Excerpts from Politico:
At Mitt Romney’s proposed California beach house, the cars will have their own separate elevator.
There’s also a planned outdoor shower and a 3,600-square foot basement — a room with more floor space than the existing home’s entire living quarters.
Those are just some of the amenities planned for the massive renovation of the Romneys’ home in the tony La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, according to plans on file with the city.
A project this ambitious comes with another feature you don’t always find with the typical fixer-upper: its own lobbyist, hired by Romney to push the plan through the approval process.
Work on the project has not yet begun.
But it may not help Romney — whose wealth has caused him trouble connecting with average folks — to be seen building a split-level, four-vehicle garage that comes with a “car lift” to transport automobiles between floors, according to 2008 schematic plans for the renovation obtained by POLITICO that are on file with the city of San Diego.
The U.S. Secret Service, in a coordinated appeal with the Romney campaign, requested that POLITICO not publish the specific plans, complete with architectural drawings, submitted to a local agency in California as part of the approval process.
“For operational security, we’d request that you not publish the blueprints,” said Ed Donovan, spokesman for the Secret Service.
The schematic plans are only a precursor to more formal proposals to renovate the 76-year-old, 3,000-square-foot beach house. They include plans for the car elevator and more than 3,600 feet of underground living space. The plans detail that 1,500 cubic yards of earth be removed from the property to facilitate the construction of the large basement.
It is not unusual for homeowners to hire lobbyists to petition local California boards for large home renovation projects, San Diego officials said.
A Romney official said that Peterson provides legal services to the Romneys and that San Diego rules require that anyone who contacts city officials or their staff regarding such a project must register as a lobbyist. City laws also mandate that engineers and architects register as lobbyists if they’re acting in a similar capacity, the official said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74518.html#ixzz1qPvMBfNk
Sounds like Mitt is building the perfect Western White House.
Nah, too small a property for that.
Just think… win the lottery and you can be just like Mitt! 😉
Poor Mitt, I knew this was going to bite him in the a@@. He should have withdrawn the plans and quietly purchased the much bigger property next door that is, or was, for sale when I checked on it awhile ago.
Still not a peep about The One’s much larger property in Chicago or the scuzzy deal to purchase a slice of the adjacent Rezko property which rendered the Rezko property nearly unbuildable (the lot is too small now).
Somebody please remind me why it is news when a person who has been successful buys a house… Isn’t that the free market? Who cares anyway…
Seems like a lot of people are doing quite well during these tough times.
@4, because it reminds us of how different Romney is to the rest of us. Remember, this guy is not even working, but he continue to roll in income at rate of $100k per day. Yet he pays just 13% on that income.
Dude, the guy makes lawyers and doctors look like the working poor!
Btw, Romneys kid picked up a million dollar foreclosure over at 4S’s Ivy Gates. A million in cash just like that.
This say a lot about their savviness. Despite being extremely rich and well off, they are still very careful with their money. They watch for bargains such as the Ivy Gates foreclosure and use their cash wisely.
But this also says a lot about the power of being rich. Those of us on Piggington and bubbleinfo have all been tracking the market. But very few can actually act on a million dollar foreclosure. In this case, just having the money was the distinguishing factor. Having money enable you to make money easier and faster. There are a lot of opportunities in this society that are open to people like Romney that are not open to normal folks. Bottom line, the playing field may state it is open to all, but the reality is the rule of the game is seriously rigged.
Good for him! I pray that he wins in November! These petty “Na na na” articles won’t help, not sure to the point of re-publishing someone else’s slanted article.
@ 5,6,7. Then study hard, go to Harvard, and become that successful yourself. I’m certainly not in that league, but I also don’t fault anybody for doing well.
You too could pay only 13% if you gave as much $ to charity as Mr Romney.
That’s what I wanted Tom Tarrant to put in on the tear down he bought – a basement.
@9, even going to Harvard is not merit based. A huge number gets in because their parents are alumni and gave money. Harvard and other Ivy League schools also artifically keep their Asian students at the 15% mark. that’s pure racism working right there.
I’m not faulting anyone for doing well. All I’m saying is people do well in part because the system favors the very rich.
As for Romney’s tax rate. He starts off at 15% tax rate, my friend. So he gives to charity and gets it down to 13%. But he still starts at 15%. Is that fair?
Are you saying doctors and lawyers did not study hard and become successful? Yet they still have to pay over 35% on taxes. Even if they give to charity and bring their tax rate down to 33%, that is still significantly higher than Romney and his gang of the superwealthy.
Plus remember, the doctors and lawyers, the upper middle class so to speak, do not have the ability to have the type of write offs that Romney can use, because up to a certain point, the dreaded AMT kicks in.
