Teachable Moment for the Wealthy

Presidio Terrace is 4 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge

I know I'm being unkind, and it's wrong to mock the woes of probably-decent people whom I don't know anything about, but the owners of thirty-five (35) San Francisco mansions are at the mercy of two San Jose residents who paid off a delinquent $14-per-year property tax bill on their private road (bold added):

Tina Lam and Michael Cheng snatched up Presidio Terrace — the block-long, private oval street lined by 35 megamillion-dollar mansions — for $90,000 and change in a city-run auction stemming from an unpaid tax bill. They outlasted several other bidders.

Happy street-owners Tina Lam and Michael Cheng (SFGate)

Now they’re looking to cash in — maybe by charging the residents of those mansions to park on their own private street.

...San Jose residents Cheng and Lam wound up with the street, its sidewalks and every other bit of “common ground” in the private development that has been managed by the homeowners since at least 1905. That includes a string of well-coiffed garden islands, palm trees and other greenery that enhance the gated and guarded community at the end of Washington Street, just off Arguello Boulevard and down the hill from the Presidio.

Periodically we read about an elderly person being thrown out of her home because of a small unpaid property-tax bill. Rich people can fall victim to the same process; they won't be in danger of losing their homes, just being able to access them.

Teachable moment: you gotta pay attention to what's happening--or not happening--at your homeowners' association.