Yesterday I was noodling something Deep (maybe goofy and full of woo, but still … Deep) when I was yanked, almost bodily, into local politics.
Later, when I regained my sanity, my ‘Net connection was acting up, so I just bagged it for the evening. I had no post prepped for you this a.m.
I never get involved in local politics. Never, ever, ever. But yesterday from 2:30 to 6:00 (I checked the time on my cellphone), I was in it.
At 2:30 I learned that some anonymous moralists or civic betterment types were trying to use — of all things — a 40-year-old sign ordinance to crush some of the newer, more uppity, more dynamic businesses in town. And that there was going to be a meeting about it in three hours.
This sort of thing raises my hackles so much my spine hurts.
I didn’t even know the town had a sign ordinance. But I spent the next couple of hours researching it and making notes. Yes, the businesses in question are clearly out of compliance — along with at least 1/3 of all the companies in town. Unlike most of the other businesses in town, though, the uppity ones are drawing enough attention to themselves to prompt tourists (passing through on their way elsewhere) actually to stop. And, you know, spend money here. And to notice how nice the place is.
Thanks to them, we have a chance to fill up some long-empty storefronts and keep new shops alive for more than the usual, desperate six months.
My hackles were more like spikes running up my spine by the time I got to the meeting.
I turned out not to need the spikes, however. The meeting was lightly attended and very informal. Everybody who wanted a say got to have one and things went about as well as they could have.
Tellingly, not one of the moralists who’d gone to the local gov-o-crats with their complaints chose to show at the meeting. Other than me, the only audience members who spoke were the owners of the “offending” businesses.
Among the ‘crats we addressed, only one had obviously made up her mind against us, and her entire argument seemed to be borrowed from what some other town’s ‘crats had come up with. At the other end of the panel, we clearly had a friend who maintained that you shouldn’t risk regulating businesses out of existence. Between them sat a quiet, but seemingly open-minded majority.
I think they’ll end up rewriting the ordinance to allow the uppity businesses to continue to attract attention to themselves — and to the town.
If they don’t, they’ll face some serious questions about selective writing and enforcement of laws.
For a while I even fantasized that they’d have some very spiky creatures running against a few of them in the next election. Then I regained my sanity.
Don’t pet the spiky creatures…
My town has some pretty restrictive sign ordinances that are half heartedly enforced. The purpose of course, is to keep a dying town looking nice. The reality is they are there to keep the new, smaller businesses oppressed, no competition to the old established order is allowed. The council has been working on a new sign ordinance that covers the “new” electronic signs for a couple of years now. They might get it done some time… The city council represents the old order business community, large land developers and their friends businesses so we don’t expect anything will improve with signage laws or anything else for that matter.
Matt, what you describe is so sadly typical! Especially (I believe) in small towns.
Our ordinance here was also clearly written to keep the town from looking tacky. I got a laugh about one long passage that described how you could have a “carved cedar” sign as long as you didn’t paint the background and other such artsy foolishness. That might be dandy in a prosperous tourist town, but is just silly in one of these death-spiral cases.
Which is more tacky? Flags and banners and neon or empty storefronts?
Fortunately, while the old-line biz people have a lot of influence (and actually IMHO are generally good people), I don’t think they have the political control they once might have. At least not here.
I’m glad that you got involved and spoke up. I’m not sure who said it but “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” is true. I hope that you are right and the by-law will be amended but be ready to wade in again at election time if it’s not. Last, but never least I hope you washed your hands when you got home. The politicizing illness could be catching.
Yes, but MJR, the notion that we’re “doing nothing” when we simply strive to live free is one I’ve always opposed. The converse notion that “doing something” means having to jump around reactively to combat every evil, large or small, turns us into puppets of the rest of the world.
Yesterday was a moment of insanity (which struck, ironically, when I was contemplating a blog about the global effects of merely living free). It was insanity that may or may not have a good effect on the community. But gods forbid that I should have to spend my life watching what a bunch of do-gooding morons do and trying to undo it is hellish — and unfree!
If I was a business owner I would look at those sign regs and exploit all the loopholes or anything that looks like a loophole just to frustrate the regulators.
Matt, that sounds nice in theory, but in practice it will just draw their ire and make you a target for the strictest possible enforcement. If the authorities are being quiescent and ignoring nominal violations of the ordinance (which seems to be the case here) I would allow the sleeping dog to lie.
When the windmill gets to creaking, every now and then you need to dust off your lance and take a run at it.
There’s a town near Houston with a restrictive sign ordinance so bad that you can’t find the stores you’re looking for. But they look nice.
[The converse notion that “doing something” means having to jump around reactively to combat every evil, large or small, turns us into puppets of the rest of the world.]
