[Vision2020] City Council's selective compassion

[Joan Opyr]

On 12 Dec 2005, at 06:51, Tom Hansen wrote:

> Mr. Crabtree -
>
> Yes, Dan Mack could have done whatever he wanted with his property (and
> here's the point you missed), as long as he received formal 
> governmental
> approval. In this case, he needed both P&Z and City Council to grant 
> him a
> variance and approve his blueprint, which they did. However, both 
> bodies
> could have said "no deal." They had no obligation to grant his 
> variance or
> to approve his blueprint.
>
> Similarly, City Council has no obligation to remedy NSA's third zoning
> violation. They could serve notice and evict them, just as Dan Mack 
> did to
> his tenants. City Council could say to NSA, "Your students impinge on 
> your
> neighbors' parking, and this cuts into their ability to make an honest 
> buck.
> Get lost."
>
> But as noted, two out of three councilpersons who granted Dan Mack 
> approval
> to demolish low-income family homes are now crying "equity" and 
> "fairness"
> for NSA. Worse yet, they intend to penalize NSA's neighbors by 
> depleting
> their parking supply at the expense of their customer base, which cuts 
> into
> their ability to make an honest buck, just so they can be fair and 
> equitable
> to NSA. Now, does that sound fair to you?

Tom Hansen is right on target, as I suspect Gee Crabtree knows full 
well.  What he doesn't want to address is the clear case of 
differential treatment accorded David Williams and the other evicted 
residents of the Renaissance Trailer Park and City Council's attempts 
to bend over backward to avoid inconveniencing Doug Wilson.  One rule 
for the rich and another for the poor -- this is my complaint.

About property ownership and doing exactly what one pleases with the 
property one owns -- my partner and I own ten acres and a ranch house.  
Now, I don't care for cattle, and sheep are just a damned nuisance, but 
I've got a great idea.  I was just watching a movie starring Dolly 
Parton and Burt Reynolds called "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."  
Perhaps you've seen it?  I know that Idaho's last bordello, a place up 
in Wallace, closed in the mid-1980s.  There's clearly a business 
opportunity here, and so I think I'll just add fifteen or twenty red 
velvet bedrooms onto my little house, and then I'll troll the perfectly 
adequate Jackson Street parking lot for some likely-looking ladies.  
I'll offer them the chance to sell themselves not just to one man for 
shotgun house, a cartload of kids, and the "beauty of submission:" I'll 
offer them the opportunity to market their wares to many men for big 
bucks, regular health screenings, and guaranteed respectful and decent 
treatment.  (To ensure this, I'll hire a couple of ginormous bouncers.  
These bouncers will have to be, like my friend Dan Carscallen, at least 
five-feet twenty inches tall -- guys who could lift the front end of an 
F-350 and hold it up while I changed the tires.)

You don't approve, Gee Crabtree?  Why not?  It's my property, and 
what's more, this is biblically sound stuff.  This is the world's 
oldest profession!  I'll take my plan to the county, and if anyone 
dares to say me nay, I'll claim religious persecution.  Hell's bells, 
what's wrong with this world: can't a gal make a dishonest buck on her 
own ten-acre ranch?  No?  Hmm.  Looks to me like the county has some 
power over what I do with my own property after all.  In fact, it looks 
to me like they have a say in terms of zoning, conditional use permits, 
digging new wells (the Moscow Chicken Ranch would need lots of water 
for those multiple hot tubs), as well as over the sort of business 
deemed suitable for operation on the Genesee Troy Road.  Remember Daisy 
May and the Topless Carwash?  Those were her boobs, that was her water 
hose and soap -- wasn't she within her legal rights to flash the one 
and spray the other without government interference?  I said yes; Doug 
Wilson said no.  So what's he bitching about now?  He was all for a 
strict interpretation of city ordinance back then.  Bizarre, really, 
when you think of the positive effect Ms. Daisy's car wash must have 
had on the downtown parking situation . . .

Here, in a nutshell, is the analogy between David Williams, Dan Mack, 
the Renaissance Trailer Park evictions and Doug Wilson's NSA: Dan Mack 
lied through his teeth to the County, the City Council, the Palouse 
Water Conservation folk, and his own tenants.  He swore on a stack of 
Bibles that he wanted to drill a new well so his tenants would have 
water; he told the City and the County that he would create 26 new 
low-income housing units; he asked to rent land from the County for 
pennies so that he could comply with the green zone requirements.  Once 
he got what he wanted, he kicked his poor tenants out to the curb.  Was 
this legal?  Yes.  Was it fair?  No.  Did the City and the County have 
to go along with it?  No.  They could have insisted on guarantees, 
proof that he wasn't a complete and utter lying shmuck.

The residents of Renaissance Trailer Court appealed to the City and the 
County for relief.  That relief was denied.  Mack was within his rights 
as a landlord, and the City and County upheld those rights.  Now, Doug 
Wilson, like David Williams, is asking for relief.  He's asking the 
City to suspend enforcement of its zoning laws in order to avoid 
inconveniencing himself and New St. Andrews College.  And, unlike the 
residents of Dan Mack's trailer court, Doug is enjoying considerable 
success.  He has Jon Kimberling, Peg Hamlett, and JoAnn Mack bending 
over backwards to avoid doing to Doug what was done to the 14 families 
at Renaissance -- forced relocation.  My question is why?  Why the 
differential treatment?  Why is Doug Wilson more important than those 
14 families?  The City is well within its legal rights to evict New St. 
Andrews from the Central Business District.

But money talks.  Doug's got it; the Renaissance Trailer Court 
residents did not.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.joanopyr.com

PS: If Peg Hamlett really is a "lifelong Democrat," then I hope she'll 
wake up and smell the injustice.  Siding with the rich and voting 
against the poor is not a traditional Democratic value.  I would also 
note that it's pretty poor sportsmanship to blame your election 
opponent for your own political slips.  Lie down with Republicans, wake 
up with G-O-Fleas.
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