Has anyone given thought to insurance fraud? Many Millions have been spent on these homes and not a one of them has sold. The builders are losing money on them everyday with the housing market in the dumps. Pretty easy to make a sign to point the finger of blame at ELF. They've been in the news lately- coincidently. Why wouldn't they of burned them prior to completion to make a point? Funny they've sitting empty for months. Look at the builders.

I am a little confused. Are these new Street of Dreams homes being built for 2008 summer's display?

Or was it the homes that were the 2007 Street of Dreams?

Nevermind. I just clicked on the link and evidently it was the 2007 Street of Dreams meaning the homes were all finished and furnished and have been sitting there empty(??) since last summer.

This is most certainly going to be insurance fraud by the owners, how obvious.

I'm sure the rich white men who own the homes have paid off all of their cronies at the fire department already though, so they'll get away with it.

ELF or owners (which is quite doubtful) need to be impaled on spikes in a public Seattle square, doused with gasoline, and set afire as an example.

Come on Rich...it could very well be insurance fraud...but to stereotype is WAY OFF base and unwarranted...not to mention, racist. There is nothing wrong with being rich as long as it was done legally, no matter what color you are. Anyone, yes ANYONE can be wealthy if they want it bad enough and are WILLING to WORK for it. Obviously you are too busy blaming the "rich white man" and are too jealous about it to do something productive and useful with all that negative energy.

If they DO find the perpetrators, I hope they go to jail for a very VERY long time.

It’s really terrible but unfortunatell according to Fox News no one was hurt but rebuilt will cost of $7 million!!

It doesn't matter who owns the homes that were destroyed, or for that matter, what color their skin or what's in their bank account. Bottom line is that arsonist(s) destroyed something that did not belong to them. It is a sad day in our community if arson becomes justified. I don't relate to the mentality or non-mentality of destroying something that isn't yours.

I think it is sad that if environmentalist burned down homes, due to lack of their percieved "Green" building practices, that they are contributing to the waste they are trying to get consumers to pay personal attention to. It will be unlikely that any would be punished.

Conversly if it turns out to be insurance fraud, those responsible will be punished.

So who has the double standard any more?

It can't be environmentally friendly to burn plastic, insulation, wood, etc... Does anyone know a way we can estimate the amount of pollutants caused by this fire?

ELF the Elves!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Street of Dreams Home ‘Copper Falls’ Has Fallen.

(Press Statement from Alan Mascord Design Associates Inc.—Residental Designer of the Copper Falls home featured in the 2007 Seattle Street of Dreams, and destroyed by arson this morning)

“As residential designers of the Copper Falls home featured in the Seattle Street of Dreams which was destroyed by fire earlier this morning, we are very disappointed by the events that took place in the name of the environment. Destruction by arson not only destroys the homes set ablaze, but negatively impacts the surrounding environment, puts lives in danger, and destroys resources.

Events such as these deeply pain us — both as proponents of environmental stewardship and as authors of Mascord Efficient Living — in which the Copper Falls home plan is showcased and its eco-friendly features discussed.

Our aim as designers has been to educate builders and consumers about the environmental impact of the homes they choose to build —and offer alternate choices and methods of reducing the impact of construction. Our book, with foreword written by Sarah Susanka, author of the Not-So-Big series of books — is part of that education philosophy.

The Copper Falls home, built for the Street of Dreams and destroyed in this morning’s arson attack incorporated many environmentally-friendly features. In addition, the organizers of the Seattle Street of Dreams, along with the Built Green program, were doing a fantastic job of educating people and promoting green building to the masses.

Burning homes to the ground is nothing short of terrorism, and does nothing to promote environmental stewardship.”

About Alan Mascord Design Associates
Since 1983, Alan Mascord Design Associates, Inc. has been designing custom homes, stock home plans, and providing marketing and technical support to clients – and hundreds of homebuilders nationwide. By balancing architectural perfection with the need to be practical, award-winning home designer Alan Mascord has assembled a creative team with the talent to identify trends in American home styles and the skills to translate them into designs that are beautiful, efficient and easy to build. Mascord’s designs have gained national attention gracing the covers of magazines such as Builder, Better Homes & Gardens® and House Beautiful.