There’s got to be a happy medium somewhere.
I wrote about looking at government as a force of nature:
http://strike-the-root.com/government-force-of-nature
Now, if you can accept that analogy (if that’s what it is), then however much we wish, we cannot ignore nature. We in fact adjust our behavior constantly to it, without thinking too much about it usually. Put on a coat when it’s cold, cut down a tree threatening to land on our house, etc. The key thing though is that we prefer to compensate for nature in ways that are 1) effective, and 2) don’t waste too much time. That much we can tolerate, assuming we are not trying to live somewhere like the South Pole…
So local government political work falls into that category, I would argue. The smaller the town, the less your position is diluted, and the more the ruling class is forced to live among the peons and are thus subject to shunning, which in turn serves to temper their urge to control. Political work at that level can be pretty effective. And it doesn’t have to take that much of your time either.
Personally, I hate the new LED signs, they just look like a good way to cause auto accidents and they are of poor taste. But I hate the “Improvers” even more. Well worth the effort you put into it, Claire. Might even have helped you make connections with people that could pay dividends later. Somebody’s got go say “NO” once in a while…
Poly-ticks are dangerous, whenever and however encountered. The spiky ones are probably less dangerous than those looking nice and soft…
Only a few empty store fronts here, and only a few wonky signs, but I don’t pay much attention to them in any case. One of the grocery stores put up one of those flashing, computer controlled signs a while back. Looks kind of silly, and changes too fast to be read lots of the time… so I don’t know what it’s really good for. Same for a flashing sign thing at one of the banks, come to think of it. Doesn’t do anything for me, but it doesn’t hurt me either.
Went to town this morning and saw that the seasonal “banners” had been changed on all the light posts… a true waste of time and taxpayer money as far as I’m concerned. And then I noticed a bright, lime green ribbon bustle thing tied to each post besides. Couldn’t find anyone who knew what that was about… I don’t take the weekly local socialist newspaper, but if I get a chance to peek at one I may find out who paid for that… probably me. sigh
Boss lady I KNOW you KNOW better that this
Many-probably most-towns and cities have all sorts of goofy ordinances, covering everything from yard sales to what sort of trees you can have in your yard. Most of them generally go unenforced, unless it’s convenient (or makes some easy money for) for those making the goofy ordinances. I got a nastygram from the city some years ago over one of those little reflectors-on-a-stick things ( a 3 inch reflector on a fiberglass rod about three feet long) I had at the edge of my driveway. Must’ve been a slow day…
Reminds me of an article I came across not too long ago: The rule that changed Fort Collins’ look and feel.
And I know people up there, or who used to live up there, who are not happy about what’s become of their town. These days, the news from up that way could just as well be coming from Boulder.
There’s an attitude among some that we mock, that women should not be taught self-defense to protect themselves from being abused, that the only acceptable solution is for men to refrain from abusing. If people were perfectible that would be a reasonable position, but they aren’t, so it’s not. Realists accept that humans come in all flavors and some of those flavors taste bad.
Likewise, perfectible humanity could be cured of officiousness and the urge to push others around, but we’re not that utopian and we know that bureaucrats and tyrants grand and petty will always be with us, and doing battle with them is part of the price we pay for being free.
Claire, irritating as it no doubt was, you did exactly the right thing, and you have probably pushed the freedom quotient of your community up at least a little. After all, are we really free if we don’t fight for the freedom of our neighbors?
Our little mountain town has rules against signage on the highway. The result is things like a guy in a chicken suit standing on the sidewalk advertising for the Wild Wings store and another guy dressed as a wookie on the sidewalk jumping around advertising the Wookie Smoke Shop. That’s real classy.
@Karen, I can’t remember last time I was through there — many years, for sure. Just thinking about it makes me wish I had a motorcycle.
Are the wings worth a 2-hour drive from the big metropolis farther North? I have the excuse of testing out repeater coverage for one of the amateur radio clubs I belong to. Well, that, and just seeing the country.
jed, I’ve never tried the Wild Wings or been in the Wookie Smoke Shop, but a friend told me the Smoke Shop had some really nice and fun MJ pipes. When we get settled back in town and out of the forest 40 miles out, I’ll probably get better acquainted with some of the smaller attractions.
As for the 2 hr drive, in a couple more weeks when the aspens are really out it should be a pretty scenic ride down the back way. If you do plan to get down this way, get our contact info from Claire. It would be fun to meet a member of the Commentariat.
No MJ for me. 🙂 But I’m sure past due for a scenic trip, even if it’s just for a day.
I’ve often thought it’d be cool to meet some of the folks from around here. (And from TMM, though I haven’t been over there for a long while.)