by Howard “Howie” Rosenfeld
Response to Sam Buck
It’s easy to understand why the Common Sense Alliance (CSA) gets support. Most of us feel we have too many regulations. No question about it! But we need to ask: why are we plagued with so many rules and regulations everywhere we turn?
Our laws are mostly based on protecting the majority from the minority that would take advantage. It’s particularly sad, in what is supposed to be a free country, to lose freedoms because of a few bad apples.
That is our predicament. It was considered profound in the 1950’s when the comic page character Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and it is us!”
In land use, every property owner wants to be able to do what he or she wants with his or her property, but they don’t want their neighbors to be able to do anything they want. So we have regulations.
Many realtors, like Mr. Buck, and developers, want less regulation, which stands in the way of their business. Many, like myself, are concerned their business affects why we want to live here.
The purpose of governmental processes like the Critical Area Ordinance is to find a balance. There is common sense on both sides, not just one.
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Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment! Residents so often won’t be completely honest about their reasons for being for of against issues. Please don’t sell me a life-style and then get rich selling it to everyone else on the planet. MB