So, isn't ELF in court now for the UW fire as well...busy little eco-terrorists aren't they? I just love how they think burning buildings, homes, cars etc is a great way to get their message across! Thanks for jacking up my insurance in the process...and hey, thanks for endangering the fire fighters as well....ELF - extremly lazy farts (due to blogging rules I will use farts instead of something else)! Come out and debate like real people do....oh, wait...that would mean putting down the pot your are growing hydroponically and making an effort in society....my bad!

That's great.. saving the world from pollutants by creating more pollutants..

from the burning materials in the structures,

to the fuel needed to bring the emergency response, the media and the curious to the location

They are responsible for a HUGE carbon footprint on the environment.

way to go, dumbasses

you are what you hate.

Yea burn down "GReen Built" homes and some of the forest so more materials can be used to rebuild them. ELF are a bunch of punks and cowards. Don;t like SUV's, burn them and the dealership. They just rebuilt the dealership and bought more SUV's. Burn down the UW building because you don't like the research on fast growing geneticly altered poplar trees? They're trying to get trees to grow faster, what's the propblem? Oh trees can only come from the tradtional seed falls in the forest and sprouts. I'm surprised they aren't burning down reforesting projects. Take these rich little suburbanites and lock there vegan ass up and see how they survive in Walla Walla that is if mommy and daddy can't hire a good lawyer and get them off. I bet they made it back for class at Evergreen today.

I would put these people in the same class as the groups that burn down abortion clinics.

4500 Sq. Ft. Luxury Home- $2,000,000

8 Months on the market without an offer-$0

4 gallons of gasoline, 1-can of spray paint and piece of cardboard-$16

Insurance check to save your @ss- PRICELESS

Jimmy:

a huge investment like this would weather a down housing market just fine, and they'd make their pretty penny in the long run. (and they know it)

nice try diverting the responsibility, tho

ELF you are mentally challenged. Thanks for creating more pollution MORONS!

I talked to some one today that said there friend installed the landscaping there just went back last week to remove two $5000 maples because he had not been paid yet! Looks to me like someone went back to remove what they had done i guess they will get paid now or even twice because someone will have to rebuild them!

The upper end of the real estate market is far less prone to market swings then the real estate most of us might buy.
Anyone stupid enough to burn a building for insurance (a federal offense) is going to have to be even stupider to post an ELF sign and gaurantee ATF/FBI gets put in the spotlight during the investigation.
More obviously, there -is- an ELF and they -do- have a criminal history of killing people with spiked trees and burning down expensive infrastructure across the US and right here in Seattle. Put down your Marxist classism, it's blinding you. bk425

ELF does not really practice what they preach. Their actions cause more pollution, uses more materials, deprives charities of much needed money etc. I believe that they also let minks out of their cages so that instead of being humanly killed, they could be hit by cars, starve to death or be mauled to death by large animals. Obviously they think that torture is a better way for animals to die.

Most arson fires are set by the owners and 85% of them get away with it. I have seen it with my own eyes living down at Alki way back when owners of a condo didn't like the design and burned it down, nearly losing my home to their greed. I took some pictures while it was on fire and gave them to the ATF. They told me this info, but did not confirm the owners did it. The ATF liked my pictures. Just a note to all those who believe the sign was real. It's easy to make a sign like that and hire someone to torch your home.

"deprives charities of much needed money" -- WTF!!

"they also let minks out of their cages" -- lets lock you in a cage for the rest of your life.

I am not advocating arson...but the small amount of pollution caused by burning these houses down is nothing compared to pollution they would have created over the next 50 years. These houses were on septic right next to wetlands and an aquifer.

The street of dreams fire was a classic insurance scam. The builders knew they couldn’t sell an overpriced house in the suburbs in the falling market. So they torched the house on the eve of the ELF trial so everyone would make the logical connection. They collect the insurance money and ELF gets the blame. The truth will come out soon. The FBI knows that they have effectively shut ELF down and they couldn’t possibly have carried out this attack.