“Whoever bought it can do whatever they want with it,” next-door neighbor Carry Buck said. “This is America.”
As reported in the Tribune, Ms. Buck is referring to the demolition of a 150-year-old architectural legacy in Winnetka (“Owner stirs furor, razes $12 million historic home,” Page 1, Feb. 17).
Ms. Buck is absolutely correct. Because of property rights, one can do more or less whatever one wants to. The property owner appears to be the type of American who on a routine basis is used to super-sizing more than just his McDonald’s Happy Meal. Aided and abetted by the complicit birds of prey in the real estate community, places such as Winnetka are being redefined by those long on money and short on vision. What a remarkable transformation that a place once known for its visionary and well-intentioned citizenry has been co-opted by modern-day barbarians.
