
Soylent CEO charged over illegal, 'unsightly' container home - pgroves
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-soylent-container-home-20160729-snap-htmlstory.html
======
Jtsummers
Talk of it being unsightly is useless without pictures. Which this article
lacked.

[http://la.curbed.com/2016/7/21/12245620/soylent-illegal-
ship...](http://la.curbed.com/2016/7/21/12245620/soylent-illegal-shipping-
container-home-lincoln-heights)

Has some pictures of what they're talking about with respect to graffiti and
trash.

~~~
nickff
So the neighbors trespass, and find that someone is keeping garbage inside
their private structure? Good thing they don't look in my home, I have garbage
too!

It's also a bit funny that they say they did everything they could to keep the
land clear, when he bought it for $21300; they could very easily have bought
the land from or instead of him, as they did for the $1.4MM parcel.

~~~
Jtsummers
> He has encouraged neighbors to continue using the land for walks and runs,
> writing, "I would love to meet you and discuss the project."

He invited them onto the property. The property has been damaged (presumably
not be those complaining, but the conspiracy minded will come up with
something I'm sure):

> Rhinehart bought the parcel of land beneath the shipping container at
> auction in December for $21,300, property records show. Since then,
> neighbors say the container's glass windows have since been smashed and the
> entire unit has been extensively tagged with graffiti.

He isn't maintaining it. He isn't securing it. I do agree that the community
ought to have considered buying it. But he bought it and he's poorly
administered his property, to the point now of apparent negligence and
potential criminal wrongdoing ("criminal", not sure I agree with that, seems
like it should be a civil thing to be me, but they are criminal charges that
have been brought up).

~~~
nickff
> _He invited them onto the property. The property has been damaged
> (presumably not be those complaining, but the conspiracy minded will come up
> with something I 'm sure):_

I don't think he invited Instagram user 'sashifly' into the container to take
pictures of the garbage bags inside, though you may know more than me.

It seems like he isn't keeping the property clean all day every day, but
leaving the remains from a barbecue outside one night and into the next day is
far from negligence, and the fact that people take his property for granted
doesn't incur any obligation on his part. The business about securing the
container down is ridiculous; it isn't going anywhere in an earthquake (you'd
have bigger problems than that if it did), and the people who want it gone
should have bought the property themselves (or made an agreement with
Rhinehart). The fact that others are coming on to his land and vandalizing his
property is cause for Rhinehart to complain about poor policing and behavior
on the part of the locals. If the windows were broken by meteorites, I might
agree that he should fix them, but when people are repeatedly damaging your
property, you have a limited responsibility to clean up after them.

From what I can see, the locals want a nice, clean, flat place to hike, and
they don't want to pay for it, so they've begun a witch-hunt.

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arcanus
He lives in a box container and (presumably) only consumes a substance that
provides all the essential calories and macro-nutrients he needs...

He is consistent, I will give him that. Hard to say that is the path I would
want my life to follow. Sounds like a remarkably boring existence.

~~~
Jtsummers
Assuming that's all he eats, I agree that aspect is boring.

Regarding the container home: I'm not sure it's totally boring. These things
are often about the size of a typical mobile or modular home. It's more like
they've repurposed the space. It could be well-done on the inside (no
pictures, can't say in his case). And you could (with proper permits) place
them in a lot of interesting locales.

~~~
rexaliquid
Well, it's not _all_ he eats. Just for routine meals. He treats regular food
as a treat or experience to spend your entertainment budget (of both time and
money) on.

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zekevermillion
Complaint says he didn't have a permit. Where I live, we aren't even supposed
to install a toilet without a permit. Want to cut down a tree in your own back
yard? Permit from the "tree committee". Put up a sign in front of your home or
business? Multiple permits from zoning and building committees. Thus it does
not surprise me that some process is required prior to dropping a live-in
shipping container in a major urban area.

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jrs235
Yes, paywall. Go to google and search for this: "Soylent CEO charged over
illegal, 'unsightly' container home in Montecito Heights" or try going to
[https://www.google.com/#q=%22Soylent+CEO+charged+over+illega...](https://www.google.com/#q=%22Soylent+CEO+charged+over+illegal%2C+%27unsightly%27+container+home+in+Montecito+Heights%22)
then view first result.

EDIT: I just learned about the 'web' link under the title. Clicking that will
take you to google with the same link I mentioned above.

~~~
nickff
Please don't comment on the paywall.[1]

The "web" link under the title on the discussion page does exactly the same
thing your search link does; there is no need to 'Google' things for the rest
of us.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

~~~
lucb1e
re:[1], I can't find anything regarding "pay", "wall" or "paid" on that page.
What exactly are you referring to?

~~~
nickff
The paywall issue has been discussed a number of times, and dang has ruled
that paywalls should not be discussed in comments. I believe that the relevant
rule is:

 _" Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is
inappropriate for the site. If you think a story is spam or off-topic, flag it
by clicking on its 'flag' link. If you think a comment is egregious, click on
its timestamp to go to its page, then click 'flag' at the top. (Not all users
see flag links; there's a small karma threshold.)"_

~~~
jrs235
For the record, I was not complaining about there being a paywall, just
informing others that there was one. And for the record here are dang's
comments pertaining to paywalls:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989)

"It's ok to ask how to read an article or to help other users by sharing a
workaround. But please do this without going on about paywalls." Sorry I
wasn't aware of the new 'web' link feature.

~~~
PeCaN
It's really not a particularly new feature, and I swear its existence pops up
every time a paywalled article is posted. Lurk more?

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Hilyin
Mayyybe he shouldn't have chosen bright red.

~~~
31reasons
He could have made it much nicer to look at and live. Like these houses.

[https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinchirico/surprisingly-
gorgeou...](https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinchirico/surprisingly-gorgeous-
homes-made-from-shipping-containers?utm_term=.bbOyqGp6z#.dimdNVvPL)

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SurrealSoul
So why is an “experimental living facility” illegal? I would assume fire
hazards, but I know nothing of real estate

~~~
LA_Banker
If you pay $750k for a home and someone buys the highest parcel in the
neighborhood (which used to be open park land), and puts up a shipping
container that gets graffiti'd, your real estate value is going to take a hit.
The neighborhood is now uglier, has less aesthetic quality, and is potentially
endangered in case of earthquake.

Many cities have ordinances such that someone can't buy a lot in a
neighborhood and turn it into a landfill such that everyone's property values
suffer.

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detaro
dupe:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12151004](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12151004)

~~~
jonnybgood
Not dupe. That thread is about the possibility of being charged. This thread
is about him now being charged.

~~~
detaro
IMHO that's a trivial detail that doesn't really change the discussion or
topic (but I don't really get why this attracts so much discussion at all, so
maybe I was to quick about that)

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Thetawaves
Dude would be right at home up here in Alaska.

------
mmagin
"Disruptive innovation"

