When you have that much money, you become accustomed to having your way. And he's only doing what too many of the rest of us do, except on a grander scale. He's like the guy who cuts you off on the highway and flips the bird at you and screams silently behind his rolled up window when you honk at him. He doesn't consider himself part of the community. He considers himself entitled.
History repeats itself, and the stupidities of our unraveling culture do, too.
Last week, somebody further down Bayshore pulled a move out of the baron's playbook. The only obstacle this time was an ancient oak. It stands where the house was going to go, and the city of Tampa, in a burst of sense, said the Smiths couldn't tear it down. The struggle went on for months, until last week. Hours after the city council said no again, the Smiths hired a tree man to give the oak the arboreal version of a military buzz cut.