Mitt Romney gets his car elevator
(CNN) – Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney cleared a final hurdle Friday in building a new house in California, a house that will include a four-car garage with an elevator for the vehicles.
Romney had already gotten zoning permission from the city of San Diego to demolish the 3,100 square foot home he owns in the La Jolla neighborhood and erect an 11,000 square foot mansion in its place. Plans for the home were put on hold until after the 2012 election.
A neighbor had appealed the city's decision to the California Coastal Commission. He argued in commission filings that the new home would have exceeded zoning limits that say square footage cannot exceed a certain calculation based on acreage of the plot of land the house sits on.
The Coastal Commission rejected that appeal Friday. Barring a lawsuit, construction can now move forward, according to commission spokesperson Sarah Christie.
Romney, the multimillionaire former governor of Massachusetts, drew significant heat from his opponents during the 2012 election for his wealth. They charged that Romney's estimated $250 million fortune put him out of touch with average Americans and a car elevator crystallized that message for many.
–CNN's Bryan Koenig and Chuck Johnston contributed to this report.
Another rich and powerful person getting his way. Can't stand the guy.
We have two car garages in our neighborhood. One of our neighbors collects vintage cars. He had four cars altogether, so he installed "elevators" (which are similar to the hydraulic system in a garage) in the two car garage so two could be lifted up above the others. It's NOT a big deal. Democrats simply adore their own Hollywood millionaires and they don't ever complain about their possessions or mansions.
Good for him; he can finally move out of his son's unfinished basement (which is where he was registered to vote)
Does the garage elevator allow his wife to park near their main living quarters? If so, that would make sense for someone who struggles with the disease of MS.
Lord, it is such a travesty when a person spends his money the way HE wants to.
Yeah, it's very sad that successful people can purchase things with their own money. He should be forced to give it all to those who choose not to work and pass along that same lack of work ethic down to their children, and children's children.
Please COME BACK ROMNEY!!! Our country desperately needs you!
Ah yes, in touch with the common man.
What he really wanted was a car escalator.
"They charged that Romney's estimated $250 million fortune put him out of touch with average Americans and a car elevator crystallized that message for many."
Here again, that point is "driven" home (pun intended). Who in their right mind needs an 11,000 sq. ft. home? With a 4 car garage and a "car elevator"? Thank you Mitt for again demonstrating the vast chasm between the rich, and the not so rich in America. Thanks for doing it in California tho', maybe no one else will notice.
Finally! Hopefully, the plans will be made available as well. Though I voted for Obama, I was thinking that if Romney became president that we would all get a closer look at his famous elevator...a common amenity for his friends that also enjoy "sport" or own racing car teams. Oh to see one of his wife's Cadillacs perched atop the platform ready to ascend (descend) into the company the typical American family's fleet of luxury vehicles...
So.... these people REPRESENT us? I am quite certain they don't even know we exist.
It's been a tough couple years, this guy really needed a win.
Thank goodness....I can now sleep at night Mitt has his car a vator.
Hell of a deal! Romney gets an elevator for his cars and Americans get our Country shut down!
is this news. the gov't is shutdown and we have to hear about mitts elevator for his cars.
He should just make sure there's enough clearance at the top so the dog doesn't get squished LOL.
I don't think he could do any worse than Obama.
Hmmmmm ... I'm trying to figure out why any of this matters .... hmmmmm....
See America? If he had won the rich would have flourished and all of you would have suffered.
He is getting the new house and elevator for his car? Good for him! Since when being rich is a bad and even shameful thing in the US? Isn't it an American dream to have your own sucsessful buseness, become rich, have kids and own home? Why we all should look over the shoulder at those who don't or won't or can't make their own dream come true? Well done Mitt! Full respect!
Wonderful news! The trickle-down from this will be phenomenal!! Three cheers for the Romney's!!
And to place their investment into such an economically challenged area...their social concern is
humbling....
Can you imagine how much better things would be for us all if he'd only won? A mensch.
Much ado about nothing. Heaven forbid that a person spends his own money how he wants without the press commenting. What's worse? A man who spends his own money or a man who doesn't mind spending an extra $1T over budget of present and future tax money every year he's in office?
California: Land of opportunity, especially for those who have more money than they know what to do with. To each his own. This is a far cry from many, even in California, where people think everybody is swimming in money. Welcome to the Central Valley, where if you made a state that stretched from Stockton to Bakersfield and included only the valley you would find an area that is worse off than all other states save for Mississippi. And you wonder why people can't relate to Mitt Romney.
And Michael Bloomberg, who is far wealthier and more flamboyant than Romney, gets a pass? Nice "objectivity" from the intolerant Left.
Hope he builds his fence high enough that he no longer has to yell at his pot smoking neighbor. La Jolla, the most expensive property in the USA.