How is that for fair play?
Lots of complaining in ocrenters post. Just because someone goes to Harvard doesnt make them successful ask my cousin.
@12, of course the school doesn’t make someone successful. what’s your point?
pointing out inequalities of a system that bend over backward to work on behalf of the mega-wealthy while proclaiming to be equal to all is not complainting.
Ocrenter,
I lived couple houses down from Romney’s son, Craig. Both his son Matt and Craig live the same community. They are hard working and their tax bracket is 35%. The reason Mitt’s is so low is that he is making money on capital gains tax and there is a difference between wage tax and money you make investing your money.
Just saying…..
Does anyone else see that the most disturbing part of this is that you need a lobbyist to get a remodel through the city ?
I think it’s great that Romney wants to spend big chunk of his money in San Diego.
@IvyGate, I know Romney’s sons are good guys. I know they are hard workers and I know people that told me they are very down to earth, nice people with very good families.
Also, I do recognize Romney’s rate is low because of capital gains. But remember, his Bain Capital also hired lobbyist to keep that capital gains rate at 15% as well. Point is this, the mega-wealthy have so much power that they can influence tax laws in their favor.
Are they good people and good neighbors? sure!
Romney’s low rate is not exactly due to capital gains (which is a Bush Tax cut throwback), it’s carried interest.
Let’s agree that OCrenter’s post seems more about income tax rule inequality (tilted to make wealthy wealthier, and working people poorer). That’s also not a Romney issue, is it? Or, was he somehow connected to the crack team writing the bush tax cuts?
Chuck
There have always been rich people and there have always been poor people. Life is not fair. Some people are lucky, some people are smart, some people are connected, some people work hard, some people lie, cheat and steal. Rich people do not have more fulfilling lives or less troubles. Mitt’s wealth does not bother me. It is more disturbing that snookie, kardashians,etc. and the majority of pro-athletes are rich but in a free market you can get paid even if you are a moron. If I choose to not participate in the the culture that celebrates the idiocy then these rich people are not doing too much to hurt me and they do pay taxes. The great thing about America is that you at least have a shot and you should not be penalized for your success. It is the entitlement programs that are killing us. The govt. spends about 40k per year on a prisoner but only about 8k on students. There is a lot of infrastructure building and rebuilding that needs to be done all over America. Let’s take away their cable tv’s and weight rooms and put these people to work. This is what should be done but the liberal panty waists in charge (that are elected by the people) would never let this happen. Our system is broken but it is the fault of our politicians not our business people. Business is about making money and hiring lobbyists to court politicians has always been a feature of American life. Term limits would be one way to eliminate much of the behavior the complainers are against. Voting the bums out of office is another way but most people would rather complain. It will take a crisis for most Americans to realize what dire straights we are in and to demand change. i believe we are very close to been overwhelmed by another major financial sunami ( it will make 2008 look like child’s play). There are plenty of black swans winging over the horizon. It only takes one to crash the entire system. Now is a very good time to be long guns and gold.
@19, I actually agree with most of what you said, minus go long on guns.
Get rid of criminals’ gym and the wealthy’s tax breaks, and we’re all good.
Except the Dems will fight for criminals gym and the GOP will fight for the wealthy’s tax breaks, so we both lose. 🙁
Is he really building a basement at a beach house?
OCrenter,
You will want a gun (or several) when the civil unrest starts. The USA will soon look like planet of the apes. Every govt. in the world is broke so every govt. is going to raise taxes. Rich people are going to get taxed more……………even though they pay most of the taxes already. The only way we can right the ship is to cut spending and raise taxes. The writing is already on the wall.
ocrenter, yes, the ultra-rich pay 15% on LTCG, but so do you. We all do. The money is at risk, and thus, the incentive to not put the money in tax-free muni bonds has to be higher. i.e. if LTCG were at 35% + 10% state, you are looking at 45% of your profit paid in taxes. At an average 10% stock market yearly appreciation, that is around a 6% real gain a year. With some munis paying 5% tax free, and the risk of default really low, the rich would plow their money into munis, and take it out of the private sector, further worsening our investment picture.
That is what happened in the 1930s when Herbert Hoover raised taxes from 25% to 63% on the rich, and then FDR kept it there. (who ever said Herbert Hoover wasn’t a “progressive”?)
Actually, I should amend it…the poor do not pay 15% on LTCG. They actually pay 0% – 10%, depending on their income level. My mother, who relies on low LTCG and dividend tax rates benefits from this. And we both applaud Mitt’s success, unlike ~40% of Americans.