in operable Vehicles in West Memphis

[ultrarunner]

Just how many 45 year old cars are on the road today?

Also, it has ALWAYS been against the law to drive a SMOKER... I know people cited for driving smokers and they ended up junking the car.

The Hospital Emergency Generator makes little sense... so much after the fact regulation and fees for 50 gallons of Diesel use for the average year.

What I really find ironic is the State and Federal fleets are totally exempt from ALL emission requirements.

It has proved to be a real sore spot when the state was selling used Highway Patrol vehicles because they could not be smogged...

 

[ultrarunner]

The demise of 'The Little Guy'. The Little Guy doesn't grease the palms of the politicians as do the Big Boys. Gov't pays lip service to small business but does nothing to help them succeed. Soon, all that will be left are the large corporations and of course...the politicians.

We are seeing this in Health Care... soon it will just be the titans with dominant market share...

The days of the sold practitioner are being regulated out of existence...

One of our Docs had a business in Alaska with his son... he drove vehicles registered to his son with Alaska Plates in California... sure gave LEOs headaches...

Then one of our nurses was repeatedly stopped and even cited for driving with Florida plates on her car... her husband is active duty military and Florida is their home state... she came up against on officer that said he didn't care and to tell it to the judge, even when she presented military ID...

The Judge reamed a new one for the officer for wasting the courts time... she also did not have to pay high California fees or go in for Emission testing.

 

[Doofy]

A couple of years ago, Anchorage suspended their vehicle emissions testing. The reasoning was that there were enough "modern" vehicles on the road now that met the higher emissions standards that testing was no longer needed for everyone. I never thought the city would ever give up any type of revenue stream even when it made perfect sense to do so.

 

[bcp]

Washington emission test: Only 5 counties, nothing older than 1994 or newer than 2008, test every 2 years.

Washington Vehicle Emission Check Program - FAQ

Bruce

 

[Doofy]

We are seeing this in Health Care... soon it will just be the titans with dominant market share...

The days of the sold practitioner are being regulated out of existence...

One of our Docs had a business in Alaska with his son... he drove vehicles registered to his son with Alaska Plates in California... sure gave LEOs headaches...

Then one of our nurses was repeatedly stopped and even cited for driving with Florida plates on her car... her husband is active duty military and Florida is their home state... she came up against on officer that said he didn't care and to tell it to the judge, even when she presented military ID...

The Judge reamed a new one for the officer for wasting the courts time... she also did not have to pay high California fees or go in for Emission testing.

I was stationed at El Toro in the early 70s and remember the brown, smelly air and haze surrounding LA. It was pretty gross. I do believe air quality has improved since then and yes, mainly due to improved vehicle emissions.

 

[ultrarunner]

California is a very large state... even today there are counties that do not require testing...

I think many overlook the stats that show there simply are not enough 40 year old cars on the road to move the meter...

As mentioned... the program forever was 25 years and newer and eventually frozen due for revenue purposes from what Senator Kopp said... he was the one that had it moved to the 30 year rolling exemption.

All I am saying is statistically there is not a problem with 40 year old cars or 30 year old cars or even 25 year old cars.

It would make perfect sense to exempt carburetor vehicles since the Smog Techs are for the most have no idea what to do... if it doesn't plug in most are clueless... had one tell my VW Thing could not be tested because it was a Kit Car... come on.

Think about it... there is no difference between a 75 Spitfire or a 76 Spitfire... but one is worth half the other simply due to smog requirements.

As for LA haze... a huge problem was attributed to refineries, aviation and the port... add wild fires and there you go.

I'm all for improving technology... but rendering bought and paid for equipment near worthless is similar to stealing.

Gas mower until recently produced up to 5 times more emissions than a typical vehicle on the road... don't get me started on BBQ emissions.

Back in Engineering school the emphasis was in maker the greatest strides relative to cost...

In a simplistic way... it might be that you can clean up 80% of the problem at 20% of the cost. The final 20% may never reach 20% but the cost is often 4 to 5 times what it cost to clean up the 80%.

