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You are Invited to Be a Pain in the Neck.
The city invites me to pontificate on the remodeling work of one of my neighbors.
The neighbor in question lives a few blocks away. He (or she) wants to do some remodeling, and the city asks if I want to prattle on about it at a hearing that will appear on the public access cable station. A chance to be a star!
Here's the memo:
TO: Property owners within 350 feet of (stated address)
Applicant: (Name of remodeling company)
Request: A variance of 1 percent to the maximum lot coverage of 20 percent for a four season porch.
Time of hearing: ( )
Place of hearing: City Hall Council Chambers (address given)
How to participate:
1. You may attend hearings and testify.
2. You may send a letter before the hearing to the Community Development Department (address given) or fax to (number given)
I got not one, but two copies of this memo, meaning that as a taxpayer I paid twice, not only for postage but for staff time. I have no idea why I got two copies; they came to the same address, and I own only one parcel of land in the city.
More importantly, if my neighbor wants to update and improve his house, great! He certainly doesn't need my permission. If he's running a meth lab out of the porch, I would be concerned.
But exceeding some arbitrary ratio for lot coverage? Going from 20 to 21 percent? When the said porch can logically go in one place--the back yard, where I won't even see it on those rare days I drive or walk in that direction?
Spare me.
Local government offers too many opportunities for busybodies.
(permalink)
"Justice Louis D. Brandeis'?s metaphor of the states as "laboratories" for policy experiments ... had almost nothing to do with federalism and everything to do with his commitment to scientific socialism. .... To this day, it continues to inhibit a truly experimental, federalist politics." -- Michael S. Greve
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