Bronx Man Pays $160K for Uninhabitable Island in His Backyard
Alex Schibli, a retired Port Authority worker, ponied up $160,000 at auction for Rat Island, a private island off the coast of New York City. What's this guy want with a two-acre piece of rock he can't even live on?
Rat Island is off the coast of City Island, which is part of the Bronx, and Schibli can see the rock from his house. Well, most of the time, because the "island" totally disappears under water at high tide. So this guy had $160K lying around the house to buy what is essentially the world's most expensive lawn ornament and he can't even see it all the time? We need to switch careers, because obviously these Port Authority workers are just raking it in.
Schibli says he already felt like the island was his because he can see it from his house and kayaks to it frequently. He just wanted to preserve it and keep it natural for future generations, which is a nice gesture. The one thing he doesn't want to preserve is the name. We can understand why. I'd go all HGTV on it and call it Water Feature Island. Any suggestions for what it should be?