RE: [ihc] portable garage caution

[Tom Harais <THarais@xxxxxxxxx>]

Richard:

> [1] their concept of a delivery appointment is "sometime during
> business hours on the day of your choice". today, the phone
> company at least narrows it down to morning or afternoon, and
> for large appliance deliveries, sears will call you at a designated
> number 4 stops early so you can get home before they do.
> by comparison, the customer service person at overnite had zero
> interest in the notion of "getting it done", no real concern over
> whether or not i ever got my shipment, and nothing at all in the
> way of ideas that might help with the situation. at times it seemed
> like she was taking some care to make sure that everytime i made
> a step forward, there would be a corresponding step back.

I've had a fair amount of luck lately with service people from the utility
companies, major retailers, etc. not wasting my time by having them call me
on my cell phone fifteen minutes before they arrive at my home.  I make this
request when I set up the appointment and I haven't been turned down because
the whole world is on cell phones these days.  I live just a mile from where
I work, so I can choose a date/time when I know I'll be available and then
just jet home when they call me and meet them there.  I have had one or two
schedulers set up for a half hour before they plan to arrive because that is
their standard.  The fact they have a "standard" tells me that they have
been doing this for everyone.

On the whole garage thing:  Living here in snow free California, the
portable garages made from steel posts with plastic tarps and bungee cords
have become ubiquitous.  They have them at COSTCO, Home Depot and all the
hardware stores for about $200 or so.  People use them to store boats, cars,
etc.  Standard size seems to be 20' X 10'.  Some even have ends and sides
available.  They cost a fraction of what even a simple overhead structure
would cost.  I have noted that some people fail to anchor them down though
and in a good windstorm, I've seen a few become twisted masses of metal
poles.

As I say, they've become ubiquitous around here.  And, in my "live and let
live" world, I certainly have no objections to that.  But, having seen
"creeping" local blight regulations (City and County, not homeowner's CC&Rs)
on everything from where you can park a vehicle on your property (not in
public view) to what color you can paint your house (not any color that a
majority of your neighbors would consider garish or outlandish) to how tall
you can let your bushes get (nothing over 3' in a front yard except trees
where you are supposed to clear all branches less than 8'), I'm wondering
when our local cities will start cracking down on these.  With all the busy
bodies that go to city councils around here trying to get ordinances passed
that regulate everything that people do, I can't believe that the popularity
of these units won't result in regulations that will outright ban them from
"anywhere on your property where they can be seen from the street".  The
"can be seen from the street" is a common pharase used in these so called
"blight ordinances" that are put into place to "protect our property
values".  Hmmm, where in the constitution (U.S. or City incorporatrions)
does it say that the role of the government includes "protecting property
values"?

Tom H., '76 Traveler