It’s your fault and my fault, friends.
I just spoke to a very nice lady in the city planning department. Here’s an approximation of our conversation:
Me: “I have a question about the permit required to build a fence. Could you explain to me what I’m paying for? I reviewed the city fee schedule, and it says fees are for ’services provided,’ so I’d like to know what service I am receiving in conjunction with the $43 fee.”
Her: “Well, we make sure the fence you build is in the right place, and is properly set back from the road, and isn’t too tall, that kind of thing.”
Me: “I see. Do you do that only based on the drawing I submit with the application, or is it actually inspected?”
Her: “We initially approve the work based on the drawing, and then when you call us to say it’s complete, I send Mike out there and he does a visual inspection. If it all looks good, then we issue your zoning certificate.”
Me: “Interesting. Well, that’s all I needed to know for now, thanks.”
Her: “Let me add something – the reason we do fences now is because that’s the number one complaint we receive.”
Me: “You mean from neighbors, or…”
Her: “Yep. It’s on your neighbor’s property, or it’s too tall, or whatever. People kept complaining to the city, so we created a permit and inspection process for it. It hasn’t always been that way. It wasn’t even that way when I started working here.”
Me: “That’s very enlightening. Thank you for sharing that little tidbit. Funny how people want to bring in the government to deal with the problems they don’t want to deal with, huh?”
Her: “Yeah, it really is.”
Me: “I grew up out in the country, and I remember my dad putting up a fence with the neighbor. They just went and worked on it together. I’m pretty young, but just in my lifetime I remember people being willing to go talk to their neighbor about things like that, rather than calling in the government. Maybe that has changed.”
Her: “I’m from the country, and trust me – it’s still that way out there.”
Guess we need to move.
So, there you have it, folks. A prime example of how the state grows – we ‘delegate responsibility,’ which really means grant power, so the government can do our dirty work.
By the way – that nice lady at the planning department sounded downright sympathetic. I think the good guys might have a man on the inside over there.
“We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
I have never lived in a city or even in the suburbs. I can’t imagine not being at least a first name basis and friends with my neighbors. Life is hard sometimes and friends and family are all you can really depend on.
Well, except now evidently people want government to speak for them.And the government wants you to not only depend on them, but to be a government dependant with much less freedom.
America has really changed since I was born…and I’m not liking it one damn bit.
Papa Ray
West Texas
…