Ok... Who started the fire?

[sniglet]

It's confession time... Which Seattle bubblehead started the fire? The statistics of rising inventory and declining prices are scary enough in the Puget Sound. You didn't have to actually go and torch the icons to northwest McMansiondom!

[david_mcmanus]

Even though, I can't stand the "street of materialistic dreams", I am 100% against what the ELF stands for and their terrorist practices. Find them and put em in jail.

[femto]

I wouldn't leap to conclusions yet about this being an act by ELF. They seem like an easy cover, and in the current environment there are many groups that could have either hostile feelings towards a homebuilder, or a direct financial incentive to disrupt the project. If it is in fact ELF I would expect them to attempt to claim responsibility.

[david_mcmanus]

Uhh...well they left a sign at the fire with ELF on it. Is that good enough?

Photo courtesy of the Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/ ... 256663.jpg

[jillayne]

When I woke up this morning and heard about the fire, my reaction was the same as femtos.

After I dropped my kids off at school, I heard an update on the radio that it was last year's Street of Dreams, and that none of the homes had sold.

I would hope that the investigators wouldn't just blindly pin this on the ELF, even though they seem to be taking credit, and instead, take a look at how much the builder/developers were underwater financially.

[femto]

[Cougar]

Have cyber-terrorists attacked the eco-terrorists?

It appears so, based on a look at the Earth Liberation Front Web site, which should be getting a lot of traffic today after the group was implicated in the arson of a luxury Street of Dreams housing development near Seattle.

The apparently authentic Earth Liberation Front Web sites appear to be a mix of content about eco-terrorism and Viagra.

The meta title of the homepage is even "Viagra Sample Pack - Free Viagra Sample," which could reflect some misguided attempt to capture Web traffic from poor old men most likely uninterested in radical environmental terrorism. The "links" navigation at the top of the page links directly to a full page Viagra ad, and there are Viagra ads all over the site.

The domain appears to be for sale, but that doesn't explain who is maintaining the site now.

From The Daily Green.

So who and what was the motive behind torching these unsold homes?

[Ubersalad]

Everyone should do their homework first...

None of the houses were sold, and all of these builders are having trouble staying afloat.

Fishy? I would think so.

[Ubersalad]

If ELF indeed had something to do with this, I think they actually HELPED the builders.

[ira s]

....And if the builders actually are responsible for the fires, would they leave a sheet spray painted with ' We did it". Signed, The Builders.?
No. They would pay some thugs to do it and have them leave a spray painted sheet.

[perfectfire]

[SeattleMoose]

Highly suspicious to say the least.....the ELF "sign" is about as convincing as the terrorist passport "found" at ground zero of the WTC.

I expect that this is just the start of what will be a "hot summer" of multiple "ELF events".

[rose-colored-coolaid]

All these conspiracy theorists! Look at the facts. They have fewer homes to sell, the sold home was undamaged, and the remaining unsold homes have fresh publicity again half a year after they were last in the news. I just don't see a motive here.

Besides, it makes perfect sense that ELF would wait until the street of dreams was empty and completely forgotten about before acting.

[The Tim]

[david_mcmanus]

If the builders really did this, I have to say, if the feds are involved, their life is now officially.....well, you know :p