Athanasia

[Aloysius]

AHA! Onwards and upwards to the formation of small Catholic pseudo-city-states!

Chesterbel Enterprises has the express purpose of building and promoting such cities to be economically distributist! (i.e. a system where owning one's own property and business is very feasible for the average citizen; consult the works of Chesterton and Belloc)

Since I was a child I was always breaking off from the main group and forming my own way. For example, after the great boy-girl schism in our cul-de-sac, I formed my own group of special-ops boys who were at war with both the boys and the girls. We were smaller than both other groups but we were better.

Now I must do it on a larger scale in service to the Church!

I personally would be content to run off and be an amateur shepherd, but God wants me to do this... I've spent hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament telling Him it's insane.. but He apparently wants me to take Mother Angelica's advice and be a "dodo" for Jesus... cause a dodo don't know it can't be done.

Who would like to join? You buy a place in a city project by either money or labor. You could also apply to start your own city project under our guidance.

[url="http://www.chesterbel.net/action/join.html"]http://www.chesterbel.net/action/join.html[/url]
(notice none of the fields are required so if all you put is an email address that at least puts us in contact with you as someone who is interested in some way.)

It ain't gonna be no paradise, at least not at the beginning :... and it ain't gonna be no tax havan... it'll be a small Catholic city self-governing because it's a group of people all living on private property and agreeing to be governed that way... probably will take the form of an old gaelic republic monarchy type deal.

Brian Patrick Aloysius Dougherty
General Operations Director- Chesterbel Enterprises
bdougherty@chesterbel.net
aloysius@chesterbel.net

[url="http://www.chesterbel.net"]http://www.chesterbel.net[/url]

[Aloysius]

This is Chesterbel Enterprises' current outline of concrete action

[quote]A. To affect the secular private sector:
    I.  Establish the business of Chesterbel Enterprises
    II.  Create profitable enterprises to sustain the business.
    III. Work on endeavors to help people own their own property and start
            their own small businesses.
    IV.  Our business manager, Matthew Kuzma, can provide more detailed
            information if you want: mkuzma@chesterbel.net

B. To affect the secular public sector:
    Use the website and business structure as a tool to support distributist   
              political action.  The business may branch out into enterprises
              such as magazine publishing to promote political policies.

C. To affect the building of our own communities:
    I.  Choose Location for building modern medieval-style walled city
    II.  Accept members under the following categories
              a. Tentative Members
                    i.  Benefactor-Members
                    ii. Labor-Members
              b. Committed Members
                    i.  Benefactor-Members
                    ii. Labor-Members
    III. Using money from benefactor members as well as any profit from
              section (A) purchase the land
    IV.  Move in labor-members to build the city.

Steps I-IV will be repeated for all city-state projects taken on throughout the country sponsored by Chesterbel Enterprises.
[/quote]

[Aloysius]

As an anthropology major, I view this somewhat as a project of applied-anthropology and applied-sociology as well

[Aloysius]

bump

:

[Carrie]

It's back...

[Aloysius]

:

yes it is! and better than ever!

[Aloysius]

no one's interested? got questions.. concerns... about the idea?

[Aloysius]

there should a least be a couple people here to tell me why it will never work! maybe that's a good sign... I've finally covered all bases and it can work!

I already have a couple sites in mind, when I have more support I will begin contacting people about it.

we may begin construction by this summer. no time to lose.

it will be hard work, but it will also be good for you. we will live in tents, and wake up at the crack of dawn every morning, not to a horn and the 'du du du du du" military music, but to "Pane Lingua" played on a pipe organ (I got it all lined up so we'll be able to do that)

you know, that's the song lyrics written by Aquinas, they play it for station identification on EWTN...

first there will be a parking garage... but not a big ugly monstrous parking grage like you see in a city.. we'll make it look halfway decent..

then we'll build the city walls and the roads within.

before we go there will be a detailed city plan so we know where to have plots for houses and where the shops and stuff will go.

hmmm... anyhoo...

I'm lookin at stuff up in the 200 acres area... that's more than enough.

hopefully I can find a location where we can have easy access to a road to go to Church on sundays. there are many good churches around here in the diocese of Pittsburgh, and I'm sure there will be enough cars among us all that everyone can have a ride. My Church of choice will be St. Boniface Latin Mass.

[journeyman]

what happened to the seagoing version?

another with the concept [url="http://www.freedomship.com/"]http://www.freedomship.com/[/url]

200 acres doesn't sound like it would be self-sufficient / self-sustaining

zoning article - [url="http://www.aswm.org/lwp/nys/cqb-rpo.htm"]http://www.aswm.org/lwp/nys/cqb-rpo.htm[/url]

discussion of development in the Galapagos - [url="http://www.aaas.org/international/ehn/biod/galo2.htm"]http://www.aaas.org/international/ehn/biod/galo2.htm[/url]

greenbelt planning - Ontario -- [url="http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_22087_1.html"]http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_22087_1.html[/url]

participatory rural development in Pakistan - [url="http://www.fao.org/sd/PPdirect/PPre0017.htm"]http://www.fao.org/sd/PPdirect/PPre0017.htm[/url]

