FREEDOM BANNED IN
GLENDALE
Authoritarians in Glendale, Arizona, in a move to enforce absolute
conformity to their esthetic standards, have passed a new list of
'Property Maintence Codes'.
They are designed to stifle the homeowner's freedom of expression,
forcing us all to spend time and money to decorate our houses and yards
to suit the conformists and the greedy real estate companies and
investors.
The new laws are full of such words as 'blighted' and 'deteriorated',
which make it clear that the opinion of the inspectors is what matters.
What many people would call 'rustic' may well be 'blighted' to the
conformist-minded inspectors.
To quote:
Landscaping: All property shall be free from any conditions that
contribute to visual blight including but not limited to dirt yards,
vegetation of any kind that is substantially dead or damaged or
characterized by uncontrolled growth or lack of maintenance or any
similar conditions. Ground cover consisting of crushed rock, gravel or
similar materials shall be one quarter (1/4) inch or larger in size
and be maintained at a sufficient depth that covers all exposed areas
of dirt.
Dirt yards? Apparantly they are offended by naked soil, and now
we must cover it. In the desert around us, bare ground and sparsely
vegetated sand is quite common. But now we must gravel it over, and
conform.
What does substantially dead mean? Is that
vegetation that is in a coma, or a way of making even death a matter of
opinion? When the government arbitrarily dictates even the size of our
rocks, we should be very, very worried.
And, this is another example of the upside-down nature of right-wing conservative thinking. It is NOT the Federal government which is most likely to impair your freedom. It is the LOCAL government. And the most likely of authoritarians are those conservatives.