Assessment Oddity, City Highways

Reading the minutes of my neighborhood association meeting led me to notice that the appraised value of my house actually went down (from 110K to 95K) but the value of the land went up (from 55K to 100K). This is because lots of people buying houses in my neighborhood are immediately tearing them down to build something else, so the city has concluded that the land is worth more than the house.

I suppose I had better not lower my homeowner's insurance or flood insurance, though--I bet it's not suddenly a little bit cheaper to rebuild.

In other news, TXDOT is thinking about removing some more entrance and exit ramps from I-35. Incomprehensible. If you don't want anyone to get on and off your freeway in town, then don't build it through a city.

Some people think highways don't belong cities. They have a point--highways are hard to cross, like rivers and even railroad tracks. However, I love highways in cities. Because then I can quickly get to other parts of the city. Unless I have to drive next to the highway the whole time stopping at all the poorly timed traffic lights (the only kind of traffic lights our city knows how to make anymore).