Man gets jail time for home improvement projects?

Question

Can we get rid of the buracratic red tape?

Does this make you as sick as it makes me?

Will the government ever lose this amout of control?

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/9406861.html

Wow, so this is the land of the bureaucrats home of the red tape.

Answer 1

the government needs to remeber how out of touch it is and that it can be replaced, the servents have become the masters it seems espically in this case

Answer 2

If he wanted to build the stuff, he should have moved somewhere, where it wasn't against the building code.
there are many reasons for them, and they differ based on many different criteria, such as the tendency for Earthquakes to occur frequently being the reason for some of them.
He was given six months to get the proper permits. So he would have been just fine if he would have obeyed the law. He was just being a stubborn hard-head in his determination to violate the codes and laws. People like that belong in jail.

Answer 3

On one hand, I agree that jail time for doing some illegal but innocuous landscaping on your own property is dumb. I mean, if he dug a pit with spikes and scorpions at the bottom right on the path where the mailman usually walks, maybe I could see sense in it, but not for normal stuff. I sure wouldn't want my tax dollars going to put a guy in jail when he's no threat to anyone. She could have fined him or something.

But red tape is just a current fact of life that we have to learn to live with even if we don't like it. If a person doesn't like having to get a building permit to do landscaping on their own property, they should agitate to get the rules changed instead of just ignoring them and hoping they'll go away. What did this guy think would happen if he ignored the court order for months and months? Surely nothing good.

Answer 4

Wait a minute you did read the whole article, right? He built the stuff without permits got caught and said he would get permits or tear the stuff down within 6 months. He did neither, so he violated the law twice! Yes he should go to jail!

Answer 5

The City is obviously a little control happy. Not only that but they have no clue as to who's land is who's. The guy shouldn't go to jail for that. I never knew that would have been a jailable offense. How ridiculous!!!

Answer 6

Sickening. What is this nation becoming... A combination of a nanny, a welfare and a police state?? He goes to jail for up to 6 months, yet we let out a convicted child rapist illegal alien that goes and murders three people..... Our justice department is screwed up! I agree it is the law, but 6 months jail time is way to extreme. A fine would be more than acceptable.

I think most building codes and permits are just more ways for the government to soak money out of us. Not for the safety of the homeowner and it's occupants. Just like all the other pointless fees they tack onto things!

Answer 7

There are reasons for building codes and permits. For example, safety being the number one reason, he could have been building on someone else's property, even if he was over by a quarter inch. Some neighborhoods and counties have certain restrictions on things you can build. As to size and height restrictions.

If he lives in a very upscale community they have certain color requirements. I think it's good. It's keeping communities looking nice.

Answer 8

I'm sorry but all I see here is a lackadaisical home owner with no regard for local ordinances. He should have obtained the proper permits prior to beginning construction. He really has no one but himself to blame. This would have never happened if he has just shelled out a few extra bucks for a licensed contractor.

Answer 9

Jail time for a permit violation...is cruel and unusual punishment. A fine would be more appropriate.

Answer 10

The law is the law, it applies to all, nice to see he got time the next time he might follow the laid down procedures before constructing projects on his little empire.