From a letter to a columnist:: "Dear Greg: The city of Casselberry has passed and is enforcing a new code requiring anyone with a vehicle that has racks on it that can carry pipe, hoses, etc., to park their vehicles in a garage or under a carport. Many homes in Casselberry have neither. I'm a plumber. If I don't have my van, I won't have a job. My neighbor received a citation to remove his racks or pay a $250-a-day fine. Casselberry is full of working-class people who have the right to work to provide for their families.
Mark Long, Casselberry
Dear Mark: According to City Manager Barbara Lipscomb, Casselberry also has lots of people who are concerned about growing 'commercial intrusion' in residential areas, which are 'not supposed to be industrial parking lots,' she said. The new code, part of a complete revision of the city parking plan, is meant to eliminate the 'disproportionate' number of trucks such as yours from neighborhoods. That's a legitimate agenda, but here's the problem: The city has no provision for granting variances to the new code, or grandfathering residents who were there before it was adopted by the City Commission. I'm no lawyer, but I covered lots of planning and zoning, and a law with no possibility of appeal is asking for trouble from a judge. Also keep keep in mind that anything done by the City Commission can be undone with enough pressure from taxpayers. Convoy?"
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Thanks to Beth Young for this. I have been posting items like this for some time. In HOA-heavy areas of the nation, you see cities doing the same things HOAs have been doing. Is this because the culture has changed in these areas?
5 comments:
It sounds like this municipality has contracted the HOA virus. You know the one that eliminates the common sense and integrity portion of the brain and replaces it with ineptness, confusion and irresponsibility for financial gain. That’s evidenced by the inability to understand definitions like light commercial or industrial. Or understand the definition concepts of variance or grandfathering which are common in most municipal ordinances.
Finally their is good news, like a cancer it can be removed and their is a cure, its called citizen participation, transparency and accountability.
If this is "commercial intrusion" when someone drives their vehicle home to "not work", then surely it be a commercial intrusion whenever any homeowner had to have work done at their home or to receive a package via UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc. at their home? Certainly that is the business that UPS, FedEx, and all service techs are in.
To be intellectual honest, the city should try mandating that no delivery or service trucks are permitted in the neighborhood in order to "preserve" the residential area. See how long that lasts.
This is little more than discrimination against tradespeople in city limits. Apparently you are permitted to work their during the day, but you are not permitted to live there. It's economic snobbery institutionalized by a city no less. Perhaps the city will soon be dictating which brand of vehicle you are permitted to display as well.
Why is it a "legitimate agenda" to eliminate this homeowners truck from the neighborhood?
"It sounds like this municipality has contracted the HOA virus."
HOA Virus - Fascism and Communism rolled into one government.
Seems to me that this is a problem with ALL layers of government in this country, particularly including the Imperial Federal Government.
If the cities are going to act like HOAs, why don't we just get rid of the HOAs?
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