Yesterday I was noodling something Deep (maybe goofy and full of woo, but still … Deep) when I was yanked, almost bodily, into local politics.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
This sort of thing raises my hackles so much my spine hurts.<\/p>\n
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<\/i> here. And to notice how nice the place is.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
My hackles were more like spikes running up my spine by the time I got to the meeting. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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<\/i> 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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
If they don’t, they’ll face some serious questions about selective writing and enforcement of laws.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n