People's Republic of Michigan

[3930dave]

My biggest problem is not that it needs to be cleaned up. My biggest problem is that the zoning ordinances have become about one thing and one thing only, especially since the Headlee Amendment passed in Michigan that restricts the rate our assessments can rise to the rate of inflation (in exchange for going from a 4% sales tax to a 6% sales tax). That is the almighty dollar. The only way they can raise our assessment higher and get around the Headlee Amendment is if we have to pull a permit for everything because we are "improving" our property. This has created the almighty and not directly elected planning and zoning department that justifies the existence of zoning enforcement officers by catching and fining or collecting permit fees from anyone they can.

In the old days, the guy that ran the neighbourhood just sent around the "boys" for a skakedown. What you describe is just the modern version.

Follow the money..... always good advice.

Rgds, D.

 

[tlm720]

I'm working on my MBA. The last class I took was Financial Management. In that class there was a lecture on how the value of an asset might be established. One way is called the Greater Fools Theory (The value will always go up because I will always be able to find a greater fool than I to sell to) Greater fool theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Housing is a Greater Fools game. The actual intrinsic value (Intrinsic value (finance) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) of a home is very low compared to the market value. Land is what should have intrinsic value, not the structures built on the land. A house should depreciate like any other piece of capital equipment does. Homes require maintenance and repair, create a tax burden, etc. This idea that housing prices should endlessly climb is part of what caused the crash in 2008.

Again, the housing markets in this country are broken. Too much intervention by people who think they know better. But it benefits those same people because they reap the benefits and the homeowner is left holding the bag.

 

[teejk]

"Once they exist, they have to justify their existence"

3930Dave nailed it I think. My experience is that they are hen-pecked at home and can only show their power when on the clock (that's not limited to public employees btw).

 

[NoTrespassing]

20 years ago when I lived in the city for a short stint, I had an extra vehicle with an expired sticker on the tag. I was told to move it into the garage or renew the sticker. The sticker is only required on the back plate so I turned the car around with the back plate up against the garage door and tied the pitbull next to it. I never heard from them after that.

 

[Bird]

Weld the scrap metal together, give it a title and call it performance art. "The Folly of Man" comes to mind for a good title.

I know that was said in jest; however . . . . the Dallas, TX, current city hall was completed and opened in 1977 and Happy Rockefeller (wife of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller) was touring the new city hall and admiring the art work displayed. You know she was supposedly an expert in the field of art. So when she stopped to admire one particular piece and asked who the artist was, her city escort didn't have an answer (wasn't on his list), but they all agreed it was a fine piece of art. But after Mrs. Rockefeller left, they started investigating and found that a couple of the maintenance men had welded scrap metal together in the basement and hung it up, as a joke. City management had no sense of humor and didn't think it was funny.

 

[300UGUY]

I don't know how they do things in Hastings, but a lot of counties require a complaint be filed by a citizen. Otherwise the the local inspectors would be in the middle of neighborhood feuds. The inspectors do not go looking for violators, they only respond to written complaints. So, yeah, I believe the neighbor's ratted you out.

 

[tlm720]

I really don't think too many of my neighbors have much room to complain. Our zoning board hired enforcement officers just for the purpose of driving around looking for violations. It's viewed as an additional source of revenue. I even heard they use an airplane to keep an eye on everyone. Big brother is watching you.

 

[300UGUY]

I really don't think too many of my neighbors have much room to complain. Our zoning board hired enforcement officers just for the purpose of driving around looking for violations. It's viewed as an additional source of revenue. I even heard they use an airplane to keep an eye on everyone. Big brother is watching you.

The fines aren't big enough to justify a payroll. I have never seen a inspector not have a complaint to refer to. We had a place near here, right across the street from the township hall, that only got cleaned up when the humane society took notice of 50+ cats. The woman and her son were living in the car in the drive. The house was so dirty and full of crap that they tore the place down.

 

[teejk]

The fines aren't big enough to justify a payroll. I have never seen a inspector not have a complaint to refer to. We had a place near here, right across the street from the township hall, that only got cleaned up when the humane society took notice of 50+ cats. The woman and her son were living in the car in the drive. The house was so dirty and full of crap that they tore the place down.

For this type of stuff, they never have to justify the payroll. Any fines they collect are just gravy. A few people move in and want this and that. The squeaky wheels gets the grease. I grew up in a small town and like every other small town in ag country had a feedmill on the edge of town that did what feedmills do. Then people started building houses around there because the land was cheap (cheap because the feedmill was there). A few years later they petition to get the feedmill shut down.

We seem to have lost the guts to go talk to our neighbors with any complaints, relying instead on cowardly calls to people that will do the dirty work for us.

 

[dmccarty]

Weld the scrap metal together, give it a title and call it performance art. "The Folly of Man" comes to mind for a good title. Every time you add or subtract from the pile, put a public notice in the paper that you will be putting on a performance of "The Folly of Man" and give a date and time. Then get a lawyer from the ACLU and enjoy yourself.

That is funny but it sure would work in my county.

We had a guy trying to run a business selling coffee and shakes from a truck. He had permission to use a car lot in town and he would put up little itty bitty signs at the start of the day and take them down at the end of the day. The town chased this guy for years for every little thing he did, even though he had permits. The signs were a BIG issue. Now, what is "funny" about the signs, is that there is a junk dealer, aka antique store, a few blocks from where the coffee guy was trying to earn a buck. The store is in an old house and the front yard is full of "art" that is for sale. The house/store is well kept as is the yard, in no way is the place run down but the "art" work in the yard is a bit out of place and must certainly is used as advertisement to the store. You cannot fail to notice the yard full of junk/art and it is far more obvious than the signs used by the guy trying to sell coffee, tea and shakes. The "art" also is never moved at the end of the day.

The coffee, tea, shake guy held on for a few years before selling the truck. He moved his location a few times due to pressure from the town but it was not enough to bring in business. I don't think he really had much chance running that kind of business in town but the town government made it much harder on him while they allowed a yard full of art/junk that is far more intrusive than that guys little signs....

Later,
Dan