What is it with Connecticut? Maybe you remember the state for producing the city council famous for advancing the erosion of property rights in America: the infamous Kelo case. After the "Supremes" confirmed the collectivist State (in this case, the City) as the real owner of all property, and private property rights subject to whimsical dismissal when a higher-paying taxable entity (a store, a hospital, etc) may simply steal the land from a lowly citizen, everyone sensed that the downward spiral was spinning just a little faster for the American republic. Yet Connecticut, once part of the America that fought a revolution against taxation without representation now seems to be the leader in "property seizure by fiat" on the scale that even King George hadn't considered.

Ok, the point: According to the industry's smartest sleuth, Frank Cook of the Real Estate Intelligence Report (www.reintel.com), the city of Trumbull, CT is considering limiting the number of "unrelated individuals" who can rent an apartment together. Apparently, Trumbull, whose rental sector has traditionally catered to the college student population (of which there are 7 Universities wihtin 20 miles), now has residents worried that the city will become "one big dormitory." So the Planning and Zoning Commission is trying to pass a regulation limiting the number of unrelated individuals in apartments to "two per rental." Note: They had originally thought to limit it to "three" but according to Cook, the Commission thought that it "was too liberal and cut the number to two."

And once again, the City (the State) uses its awesome power to steal property from rightful owners. With the swish of a pen, hundreds of landlords may have their right to own - and use - their property in any way they deem fit abrogated by yet another Commission of local busybodies.

Rather than have a big dormitory in their town, the Commission apparently prefers to create blocks of uninhabited, run-down buildings. Why should they be run-down? Why uninhabited? Perhaps because it's unlikely that two people could afford the rents (which aren't set on a whim by the landlord but reflect the needs to maintain the building and generate a profit). With only two potential renters, either the rents have to go down (at which point the owners will go out of business) or the buildings must go down, in quality, repair and safety. Brilliant, that Comimssion, wouldn't you say?

Not to mention the hundreds of other businesses in the area that will likely close up, too, without all the students nearby. Not much need for local pizza shops, if 1/3 of the population has moved to other towns. Neither will there be need for barber shops, clothes stores, music stores, movie theaters or other places that any large population with a substantial amount of disposable income might frequent. And the residents will get exactly what they want: a nice quiet downtown, where they can stroll in total silence alongside empty storefront after empty storefront, with plenty of seating available on the downtown bus, no longer crowded by students.

Of course, a look into the likely future and maybe the residents will wonder why things didn't turn out like they planned. After they pushed the students to live in other towns nearby - nicely driving up the property prices and values over there - the locals had to raise their own taxes, as the "bad" apartment landlords closed their buildings and couldn't pay their taxes. No money, either, from all those closed shops. And with higher taxes, who's likely to move in? And so the quiet, non-dormitory city will watch as its property values plummet; as first-time buyers (who were renting earlier in the college year) buy their first-time homes in neighboring cities.

All of this during a time when "real estate is in crisis" - when everyone's upset that the market has stalled. And of course, when the residential sales market stalls, what soars? Rentals, of course. But not in Trumbull. That city's reaction to the real estate crisis is to destroy both ends of the marketplace: ruining the rental market while poisioning the future first-time home-buyer pool. Wow, that's a formula that even an Argentinian Dictator couldn't have planned better. And yet, not a peep from the REALTORS. Once again, radio silence. Kinda like Kelo. Creepy.

Well, who cares, right? I mean, it's just a bunch of suburbians, living their suburbia life in Trumbull. They want their town to be quiet. Unspoiled by evening revelers or student shoppers. They want their streets uncluttered by college parking; and Sunday afternoons unspoiled by sports broadcasts coming from nearby windows. Just like another place city planners might be thinking of: a place where it's always quiet, never too many people nearby. and the rent is usually paid for: "In Perpetuity"