In those cases, who generally owns the lot?

Um, I'd have to go look. I think there are companies that go around buying up these lost/unclaimed lots, which adds to the confusion.

The Baltimore Sun did a whole series on this topic at [link]

Anyone watching Earl?

(Keep in mind, some ground rents are $25/year. So it's crazy.)

(Keep in mind, some ground rents are $25/year. So it's crazy.)

Utterly. And I've just started the articles you linked to, but it makes total sense that it's a freaky colonial vestige that exists in the US only in Maryland and Pennsylvania; it goes back to ye olde feudalism, when common people couldn't buy or sell land (but impoverished lords could give out 99-year infinitely renewable leases as a handy sort of fundraiser).

But, really, I'm only bringing this up to point out that according to wikipedia, those nobles who had the right to make such deals in Scotland were called "The Lords of Erection". Because even when obsessed with real estate, I'm twelve.

THE SONGS DON'T LOAD ANY FASTER IF YOU WATCH THE PROGRESS METER SARA!!!! WALK AWAY!

WALK AWAY, SARA!!!

I am very sad because in Jamaica roti means curried goat or chicken wrapped in roti. Like an East Indian burrito.

But I have none, and have had none for probably 20 years now.

Next time you come to New York, you can have some from the truck around the corner of my office building.

So, we just had going-away drinks for my coworker, and at the end, another coworker shared the crazy scandalous stories from the past that the other two people left didn't know. They were shocked! Funny.

So, I'm curious what the big deal was about whatever it was you planned for your co-worker's going away party, Jesse. Did your boss tell you anything specific about what the CEO's issue was?

But most older owner-occupied buildings in NYC are co-ops -- if you move into a condo, it's probably a newer building.

My grandparents lived in a building with a totally weird not-co-op system. When they moved into the building, in the late forties, the building was owned by a single owner, and it was all rental units. (It was built around 1900. I have no idea how long it had been a rental.) Then, in the sixties, Columbia University wanted to buy the building, evict everyone, and build a new dorm. The tenants, naturally, objected to this. Ten of them got together, pooled their money, set up a corporation, and bought the building. The building has about 30 apartments. So for the next 30 years of so, the owners of this corporation stayed there, each paying about $200 a month in rent, while the rest of the apartments were rented out normally, with all the rent money going to the corporation.

This all worked fine for everyone involved until a few of the owners died and their kids didn't want to live there. They'd never gotten any dividends from the corporation -- the benefit of being an owner was paying practically nothing in rent. And nobody could figure out a way to calculate what to give to someone who had just inherited a 10% share of the corporation.

I only have 4 more cds to load from this folder! And that leaves, uh... another 48. Sigh.

So, I'm curious what the big deal was about whatever it was you planned for your co-worker's going away party, Jesse. Did your boss tell you anything specific about what the CEO's issue was?

I passed around an envelope for people to give money, which is apparently Not Done, even though I SWEAR it's been done several times since I've been there. I swear to god I've put money in an envelope that came around with the card. But anyway, what people actually did was hand money to me directly, so when the CEO got it, there was nothing in there, and I think really everyone (CEO + my boss) was already having a bad day due to other things, and the bullshit just escalated, and WTF.

And then people kept checking up on me to make sure I was doing things "right," which I was in every other aspect (sent around a card, got the right kind of food, bought a tablecloth and fucking napkins, etc., etc.), but only because I figured out what to do and then did it myself, not because anyone told me the rules or anything, god forbid.

Anyway, I'm unreasonably worked up over all of this, but it's done now and I can move on.

Thanks for asking.