $38-$60 per visit. No matter the price. it's fair, even at $60. You're having city employees transport themselves and gear to individual houses to do one-off jobs. It's not a cost-competitive model.

It's not the cheapest way to get shiat done, but I doubt the city's making money off these services.

There, fixed.

?

It's about words, and spelling.

Boondock3806: SquiggelyGrounders: If the suicide isnt tragic enough, think of all the people who lost money over this

This image really made me laugh. Kudos.

douchebag/hater: Babwa Wawa: ZAZ: The shoveling and mowing since 2007 total more than $3,700.

Is that a fair price in the area or a government price? Government-mandated snow removal around here can be billed around $50 for a pass with a snow blower. Because they can.

This is Wisconsin, so say you have 8-12 significant snowfalls per year that require snow removal, then maybe 8-12 lawnmowing sessions. If they're being reasonably aggressive and prudent about keeping up abamndoned houses, that's between 64-96 visits, or between $38-$60 per visit. No matter the price. it's fair, even at $60. You're having city employees transport themselves and gear to individual houses to do one-off jobs. It's not a cost-competitive model.

It's not the cheapest way to get shiat done, but I doubt the city's making money off these services.

Hmmm, I think you must work for the City of West Allis... j/k... it seems a little high to me but not completely out of line. Truth is that there are so many guys who do this kind of work around here that prices have dropped. A LOT. Jes' sayin'...

As for the story: sad, sad, sad. Depression is a helluva mental state to live in.

I dunno. If I didn't do my driveway myself, it would cost me about $30-50/snowfall. My lawn would cost about $60/cut. I do have a 300 ft driveway and about an acre and a half of lawn (I inherited that shiat - didn't plant it). But the fact is that it takes about 5-10 minutes to do the driveway if it has four inches on it, and about 1.5 man-hours to take care of the lawn (including trimming). The bulk of the cost to business is in transportation (remember you have to pay workers for the time it takes to get between work sites), gas, and equipment A private outfit can limit transportation costs by focusing on the density of the customer base. I've even known friends of mine who landscaping to trade customers so they can keep those costs down.

Even if the city is doing this with private contractors, it wouldn't help. A private company will have separate crews to fulfill government contracts vs private contracts, because governments usually have minimums on the amount individual employees can make, requirements for health insurance, requirements for higher bond numbers (because people love to sue the city when they get hurt) and so forth.

He stiffed the town all those years.

germ78: He stiffed the town all those years.

I'm sure he'll get a stiff fine.

Feral John: I'm inspired! I think I've found my new hobby ... planning my game of dead hide and seek. What's the record?

I think Jimmy Hoffa.

This is sad. The guy takes care of his sick mom until she dies, holds down a regular job where he's well liked, is considered a good neighbor and it's noticed when he starts to become reclusive but no one bothers to start checking on him.

Then, it takes years to find his body, during which time the city has basically taken everything he owned.

Oznog

The Somebody Else's Problem theory has merit.
Douglas Adams wrote 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' a couple of decades ago, before certain other certain Social Conditions arose.

Like suing the krap out of others who try to get involved and help -- most notably the crash victim who sued the physician who saved his life before the ambulance came, in an era before cell phones. The physician, working without equipment, did what he could but couldn't fix everything and they guy sued him over that. (This started the trend of folks not stopping to render aid which eventually forced some states to enact a 'Good Samaritan' law.)

The mass of homeless appearing in the 70's eventually made folks turn a blind eye to their plight because the problem became so overwhelming and the trouble they caused so extensive that it seemed as if nothing could be done. Plus story after story appeared on TV and the News about how people who tried to help the homeless were often met with hostility and frequently violence.

By the beginning of 2000, folks were just overwhelmed with problems ranging from the cost of living, to medical care to poorly written new laws. 9/11 changed everything for the worse. Folks became paranoid. Suddenly nations they thought quaint and friendly turned out to apparently hate us. Then it turned out that civil rights could be suspended at the whim of the NSA.

So many ways to skin them out of their money popped up, with the government ignoring nearly anything major companies did and nefarious folks seeming to use technology in ever inventive ways to f**k with you that society got more paranoid, and in many ways, insular.

Actually, I'm impressed that no one vandalized the house within the first year. Coelacanth's post about the car surprised me mainly because (1) the cops hadn't covered it with tickets and (2) it managed to make it past 30 days without anyone smashing the windows.

Down here, I saw a car broken down on the roadside and within a week, cops had ticketed it several times. Someone took the tags off. By the second week, the windows were smashed out. By the third week, the city towed it off.

When you overload a society with problems they can't seem to cure, the society itself becomes less empathetic and more uncaring.