"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
2 November 2003Rules of the 'hoodThe city has gotten around to posting the details of the restrictions imposed by the designation of my new neighborhood as an Urban Conservation District, and while most of them don't bother me a great deal from the standpoint of conformance, a few of them might strike some people as being just a tad anal. An example:
Satellite, Television, Radio, and any other Transmission or Receiving Implements:
Then there's this:
The storage or keeping of items forward of the front building line shall be prohibited, such as barbecues or other types of charcoal or gas type grills, appliances, buckets, tools, tires, toys, bicycles, wheel barrels, laundry, furniture not intended for outside use.
Which leads to a philosophical conundrum, of sorts. This ordinance was enacted because of requests by an association of the residents; presumably its provisions are close to what those residents desire, and indeed a brief sweep through a couple of streets suggests a willingness to conform to those provisions. I've got to wonder, though, whether it relegates me to the status of what Francis W. Porretto calls "an indentured serf, who must have the lord's permission to rethatch the roof of his hovel." Certainly the mortgage reeks of indenture. So far as I can tell, though, there are no specific rules for roofing in this neighborhood. TrackBack: 12:37 AM, 5 November 2003 » Vote Carnival In 2003! from Wizbang Welcome to the Carnival Of The Vanities - Week 59. Since today was election day in many parts of the country the Carnival this week features all the great entries you've come to expect, and a little election trivia thown......[read more] Bicycles?? I wonder what they'd think of a neighbor around these parts who lived in his house only six more months before we moved into our house. Apparently the guy not only had an 18-wheel rig parked outside of his house on weekends, but he had an old 1950's style Mobil gas pump in front of his garage door and a small, beat-up twin-engine plane in his backyard. Thankfully the new neighbors have been neat freaks for the past 20 years. Posted by: vickie at 3:10 PM on 2 November 2003One of the houses I looked at was very close to what I was looking for, albeit rather a long way from work; what soured me on the place was the character in the next lot who stacked old vehicles, garage-sale finds, and various other suburban detritus in his back yard, and the fact that much of the space between the two houses was chewed up by the need to transport this crap. Given the wording here, I'm assuming that one stores the bikes behind the fence you're expected to have around your back yard. (And said fence is not chain-link, barbed-wire, or chicken-wire, either.) Hey, if a zoning ordinance can get kids to keep their damn bikes off the driveway, I'm all for it. Posted by: Vickie at 7:14 PM on 2 November 2003Hey Chuck, when you get a bike and start riding it, lemme know, so I can get pictures. :) Bring a defibrillator while you're at it. Posted by: CGHill at 7:57 AM on 3 November 2003 |