Denman island Development Plan - [url="http://www.denmanis.bc.ca/bylaw.htm"]http://www.denmanis.bc.ca/bylaw.htm[/url]

Guiding Principals of Sustainable Design - [url="http://www.nps.gov/dsc/dsgncnstr/gpsd/toc.html"]http://www.nps.gov/dsc/dsgncnstr/gpsd/toc.html[/url]

[Aloysius]

it doesn't necessarily have to be completely self-sufficient. we're going to build many of these, this is just the first one.

but as steps towards self-sufficiency, we simply need to make deals iwth local farmers. also, we'd eventually come up with some sort of localized currency.

anyway, any project that is taken on under our sponsership is free to seek more self-sufficiency than we are going for in this first project. if they can obtain more land and farmers, good for them. we'll have to settle now for merely grabbing a peice of land to be our own and living there.

and I do one day intend to make a seastead. it's not prudent at this time, but it'd be cool of we could do it because it's the only way to declare ourselves our own completely independent nation. then if we did that, that independent nation would be a great support for all the pseudo-city-states under the jurisdiction of other nations.

I have not given up on some form of seastead like the freedom ship. I have not given up on self-sufficiency one day. but we must start here. and this is no small start, this is still quite a large endeavor that will offer stuff like simpler property availability, easier oppurtunity to own one's own means of making a living and a family-friendly environment.

that zoning laws artical is somewhat confusing... but if we bought 200 acres of land and built a medieval-style walled-city in the center of that and had a bunch of people live in that place, since it's private property we are free to trade amongst ourselves are we not? like i said-- it'll be no tax haven-- people still have to report all their transactions and stuff to the stupid IRS and the community as a whole would grudgingly pay the property taxes... but we should be able to do that.

ah well, my mother is a real estate agent, I'm sure she'll help us when the time is right. :

[philothea]

I am curious about the property ownership. Obviously, as the developer you (or your company) will buy the initial land. You mention that you want people to own their own homes and businesses. Will they buy the land from you, or a share in the business, which then comes with a portion of land?

I think the latter would be best.

Also, when you say "own" do you mean own outright, without a mortgage?

[Aloysius]

that's what I hope... outright without a mortgage, fully owned. the only thing we won't be able to get around is property tax.

to pay for your property, you offer money and/or labor towards the owning of the entire plot of land and the builidng of the city.

to attempt to free us from the red tape, it would be owned as private property solely by Chesterbel Enterprises, and yes each person living there would thus have some sort of 'share' in the company which would make them officially owners of their home within the city.

My business manager and I will be working on exactly what type of paperwork will be necessary to make this all legit.

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='Aloysius' date='Oct 6 2005, 05:55 PM']there should a least be a couple people here to tell me why it will never work!  maybe that's a good sign... I've finally covered all bases and it can work!
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What if we all think that it's so crazy, we don't know what to say? That, or everyone has slowly backed out of the room & you just haven't noticed yet...

[journeyman]

[quote name='Aloysius' date='Oct 8 2005, 04:19 PM']that's what I hope... outright without a mortgage, fully owned.  the only thing we won't be able to get around is property tax.

to pay for your property, you offer money and/or labor towards the owning of the entire plot of land and the builidng of the city. 

to attempt to free us from the red tape, it would be owned as private property solely by Chesterbel Enterprises, and yes each person living there would thus have some sort of 'share' in the company which would make them officially owners of their home within the city.

My business manager and I will be working on exactly what type of paperwork will be necessary to make this all legit.
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As long as Chesterbel remains solvent, the cooperative apartment style of ownership might work - an individual's investment (be it labor or cash) would purchase stock in the corporation - ownership of the stock entitles them to possession of a leasehold interest in a certain proportion of the land and/or its improvements

[Aloysius]

:

Cow of Shame, most good things come out of crazy schemes.

If you're interested: [url="http://www.chesterbel.net/action/join.html"]http://www.chesterbel.net/action/join.html[/url]

if you select "tentative", there's no obligation and you don't even necessarily need to fill out all the personal info (though without an email address or some way of contacting you it will be completely and utterly useless)

I don't expect a lot of committed members yet, but we need a feel for the possible tentative members.

[photosynthesis]

[quote]"We are searching for men to be farmers, merchants, craftsmen, carpenters, architects, artisans, and any other trade to join us in our desire to build a new Christendom for the twentieth century.  By coordinating different groups to buy small plots of land and then build upon them residences and markets, we can build pseudo-city-states.  They would be classified as private property and thus quasi-governments over each could be formed, preferably taking the form of an old gaelic monarchial republic."[/quote]

so i guess it's men only? darn.

[journeyman]

I don't think Aloyisius thinks his community will be so spartan that it is limited to men . . . most of his concepts are open to all genders

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='photosynthesis' date='Oct 9 2005, 05:35 PM']so i guess it's men only?  darn.
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maybe they're paired up with one of those Russian bride services...discount deals when ordering in bulk...

[photosynthesis]

teehee! they could have mass weddings!

[Aloysius]

trad-english 101: man (n)= a human (adj) being (n) :