My grandmother recently had to go to a nursing home. We (as in my entire family) as with her, hate it.  She is only there for a couple of weeks longer (hopefully) and is there because she broke her hip and needed physical therapy. The facility is right down the road which allows me, my wife, or even my kids to drive (or ride a bike) down to see her.

There is always some crap going on like the other day it took half an hour for someone to go help her move from her bed to a wheelchair to go to the bathroom. WTF!?? She said she was literally about to try and move herself when someone finally got there. Of course when we (family) are there the staff is nice and act like they are always there for whatever she needs. I am not going to mention the stench of urine in a spot halfway down the hall.

Anyhow, I am looking at this picture and have some thoughts on it. My first being looking at this picture really does not show anything to the effect that people are up in arms about.In this picture, I have colored the "loss of sunlight" by the fence in red, and the same loss of sunlight by their own building in blue. I took into account the window frame as best as I could and I do realize that the ratio would change depending on the position of the sun but regardless, here's what I see:

Click to embiggen

If go back and enlarge the pic on the article if you think I have manipulated things but you will see I did not.

Another thought I had was are these same people who are complaining going to thank him for blocking the sun in the summer. Will they pay him for the saving on their cooling bill?

Advanced Living Technologies only bought the footprint of the building. They could have purchased a bit more land, but claimed they were too poor, instead they leased for 10 yrs at an increased price, where's the common sense in that? They were stupid.

Mike Burris may be retired, but his family business is still nursing homes. Can't say I blame him for being annoyed with the new owners, he did offer to let them buy the land &/or re-lease the property.

The losers are the residents. If they are unhappy, & I wouldn't blame them if they were, they can move to another facility that doesn't make such stupid decisions that have negative effects on their residents. Changing facilities isn't a fun thing to do & it is disruptive, but it would send a powerful message to the powers that be at Advanced Living Tech. that they should be thinking about their residents first & foremost.

I'd have to agree with Bighorn and Digalitldper here. (not Digs dumping statement though)

As we all know this may not be the full story reported here but according to the article they've been "duking" this out for a year. Maybe instead of complaining about Burris not having the correct morals, how about the facility not caring about their patients enough to purchase the land as Digs stated.
It's Burris land and whether he erects a 2' or 4' or 20' fence it's his choice.
There may also be a liability issue since the article stated the facility/patients used the land for parties, parking, etc... In this sue crazy world what would happen if someone twisted an ankle or broke a leg or hip on Burris land??

Unfortunatly I have experience with neighbors/fence building. Years ago I had a situation with neighbors to where a privacy fence was the only way to keep the peace and possibly me out of jail.

And so the point related to the fence is.....???

Just because the corporation was too cheap to purchase/lease the open parcel, now the owner is a villan for developing it as he sees fit?

Hey my previous post got deleted from here! I wonder why?

First off, I don't know Burris as apparently many on these boards do.

The majority opinion seems to be that private property rights hold no sway in our society any longer. We (all of you included) should hand over our real property to some higher power to mandate it's use.

Don't let it be said that Victoria is a conservative little hole in the wall anymore. Socialists abound.

Dig - we have fences in the neighborhood. However none are obstructing our view to the world, as they are not 8 feet tall !

It's all about money to Burris. I guess he plays the game of "he who dies with the most 'stuff' and walks on people" wins. Nothing about love or compassion or understanding.

Just because someone owns a piece of property, doesn't mean that have to build on it. Why can't some of the vacant buildings around town be used for something? Why do we have to tear up more green space and pour more concrete? Then people wonder why the deer are running in the city streets.

Dig - sometimes it is not that it is an inconvenience, it is the fact that nursing homes are better equipped to care for the elderly. Some elderly would rather be there than with members of their family.

The fence is ugly, it was inconsiderate and selfish of Burris to do this. I understand that it takes money to live/survive, but life should not revolve around how much money you can make, especially when it hurts others. When you die, you cannot take money and materialistic things with you, only love.

