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Ave Maria Florida

CrossHair

Thinker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Messages
156
I just saw an article that Domino's Piza magnate Tom Monaghan is creating (created?) a town/university in Florida called 'Ave Maria' in which the inhabitants must adhere to a strick Catholic life-style. How is this to be enforced I wonder? Anyone for the Florida Inquisition?
Seems as if another Billionaire is trying to buy their way to heaven.
 
How is this to be enforced I wonder?
Well, you can't enforce private behavior inside homes of course. But the idea is that Monaghan (or a trusteeship) will own all the commercial real estate in the town and restrict what may be sold through crafting leases. Not just no dirty section at the video store, but no contraceptives at the pharmacy. At least that's how Monaghan apparently sees it, based on speeches he's made. His development partner seems to think more along the lines of 'well, we'll just market it as a conservative Catholic community and it wll become one by self-selection.' Meanwhile, Ave Maria Law School, which seems to be something of a success early in its life, is hopping mad about the prospect of being moved from Ann Arbor, MI down to the Naples area. Stay tuned for many more chapters in this soap opera.
 
I just saw an article that Domino's Piza magnate Tom Monaghan is creating (created?) a town/university in Florida called 'Ave Maria' in which the inhabitants must adhere to a strick Catholic life-style. How is this to be enforced I wonder? Anyone for the Florida Inquisition?
Seems as if another Billionaire is trying to buy their way to heaven.

Considering city-sized chunks of Florida already require you to be over 55 years of age to live there, this kind of thing is a non-issue. And that's the legally enforceable kind of discrimination - the unofficial kind is just as prevalent. At least this clown is going through the motions of making it official and buying his own land.
 
Can we make it mandatory that fundymentalists move there? Oh.. wow.. its just like heaven. So many fundies, so very far away. :mdance:
 
I just saw an article that Domino's Piza magnate Tom Monaghan is creating (created?) a town/university in Florida called 'Ave Maria' in which the inhabitants must adhere to a strick Catholic life-style. How is this to be enforced I wonder? Anyone for the Florida Inquisition?
Seems as if another Billionaire is trying to buy their way to heaven.

This is a version neo-feudalism. He is trying to set himself up as a dictator of a pseudo city-state unaccountable to the American constitution. It is fundamentally un-American and I think it makes a good argument against the ownership of private property (and I support private property). I predict his catholic utopia won't remain so for 5 years, if not, we should bomb it.

Can you post the article you read? Is it the one in Slate?
 
This is a version neo-feudalism. He is trying to set himself up as a dictator of a pseudo city-state unaccountable to the American constitution. It is fundamentally un-American and I think it makes a good argument against the ownership of private property (and I support private property). I predict his catholic utopia won't remain so for 5 years, if not, we should bomb it.

Can you post the article you read? Is it the one in Slate?

Tony, there are thousands of such communities there right now. I described them above. I used to live in one, in fact. Hated them myself.

I recommend you fuel up the Tony-1 Tactical Bomber, 'cuz you're gonna be busy for a while... even without this guy's Catholicville.
 
Considering city-sized chunks of Florida already require you to be over 55 years of age to live there, this kind of thing is a non-issue. And that's the legally enforceable kind of discrimination - the unofficial kind is just as prevalent. At least this clown is going through the motions of making it official and buying his own land.
For the record, the active-adult communities by and large also buy their own land before building the housing. They were created by law basically so that geezers wouldn't have to live with a bunch of damn kids crossing their lawns. Used to be that it was required that a community seeking exemption from the fair housing laws had to have all kinds of things like wide sidewalks and community centers and a minimum plaid pants penetration (not 100% sure on that last one). Now they pretty much just have to say "we're an active-adult community" and sell 80% of their units to people who have at least one person older than 55 in the household.
 
This new development was in the news last week here in Orlando. The news story was that the businesses that setup in this new community are being highly encouraged, not to sell contraceptives of any sort.

I kinda like the idea of a community exclusively for Catholics. At least I know places where to avoid.

Charlie (kinda like Celebration Florida) Monoxide
 
These people are conservative Catholics, not fundamentalists.

You got that right. For the South, conservative Catholics are nowhere NEAR fundie. You gotta slip on over to the Pentacostals' church and handle a few serpents before you even approach the fringe of southern fundie.
 
The article I read mentioned that previous Supreme Court cases has ruled that proprietorship of a town does not convey the level of control this guy seems to want to wield. I'm not familiar with those cases...is anybody?
 
The article I read mentioned that previous Supreme Court cases has ruled that proprietorship of a town does not convey the level of control this guy seems to want to wield. I'm not familiar with those cases...is anybody?

If it's not too much trouble or hard to find, could you post the article you read?
 
If it's not too much trouble or hard to find, could you post the article you read?

Found it.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2058771,00.html

Monaghan has argued that the owners of the town’s commercial properties will be free to impose conditions in leases — notably the restriction on the sale of contraceptives. But that has been challenged by Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Simon said the US Supreme Court had already ruled “ownership [of a town] does not always mean absolute dominion”. “If he wants to build a town and encourage like-minded people to come and live there, that’s fine. We get into problems where he tries to exercise governmental authority.”
 
I think I've already made this joke but here it goes anyway: wanna make a quick buck? Install a vid store with a XXX section, a pharmacy selling birth control and an abortion clinic outside county lines.
 
The thing I find most alarming of all is the quality of Domino's Pizza to start with. How on earth did such pizza manage to garner enough wealth for this person to purchase a single land lot, much less a whole town? He must have acquired his fortune in some other fashion. Perhaps Domino's Pizza is nothing but a front for money-laundering, or maybe if you order one with the correct code words they'll deliver crack and heroin to your door. I simply cannot believe people are willing to eat Domino's Pizza.
 
The thing I find most alarming of all is the quality of Domino's Pizza to start with. How on earth did such pizza manage to garner enough wealth for this person to purchase a single land lot, much less a whole town? He must have acquired his fortune in some other fashion. Perhaps Domino's Pizza is nothing but a front for money-laundering, or maybe if you order one with the correct code words they'll deliver crack and heroin to your door. I simply cannot believe people are willing to eat Domino's Pizza.

No kidding. Domino's tastes like cardboard with tomato sauce.
 

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