The Nature of the Problem

John Ise used to live in BP.  Now, he lives in MSV.  And he's a regular correspondent for the Biscayne Times.  In the October, 2016, number (Volume 14, Issue 8; I can't include the link to the article, because it's not yet on the BT's site), John complains about municipal Codes.  In this case, he's complaining about MSV Codes, but his gripe is applicable anywhere.  He calls his post "Rules and More Rules," and he subtitles it "Let's bring back common sense and compromise."

John presents a few examples of what he and some others consider legislating, or Coding, gone amok.  He paints pictures of MSV residents who appear to be doing nothing about which any sensible and reasonable person would complain, but which are prohibited-- or, as with BP Codes, not specifically permitted-- by the local Codes.  If you read John's complaint, and the complaint of his exemplars, without thinking beyond the examples, you would have the impulse to agree with him.

Why, for example, should vegetable gardens be permitted in MSV back yards, but not front yards?  "No neighbor had complained," John points out about the MSV resident's front yard garden, "and few today comprehend what 'problem' the citation was seeking to resolve."

In another example, a dog groomer with a storefront wanted to move to a larger space in MSV, having occupied the smaller space for 52 years.  The groomer encountered resistance, because apparently, dog grooming is not "explicitly permitted" in MSV.  There was no discussion as to why the business was not challenged for 52 years.  Presumably, it was considered "grandfathered," as long as it didn't change, such as by relocating.

John goes on to say "A stroll through the hundreds of pages of the Village Code of Ordinances shows the excruciating detail given to much of modern life," including limits on how many pets residents can keep.

But then, John says, as if offhandedly, "Of course we need effective and commonly understood code enforcement and rules.  They protect us from pollution, enforce public safety, and provide order...If anyone doubts the need for some level of adherence to code, take a quick drive through some of the dilapidated pockets of unincorporated Dade, including the western border of Miami Shores, where you'll find cars being disassembled on front lawns...and where the occasional snarling pit bull growls as you stroll by."

John adds that "Councilman Mac Glinn cautions me that there's a story behind every layer of the Village Code.  But as in life, Village regulations require a balancing act that ensures mutual respect, personal responsibility, and even a healthy sense of humor."

And that's the problem, presented admirably clearly.  If you don't have Codes, you can't guarantee, or at least impose, order, respect, and personal responsibility.  You need them, when you live in a community with other people, but they're not always natural, springing from what you might like to imagine as an automatic sensitivity between one neighbor and another.  If you do have Codes, you wind up limiting what might, in sensible and sensitive enough hands, have been a development that wasn't bad.  You limit creativity and expression.  You step on toes.  You might dumb things down.

It is, as John says, a balancing act.  And anyone, on either side of any issue, can complain, and feel mistreated.  And they do.  Is one right, and the other wrong?  Are they both right?  Are they both wrong?  Who knows?

The problem is that no one can write Code that covers every possibility and anticipates everything.  The Code-writing pen is not that kind of scalpel.  You do the best you can, either as the Code-writer, or the person responsible for ratifying a proposed Code, and you know that no matter what you do, or don't do, someone will have been adversely affected.  It is absolutely guaranteed by the process.  If there's a better way, no one has told the world what it is.