I just thought I could put in my two cents in this situation.
First of all, I work in a nursing home and to the person that posted something about "dumping their loved ones in a hole" that was very disturbing. Nursing homes are not a "hole" and you should not be ashamed if you cannot take care of your loved ones and need the assistance of someone else. Nursing homes provide 24 hour care including nurses and cnas. That is alot more than most people can provide at home. And I cannot count how many times we have had someone come in from "home" and they have stage 3 or 4 pressure ulcers because they were not being properly taken care of. So, please actaully open your eyes and try not to sound so darn stupid making comments like that. I love working with all of our residents at the nursing home and I would be horrified if someone built a fence like that to obstruct the view from our residents. Some of these people that are bed bound, have no other choice but to look out the window.
Nursing HOMES are just that. They are safe places that people can go when they can't take care of themselves anymore. And I am sure that if this fence were put up around some ritzy person's HOME that it would be taken down in a heartbeat. Their homes should be respected just as you would want someone to respect yours.

Smartee,

Did someone pull a comment by Mytwocents? Hagan works for a nursing home company but is it this same one? I don't think so as I don't think any of their facilities are local.

By the by, folks ... city council is like serving on a board of directors for a company. It is not a full time job. I think its like $400/month gross - not something you leave your day job for.

I saw this fence the other day while picking up a patient for the ambulance company I work for, but I wasn't sure what exactly it was for. It only covers up the front of about 6 or 7 patient windows. It is actually only about 2 feet from the actual nursing home. This is definitely a safety hazard. There is no room to get to people from the outside without tearing through that fence. Sorry for the fence owner, but if the firemen need to get through there they will axe down his fence. I think this is very petty behavior. If he had an issue with illegal use of his property, he could have issued a no-trespass warrant. I go to this nursing home every day and have not seen anyone having parties or whatever he claims. No one is ever there.

Without knowing the full details of the negotiations to purchase and/or lease the land between the nursing home and Mr. Burris, it's not proper to pass judgment. However, from a standpoint of who's paying the price, it's the residents of the nursing home. For that reason it was unconscionable for that particular type of fence to be erected. Yes, Mr. Burris has every right to protect his property, but a shorter fence to preserve the view, or a chain link fence of comparable height would've sufficed. I doubt very much if Mr. Burris cares, but no one is going to be sympathetic to his side of the story because of his actions. A reasonable solution would be for the nursing home to purchase the land at fair market value, however I doubt that the land is valued at fair market price due to the situation. How sad for the residents to be caught in the middle.

Wow what a bad situation. The poor residents of the nursing home are the ones to suffer. They've bonded and made the facility their homes and now will be losing a lot of the enjoyment they had been used to.

The nursing home owners were being cheap. They should have purchased the surrounding property or at the least, keep the lease up. Instead, they were using the property without compensating the owner. And, taking your share out of the middle is rarely the honorable thing to do. What's up with that?

The property owners are trying to force their hand and the nursing home owners should buy the land quickly, if it's still for sale. It'd be a shame if their residents have to live in shade just because others were being cheap.

Okay, Burris is now retired? What did that do to David Hagan's position with his 'business'?
2cents--elaborate on your point #2.  When, where.   Is that why Hagan ran for City Council?

Isn't this more about private property rights? I have a difficult time taking the popular side of view of this, despite all my warm feelings for the seasoned citizens at the residence.

For all those concerned about the appearance of such a fence, do you care to address that the "retirement home" owners did not purchase enough land to even secure safe building evacution in the event of an emergency?

And in a legal sense, the land owner is correct. To allow free use of the parcel could someday lead to attempts to forfit ownership in the future. I have been put in this position, and forced to incur the expense of a fence to protect my ownership rights.

I'm a fence builder by trade.  I've turned down jobs in the past for this very reason.  The very last thing I need is to be subpoena'd and spend a week or so in court.  I'm sure glad I didn't get the call.  I wonder who built the fence?
I must say, however, that at least the man didn't put up a chain link fence with barb wire on top.  At least he spent the extra money to put up something nice instead of making it look like a prison or storage facility.  
From a consulting standpoint, I may have suggested a 4-foot cedar fence, pickets spaced 2 inches with a cedar cap on top...much less of a barricade.

How sad that there is no compassion ... it's all about money. Total greed.

WHAT A,,,'sorry,,can't say that word on here'!!!!,,,,,,,YOU MAY BE IN A NURSING HOME ONE DAY,,,,,,WOULD YOU LIKE HAVING TO LOOK OUT THE WINDOW TO SEE A FENCE RIGHT IN YOUR FACE......WRONG VERY VERY WRONG. A TWO FOOT FENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST FINE,,AND HE KNOWS IT