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Plans to repurpose former Americana come before city

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CLOSE The Americana Lodge in downtown Redding , California, closed in January after hundreds of alleged code and safety violations , and now The Hignell Companies hopes to repurpose the building. Wochit Architectural renderings of the proposed remodeling project to turn the closed Americana Lodge into The Lofts. (Photo: Russell Studio) Plans to convert the shuttered Americana Lodge in downtown Redding to apartments come before the city Wednesday afternoon . The project has been hailed as a catalyst for the area since The Hignell Companies of Chico announced it was purchasing the former motel late last year. Hignell would transform the property between Pine and Market streets into 24 one-bedroom and 20 studio apartment units that would average between 400 and 500 square feet of floor space. At least four of the apartments would be set aside for very-low and low-income renters. The Redding Board of Administrative Review will consider Hignell’s site development permit application ...

David v Goliath in the beautiful British countryside

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Joel Hopkin's latest film, based on a true story, meanders along with a mildly pleasant mediocrity . A scene from Hampstead, 2017 Hampstead, 2017 Starring: Diane Keaton, Brendon Gleeson, James Norton, Lesley Manville Directed by Joel Hopkins  Running time: 103 minutes (PG) One lone man daring to interfere with the evil plans of the rich and powerful: it’s not exactly a new angle, but there are a few scraps of satisfaction to be found in Joel Hopkin’s latest film,  Hampstead  – just not in the realm of originality. It’s a sleepy story that meanders along with a mildly pleasant mediocrity . If you felt like switching your brain off and staring at the beautiful British countryside , this could be worth a view.  In the latest performance from acclaimed actors Diane Keaton (playing Emily) and Brendan Gleeson ( playing Donald ), we learn about hermit Harry Hallowes – a real person who in 2007 won squatter’s rights to the land he’d been self-sufficiently living on in London’s upmark...

Houston's Trailer Parks Offer Cheap Housing, But Leave Residents Vulnerable

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Duval Mobile Home Park in southeast Houston has 182 lots." />EXPAND The Duval Mobile Home Park in southeast Houston has 182 lots. Stephen Paulsen Elizabeth Perez loves her trailer park . But if she's ever forced to move, at least she has a back-up plan. A chatty 45-year-old with a wide smile, Perez has lived at and managed the Trinity Duval Mobile Home Park in southeast Houston since 2008. Used mobile homes here typically sell for $12,000 to $38,000, depending on their size and condition, she says. She remembers one woman buying a home for just $2,000, using her IRS refund. The Duval Mobile Home Park first opened in the 1950s. It was purchased last year by Trinity Community Group , a trailer park management company — and Perez worried about the future of the park. “I kept thinking, ‘Shoot, they're going to want to tear it down,’” Perez said. “I was kind of scared.” The company promised it would keep the park operational , according to Perez. Still, Perez accepts...

Carl Icahn’s Failed Raid on Washington

One day in August, 2016, the financier Carl Icahn made an urgent phone call to the Environmental Protection Agency . Icahn is one of the richest men on Wall Street, and he has thrived, in no small measure, because of a capacity to intimidate. A Texas- based oil refiner in which he had a major stake was losing money because of an obscure environmental rule that Icahn regarded as unduly onerous. Icahn is a voluble critic of any government regulation that constrains his companies. So he wanted to speak with the person in charge of enforcing the policy: a senior official at the E.P.A. named Janet McCabe . Icahn works from a suite of offices, atop the General Motors Building , in midtown, that are decorated in the oak-and-leather fashion of a tycoon’s lair in a nineteen-eighties film. During that decade, Icahn made his reputation as one of the original corporate raiders , pioneering the art of the hostile takeover and establishing himself as a human juggernaut—a pugnacious deal machine ...