Worth 150 Million - But he won't fix his roof - has blue tarp over it

[RamboLiberal]

Wayne and Yvonne Bragg live next door to the Ladera Heights home owned by multimillionaire Edward Wedbush. Neighbors have been complaining about Wedbush's rotting, tarp-covered roof for years. (Mel Melcon, Los Angeles Times / November 16, 2010)

He built the largest stock brokerage in Los Angeles, and his name adorns one of the city's most distinctive high-rises. He's worth tens of millions of dollars.

So why can't Edward Wedbush manage to fix his roof?

The peeling shingles atop his one-story stucco house in Ladera Heights are covered in blue and black tarpaulin. The bandaged roof has been an eyesore for years in a neighborhood of carefully tended mid-century homes.

Neighbors say they've written letters, passed along bids from contractors and even lined up buyers for the home, all to no avail. The tarps remain. The 78-year-old Wedbush occasionally climbs onto the roof in bathrobe and slippers to rearrange them, neighbors say.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wedbush-20101116,0,6677554.story

Bet the neighbors will be glad when this guy kicks off. This guy is definitely compulsively frugal where I'd bet it's a bit of a mental illness! Yet maybe this guy could teach the casino dealers on Wall Street a lesson! But fix your damn roof!

[AC_Mem]

1. wtf?

I bet if someone poor did this they would be hauled into court.

It does seem like it would have to be mental illness, but wouldn't you think the guy would have some family that would step in and take care of this?

[somone]

2. He didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks

that's for sure.

[RamboLiberal]

3. Well on the good boss thing

He does have some disputes with some employees, like the one he took stock back from after it was supposedly a gift.

[Fuzz]

4. My wife's grandmother once gave one pair of socks to her AND her sister for christmas,

and she's freakin' loaded! Still living too at 94.

[Safetykitten]

5. "Horders", now "Tarpers". New A&E show exposes...

[Mimosa]

6. He's passive-aggressive but he has no right to do stuff which lowers neighbourhood property values.

[JI7]

7. i just don't htink it's that bad, some of the things that other wealthy people

do that is actually supposed to look good is a lot uglier.

[Kat45]

8. I haven't had a 'real' job for two years and I just fixed my roof.

It's what you do.

[RamboLiberal]

10. Tell me about it - I had to cash in a dormant IRA at the penalty

To fix about $10,000 worth of roofs.

[Bryn]

9. I recall a true story years ago about a homeless woman

She was in her 80's. When she died dollars bills were found sewn on inside her old coat worth $80,000!!

[Historic NY]

11. We had an old guy with a historic building did it for years....

at least 30yrs. He put tarp after tarp up on it. He thought he could get restoration funding (not)private residence. Well, one day the rains kept coming and coming and finally the rafters started giving away to the point his wires, screws, ropes would no longer hold them together. I was called in as the building was old, I'd say a historic curiosity late 1870's. He thought if he changed things it would no longer be historic. My answer was, even in the old days people fixed up their homes, if they didn't we wouldn't have many that survived. If the house falls apart its not worth anything. He had a crew there to removed and replaced the entire roof structure. He thought preserving meant doing nothing. Had I not intervened the building which was condemned for habitation would have been torn down.

[LiberalAndProud]

12. Talk about a character.

The guy spends $500 a month to treat his employees with a pizza lunch. That's really generous for such a frugal man. From the article, I kind of like him. I wish he'd fix his roof, though.

[tomm2thumbs]

13. Has anyone had a nice conversation with him, to try to understand why he lives that way?

he may have a rational reason (in his mind), and would be easier to convince if you knew his thinking. not saying he shouldn't fix it, but he appears to have talked himself into a good reason not to, and it would be interesting to know the premise.

[KT2000]

14. Seattle had a guy like that

He was worth mil.ions and he bought up downtown buildings and let them rot. He would not spend a dime on them and they sat empty. His buildings brought down the neighborhoods. He lived on the other side of the state in rather rundown conditions.

[SoCalDem]

15. Where are the "code Nazis"?

In OUR neighborhood. they threatened to fine us $300 if we did not "landscape"..

We rototilled & seeded & had to get them to OKAY it.

If people put their trash cans out too early, they get a write up..

[TorchTheWitch]

16. We have Lawn Maintenance Police too

I had 24 hours to cut my not very high grass or be fined yet the drug dealers across the street are still there.

[Rex]

17. Bullshit.

Does he actually live there? WTF does he do all day? I smell doggy doo on the porchstep.