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Movies.com: George Lucas Does Something Likeable For a Change: Revenge on Rich Neighbors

AsburySkinsFan

By AsburySkinsFan
in The Tailgate

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AsburySkinsFan

AsburySkinsFan

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Well played Mr. Lucas....well played.

http://www.movies.com/movie-news/george-lucas-grady-ranch/7883

George Lucas' rich neighbors don't want him building a movie studio in their backyard. His response is the best thing he's done in years.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, for four decades Lucas has owned a large swath of land in Marin County in the North San Francisco Bay and has spent the past few years trying to transform the ranch on it into a massive, nearly 300,000 square foot, state-of-the-art movie studio complete with day care center, restaurant, gym and a 200-car garage. His neighbors, however, have rejected it every step of the way. Despite the promise of bringing $300 million worth of economic activity to the area, the already-well off neighbors are worried about years' worth of construction activity and the additional foot traffic it will bring into their neighborhood once completed.

The local homeowners association has been such a thorn in Lucas' side that he's decided to abandon the studio construction entirely, issuing this official statement about Lucasfilm's withdrawal of the new studio:

The level of bitterness and anger expressed by the homeowners in Lucas Valley has convinced us that, even if we were to spend more time and acquire the necessary approvals, we would not be able to maintain a constructive relationship with our neighbors.

We love working and living in Marin, but the residents of Lucas Valley have fought this project for 25 years, and enough is enough. Marin is a bedroom community and is committed to building subdivisions, not business. Many years ago, we tried to stop the Lucas Valley Estates project from being built, but we failed, and we now have a subdivision on our doorstep.

So what is George Lucas going to do with his property now that he's tired of his rich neighbors putting up a not-in-my-backyard stink? He wants to transform the property into low-income housing, naturally, ending their official statement with this zinger, "If everyone feels that housing is less impactful on the land, then we are hoping that people who need it the most will benefit."

He's working with the Marin Community Foundation to instead construct affordable housing for either low-income families or seniors living on small, fixed incomes. In order to smooth along the development, he's already given them all of the pricey technical studies and land surveys Lucasfilm spent years conducting. And we think that's just great. Because if there's one thing rich people will hate more than having movie magic made in their backyard, it's poor people moving in.

Mr. Lucas, we may hate you for turning your back on the original trilogy, but our hat is off to you on this one. Well played.

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JMS

JMS

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It's too bad he apparently is doing this to thumb his nose at those who opposed him.

Just want to point out that Lucas is one of the nicest guys in hollywood.

(1) he has addopted 3 kids.

(2) Is a single father.

(3) gave up from his own percentage shares in star wars to give to cast members so all would share in the sucess of the movie. His gifts extended to three of the five main characters but also included everybody down to the guy who mopped the floor of the set.

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DarrellsMyHero28

DarrellsMyHero28

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If you really look into motivations behind good deeds, you'll be disappointed.

Trust me. I've been very active in the non-profit community for 10 years now as a volunteer/intern and now AmeriCorps member. It'd be great if everyone was altruistic but that's not how most people work. We'll take our money and volunteers even if they were forced to do it.

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Forehead

Forehead

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If you really look into motivations behind good deeds, you'll be disappointed.

Trust me. I've been very active in the non-profit community for 10 years now as a volunteer/intern and now AmeriCorps member. It'd be great if everyone was altruistic but that's not how most people work. We'll take our money and volunteers even if they were forced to do it.

That might be true, and I wouldn't turn down Lucas' offer to provide housing, but I wouldn't celebrate his name nearly as loudly knowing the whole thing is out of spite.

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Larry

Larry

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If you really look into motivations behind good deeds, you'll be disappointed.

Trust me. I've been very active in the non-profit community for 10 years now as a volunteer/intern and now AmeriCorps member. It'd be great if everyone was altruistic but that's not how most people work. We'll take our money and volunteers even if they were forced to do it.

Recall reading a Mark Twain story.

Seems that the local preacher approached Twain, with a bit of an moral problem. Seems that the local moonshiner had approached the church with the intention of making a very large cash donation.

The preacher questioned the criminal's motives. He didn't seem repentant. Preacher suspected that he was simply trying to buy his way into heaven.

Twain asked if the church didn't still need a new roof.

Preacher agreed, but said that he felt it would be tainted money.

Twain's response was "You're darned right it's tainted money. It tain't yours and it tain't mine!".

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AsburySkinsFan

AsburySkinsFan

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Recall reading a Mark Twain story.

Seems that the local preacher approached Twain, with a bit of an moral problem. Seems that the local moonshiner had approached the church with the intention of making a very large cash donation.

The preacher questioned the criminal's motives. He didn't seem repentant. Preacher suspected that he was simply trying to buy his way into heaven.

Twain asked if the church didn't still need a new roof.

Preacher agreed, but said that he felt it would be tainted money.

Twain's response was "You're darned right it's tainted money. It tain't yours and it tain't mine!".

We call that "Letting God redeem the money".

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Zazzaro703

Zazzaro703

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Love it, regardless of the motivation.

Also love it, regardless of motivation.

---------- Post added May-14th-2012 at 02:50 PM ----------

Lucas seems like a monumental douche. If a commercial business was proposed in my residential neighborhood, I'd fight it too. Bet you would as well.

I was pissed when Manassas shot down Disney. They built a jail instead i think. That's what the idiots of this city deserved.

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DaveMason

DaveMason

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I'm baffled as to how anybody could think this is a dick move. It's his land, isn't it? The neighbors didn't want him to build his business there, so instead he's turning it over to real estate developers to build more houses.

I mean, what else do you want him to do with it?

The "affordable housing" part is pretty classy, if you ask me.

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No_Pressure

No_Pressure

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I am currently living in a place called Breinigsville, PA which is near Allentown and a place called Trexlertown. The point is, a while ago people here were proposed with the idea of re-zoning a massive swath of land in the area to use for manufacturing and shipping centers. This area is the nexus of 476, a major North-South connector from Philadelphia to Scranton and through there upstate NY, and 78 which leads to New York City in the east, and Harrisburg to the west.

The residents here welcomed the idea and currently, I live in a neighborhood down the road from major shipping and production centers for Amazon.com, JC Penney, B.Braun, Kraft Foods, Sharp, Coca Cola, Air Products, Nestle, and a Sam Adams Brewery just to name a few...seriously, I'm leaving out a bunch. The fact is, as someone who needed a job to hold me over for a few months it was nice living within cycling distance of all of these companies who were all willing to employ me for modest wages. Having so many large places like this around is typically thought of as an awful thing, but this area has very little crime and poverty. There is ample work which is more than can be said for many nearby places, and having lived in both Allentown and here, I would rather be here any day of the week. Drive the 15 minutes into Allentown and you'll see where all the factories were shut down decades ago. They have high crime and poverty.

I don't know any of the people from out there in California and it could just be a bunch of people who imagine that a major movie studio in their area would cause all sorts of problems, but if George Lucas came to this area and bought a crapload of land, I'm pretty sure everybody would just say "welcome".

Using low income housing as a punishment is dirty though. It sucks for people who will most certainly feel a loss in property value and it sucks for the people who are living in "that place" that everyone hates.

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fullnelson9999

fullnelson9999

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I don't know if I'm reading this right.

Lucas has owned the land for four decades? So I'm assuming he owned the land before the subdivision was built. If that's the case, those people can go screw themselves.

If the subdivision was there first, well then I still agree with Lucas. People can be so whiny.

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