Dyna S. wrote: After spending a pleasant night in greater Minnesota I arrived home today to find a summons from the Paint Police, AKA Housing Inspections, in my mailbox. I have been ordered to appear in court to answer to criminal charges arising out of my alleged failure to repaint the trim on my most humble abode on Crack Street on the not so scenic Northside. If convicted I fully expect to receive the maximum sentence of 90 days incarceration and/or $1000 fine.
David Piehl writes: Indeed! I've had notices like that over the years as well, and though I consider the work requested by inspectors to be generally valid, the sporatic and uneven enforcement of housing code (and laws in general) is more than a little annoying. For an actual example, one neighbor got cited for trim that needed painting, while another house with trim that was rotting off didn't get cited at all! Even worse, the crack houses didn't get any attention at all. I know these things involve different governemental units, different budgets, etc., but it does seem interesting that judges go light on prostitution and drug offenders because of "lack of space" in the prisons, yet there seems to be plenty of space for folks convicted of having peeling paint! Maybe if people didn't go to jail for having peeling paint, there would be more space available for the violent criminals! Sorry for the sarcasm, but the bureaucracy that has created this inversion can be demoralizing if you let it, so sarcasm is a better way to deal with it. David Piehl Central __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
