In Which I Pour More Fuel on the Cory Booker Fire

About six weeks before Cory Booker ran into a neighbor’s home to save her from a fire, a building he owned—but didn’t live in—caught fire.  Booker had bought the building, and the one next door, in 2009 as a residence for him and his parents. But after the renovations got too costly, he abandoned both buildings and bought another place elsewhere. He’s been looking for buyers ever since. Squatters moved into the absentee-owned building, and may have in fact started the fire. (h/t Matt Sledge)

Forgive the video below—it and the music are truly atrocious—but before everyone starts jumping on me, remember: I didn’t start this fire.

 

Update (11:45 am)

Turns out the neighbors of Booker’s abandoned buildings have been complaining about lack of maintenance, rodents, squatters, etc. for some time. According to them, he was not the most neighborly of absentee-owners.

2 Comments

  1. runste April 20, 2012 at 12:01 pm | #

    It’s what I call “government by posse”: the notion – probably encouraged by Western movies – that Americans don’t need no stinking’ government institutions or technocratic bureaucrats, because you can always rely on the sheriff/mayor/governor/president to round up a plucky band of volunteer citizens to deal with a crisis. But as events like Katrina shows, a system which depends on brilliant improvisation by the executive is already deeply flawed.

  2. Ryan C Daley April 20, 2012 at 12:39 pm | #

    Ah yes…we didn’t start the fire: An Idiot’s Guide to the Twentieth Century. .

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