RE: [ihc] About those parking brakes .....

[Tom Harais <THarais@xxxxxxxxx>]

From: John Hofstetter [mailto:hofs@domain.elided] 
 
Folks move here to get away from it all, and then pressure local 
government to get all they left here too.





Yep.  Contra Costa County hit the 1M mark this year, and they are proud of
it.  Local pols believe we will now "get the respect from the other Bay Area
players that we deserve".  The newest residents where I have lived for 22
years, are demanding all kinds of public services.

Just wait John.  Before you know it, you'll have a local ordinance
enforcement unit telling you that you can't park that old Terra on the dirt
or gravel in front of your garage because it's an "unsightly nuisance and it
brings down the values in the neighborhood".

Ours is called "Neighborhood Improvement Services".  It is a subunit of the
PD, although it's staffed by "volunteers" (mostly retired folks) who ARE NOT
sworn police officers.  Anyone can file an anonymous complaint online about
their neighbor not mowing their lawn, pulling their weeds or parking that
heap next to their driveway.  AND, it's sanctioned by the City as well as
loved by neighborhood busy bodies.  It gives the do-gooders the full power
of local law enforcement to pick on anyone they don't like or don't approve
of.

I've not had any problems with them in years.  But I see their purple
warning stickers showing up on cars parked on the street 
and the roll-away basketball hoops that are so popular with kids these days
every day on my way to work,  along with boats, garbage cans that are left
out after trash pickup day, etc.

Related to that, this city and even my own neighborhood, is undergoing a
rapid and dramatic demographic changes.  This area has become the
destination for folks leaving the gang-infested areas of Richmond and
Oakland.  I can't wait to see the fireworks that erupt when someone turns in
a new neighbor, from an identified ethnic group, for one of these
infractions.  You know that the race card will be played... ;-)  What is
Neighborhood Improvement Services going to say then?  The community has been
so generally supportive of these efforts to "clean up" our City.  When they
walk on someone's ethnic sensitivities, will they view it differently?

Tom H., '76 Travler

Had to park it on the side of my house, even though it's registered and
insured, because the City says I can't park it on the gravel next to my
driveway (an "unimproved surface" according to them).