Truro’s protracted battle with the Klines continues. The latest chapter, reported on in the Times on July 6 is the $178,000 it has cost so far to enforce the law—that is, tear down this house declared illegal by the courts—and whether the town can afford to go on enforcing its own zoning. Christopher Lucy, former selectman (who happens to be employed by the Klines as caretaker) thinks the town should throw in the towel.
Let’s call this what it is: out-and-out class struggle—the town in class struggle with its own nonresident taxpayer. The town is roughly in the position of the “99%” made famous in the recent Occupy movement, the Klines of the “1%” (metaphorically if not strictly) and in the David vs. Goliath struggle (as in the Rest of Us vs. the Kochs at the national level) it’s tough going for David. It’s costing the Klines a lot of money too, but it hurts the Klines a lot less than it does the town.
When the Klines were told some years back by the court that if they went on building the controversial house they did so at their own risk, they went ahead anyway. This was both an expression of their arrogant confidence that their money would win out in this smalltime setting, and also an indication that even if they lost, the millions spent on the house wouldn’t really hurt.
In the local struggle of 1 % vs. 99%, it seems that a whole town is no match for even one of its deep pocketed citizens. A town does have another weapon, though: zoning. If a town wants to protect its Hopper view or modesty of scale—the 8000 plus square feet house does rather dominate the neighborhood– or anything else that seems vital to a style, a quality of life favored by most citizens like, they may be able to figure out a way of making zoning express that preference.
I’m rooting for determined Truro citizens to fight the good fight and persevere in this class struggle. And to do something with zoning to make itself less vulnerable in the future.
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