From: John De Armond Subject: Re: City Ordinances - Living/Parking Date: Sat, 04 Dec 1999 15:01:20 EST Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel ROMEO RAABE wrote: > > If buying dinner or otherwise being nice to the neighbor who turned you > in doesn't work - > > consider having a noisy nooner in it every day BUT DON'T FALL ASLEEP. > After the code enforcement inspector is called out three days in a row > to find no violation, he/she will tell the busybody neighbor to quit > calling. I had a similar problem with a neighbor when I lived in Cobb County (atlanta area) georgia. I owned the farm house of a farm that had been subdivided. I had a 2 acre front yard and no back yard. I ended up with a yuppy-scum neighbor who built a half million house in a 100k neighborhood and then thought she'd make the neighborhood conform to her wishes. She called the zoning nazi on me because I parked my 4 hotrods on the grass in my wooded front yard. I checked the law and learned a few things. I caught her standing on the street talking to other neighbors a bit later. I asked her if she was the snitch (I already knew the answer). She lied, of course. Then I told her what I'd learned. The first thing I'd learned was that my house's agricultural zoning was granfathered. I commented that I'd always wanted a pot-bellied pig or two and that I might just fence in a half acre near the street and get a breeding pair. I then commented that the law only required that I not park cars on the grass but didn't say anything about mud. I observed that I could remedy that problem with a shot of Roundup applied to where I wanted to park my cars (opposite her driveway entrance). Finally I learned that the law only required that the cars not be visible from the street (to allow for side-entrance carports) and that my remedy was going to be to erect an 8 ft tall fence across the street side of my property made of particle board painted my favorite colors, red and purple. I had previously dug a hole (actually for a new mailbox) and had a couple of fence posts laying on the ground just to add to the effect. By the time I got through with that, the yuppy-scum was gasping for air. I let her gasp like a guppy for a few minutes and then commented that, being the lazy type that I am, if I didn't hear anything more from the zoning nazis, I'd probably just take the easy way out and not do anything at all. I lived there 6 more years and never again heard a peep from 'em. Guess it finally dawned on them that their property line stopped where mine began. Or maybe she just didn't like pigs. Point being, think of creative ways of handling this problem. There's a lot of room for mayhem even with the most restrictive zoning law. Not only that, the complainer also probably has some sort of violation that a suitably motivated zoning nazi could sink his teeth into. Something like dumping some used motor oil on the ground at the back of her property and then calling the environmental police is quite effective and expensive. I'm sure these suggestions will get some peoples' panties in a wad. So many cowards in this world. Vent if you like but be aware that trying to "revise" my philosophy is somewhat akin to trying to teach a pig to sing - It invariably fails and it annoys the pig. If more people handled disputes directly rather than running to the state, this would be a lot nicer world to live in. Ditto if most people simply minded their own business. John From: John De Armond Subject: Re: City Ordinances - Living/Parking Date: Sun, 05 Dec 1999 00:05:42 EST Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel Cheyenne wrote: > > Neon John <johngdNOSPAM@bellsouth.net> wrote in message > news:384973A8.92DD1712@bellsouth.net... > > > ended up with a yuppy-scum neighbor who built a half million house > > in a ... > > Are you one of those types who dislike people just because they are wealthy? > Or are you just pig-headed about "revising" your philosophy (like the pig > who couldn't sing)? Remember, most people were not born wealthy---like the > brokerage-firm spokesman on TV says, "They earned it". Actually I could have bought them out several times over, having made a comfortable nestegg in the nuclear engineering and software development businesses. It's just that mine was big enough that I didn't have to build a huge house to try and prove whose was biggest. Nor did I need to live way beyond my means, as they were, in order to try and impress someone. I did get the last laugh, however. She was an Eastern Airlines stewardess and he was an Eastern ground supervisor of some sorts. The fire sale almost brought a tear to my eye. Almost. Actually I could have cared less about their house. What I took great exception to was them trying to tell me what to do with my property. Had they wanted to control what went on at my address in an ethically sound manner, they could have simply bought my place - if they could. The problem is there are so many people out there who have NOT made it - you sound like one - who want to wield power as if they had. Instead of working harder and/or smarter in order to achieve a position in society, they go running to the state in order to get their way. Who was it, John Locke, who said that Americans are not smart enough to preserve the freedoms they'd been entrusted with. So true. Might want to unwad those panties. I heard it causes constipation. John |