I look for the logic in things... which is part of my problem at work... in that I act as if it is my money being wasted when it would be so much simpler to say... we have no choice... scrap a Hospital Turbo Genset with 90% useful life used 25 hours a year because that is what the new regs require and just write the check.

 

[sandman2234]

I have an old Chevy that I was an extra vehicle, and in my younger days, would sometimes drop the tag and insurance to keep food on the table around our house. On several occasions the city would cite me for having JUNK CARS on my property. The only way I could legally keep it was to put it inside an enclosed room. (It was sitting in a carport). So I had a concrete block wall built up to the level of the rest of the house walls, and built a wooden wall where the garage door was going to go. (trying to save a little money). I did not enclose the eve of the house at that time either. I got an opportunity to buy another house, and moved. The city then condemned the house for being vacant with access. I went before the board (required to go) and explained that the house was locked, with alarm and that I visited it on a regular basis. They told me I could not allow a house to be accessible when empty. I asked them how it was accessible, and they told me thru the open ends of the house. I countered with OK... so someone gets a ladder and goes 12 feet over a wall, where are they going to go? All they have done is entered the carport that for many years was open to free access anyway! They still gave me **** over it, made me clean up the backyard in order to get them off my back. I sold that house soon afterwards, and still keep that old Chevy out in the garage where I live now, without tags on it. Dang city officials!!
Oh, and that JUNK CAR is a 1966 Chevy two door convertible with removable hardtop... otherwise known as a Corvette.
David from jax

 

[Dftodd]

It makes me wonder how long this craziness will go on? It's not financially sustainable. All this EXPENSE without producing anything that is adding value or actually making money.

It just boggles my mind the difference in cost of living in different areas of the country. I travel pretty regularly for work helping out with branch startups and locations that are short staffed. I always make it a point to find out property values and taxes for comparison.

Currently I'm helping out in the Denver area with a branch startup. One of my coworkers is in the process of buying an 900 sqft town house apartment there. I about fell over when he told me the cost of the apartment in a middle of the road neighborhood and the property taxes.

He's paying $130k more plus quadruple the property taxes, then what I paid for a 2,000 sqft home with acreage. The price he paid including annual taxes would be a high end ranch with 3,500 sqft home with multiple buildings or shops in my area.

 

[Doofy]

It just boggles my mind the difference in cost of living in different areas of the country. I travel pretty regularly for work helping out with branch startups and locations that are short staffed. I always make it a point to find out property values and taxes for comparison.

Currently I'm helping out in the Denver area with a branch startup. One of my coworkers is in the process of buying an 900 sqft town house apartment there. I about fell over when he told me the cost of the apartment in a middle of the road neighborhood and the property taxes.

He's paying $130k more plus quadruple the property taxes, then what I paid for a 2,000 sqft home with acreage. The price he paid including annual taxes would be a high end ranch with 3,500 sqft home with multiple buildings or shops in my area.

And I would bet the quality of life is no better.

 

[Bird]

Yeah, we'd all like to be able to do as we please on our property, but we want the neighbors to do as we please, also, to maintain our property values.:laughing: Before we bought our current house, we seriously considered two different NEW homes. The problem was that each of those two, as with most new construction in this part of the country, were in places with "homeowners associations" where you not only have to abide by city and/or county regulations, but also regulations created by the homeowners association. And that's the reason we live where we do. Yep, the neighbors have some things in their yards and/or driveways that I think look tacky, but we bought this place because others can't tell us what to, so we can't tell them what to do, either. One homeowners association made the news a year or so ago, when they were battling one of their residents. It seems the homeowners association forbad the parking of non-luxury vehicles in your own driveway; had to keep them in the garage. So a fellow bought a NEW Ford pickup truck and parked it in his driveway. That was forbidden. Now if he's bought a Lincoln pickup, it would have been acceptable, but not a Ford.:confused3: