Latest news with #Ficken
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A look at the progress made on River District development
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A west Charlotte development is one of only three in the country to receive a special sustainability designation. Queen City News is getting a look at what's already underway and what's to come for the River District. 'It truly integrates the opportunities for employment, for living, hospitality, restaurants and diversity of product,' said Rainer Ficken, senior managing director with Crescent Communities. Work is happening every day, and slowly but surely, the 1,200-acre piece of land is starting to look like a community. 'It's exciting because things are actually going vertical, coming out of the ground very tangible,' said Ficken. 'People can see what's going on and start to catch the vision.' Ficken is with the development company behind the project to turn the largest piece of undeveloped land along the Catawba River into the River District. He drove our crews around the property Wednesday, showing where his team plans to add retail and office space, potential schools and restaurants, all while maintaining 500-plus acres of green space for trails and parks. 'We want to do what's right for the planet,' he said. It's part of why the River District is the first on the East Coast to receive the One Planet Living Leaders designation for the way the project blends development with natural spaces. 'Development doesn't always mean that it's strictly about paving streets and putting up houses,' said Ficken. When it's finished, there will be about 2,000 homes and equally as many apartment units of varying sizes and price points, including 87 affordable units. 'There's something for everybody at the River District,' said Ficken. There's currently one completed model home on the property. Builders are already taking appointments for people to come view the home. The first apartment building could be open to tenants as early as the end of this year. 'Demand right now has been extremely strong, so we're very encouraged by that,' said Ficken. Ficken expects the entire project to be completed in the next eight to ten years. Every detail has been meticulously designed, so the neighborhood feels like a one-stop shop for anything you could need. 'If you were to live in the River District, there will be opportunities to easily walk to your community center, to walk to neighborhood retail within community,' he said. 'To literally walk from your home to where you work.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Government Threatened To Seize His Home Over Tall Grass
It's finally spring. Better mow your lawn. If you don't, your town government may fine you thousands of dollars a day. Worse, if you can't pay the fine, they may confiscate your home. Six years ago, in Dunedin, Florida, Jim Ficken let his grass grow. His mom had died, and he'd left town to take care of her estate. He asked a friend to cut his grass, but that friend died, too! In the two months Ficken was away, his grass grew taller than 10 inches. City bureaucrats started fining him. But they didn't tell Ficken that. When he finally got back, there was no notice of the $500-a-day fine. Only when he ran into a "code enforcement officer" did he learn he'd be getting "a big bill." When the bill came, it was for $24,454. Ficken quickly mowed his lawn. Then the city tacked on another $5,000 for "non-compliance." Ficken didn't have that much money, so city officials told him they would take his home. Fortunately, Ficken discovered the libertarian law firm, the Institute for Justice (I.J.), which fights government abuse. I.J. lawyer Ari Bargil took on Ficken's case, arguing that the $30,000 fine violates the Constitution's limits on "excessive bail, fines, and cruel punishments." But a judge ruled that the fine was "not excessive." Of course, judges are just lawyers with robes. Often they are lawyers/bureaucrats who've become very comfortable with big government. I call a $30,000 penalty for not cutting your lawn absurdly excessive. IJ attorney Bargil told local news stations, "If $30,000 for tall grass in Florida is not excessive, it is hard to imagine what is." Dunedin's politicians often impose heavy fines for minor transgressions. One resident told us, "They [fined] me $32,000 for a hole the size of a quarter in my stucco" and also "for a lawn mower in my yard….They fine people that they can pick on and then they keep picking on them." It happens elsewhere, too. Charlotte, North Carolina, fined a church for "excessive pruning." Danbury, Connecticut, charged a resident $200,000 for leaving his yard messy. Bargil notes, "It's pretty apparent that code enforcement is a major cash cow." In just five and a half years, Dunedin collected $3.6 million in fines. But by then, I and others had noticed. We were reporting on Dunedin's heavy fines. So did the politicians sheepishly acknowledge that they had milked citizens with excessive fines and give the money back? Of course not. They hired a PR firm. That cost taxpayers another $25,000 a month. Politicians care mostly about themselves. After the Institute for Justice filed a second lawsuit, Dunedin agreed that Ficken could pay less: $10,000. Still too much, but Ficken agreed. "Our Founders," says Bargil, "recognized that the ability to fine is the ability to cripple. It's one of the ways, other than incarceration, that government can really oppress." Government routinely oppresses. For six long years, Dunedin's politicians oppressed Jim Ficken. COPYRIGHT 2025 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC. The post The Government Threatened To Seize His Home Over Tall Grass appeared first on
