LA County's War on Private Property

[roo_ster]

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7Yy-roIT1A&feature=player_embedded
Article:
http://www.laweekly.com/content/printVersion/1303834/

L.A. Weekly found in a six-week investigation that county inspectors and armed DA investigators also are pursuing victimless misdemeanors and code violations, with sometimes tragic results. The government can define land on which residents have lived for years as "vacant" if their cabins, homes and mobile homes are on parcels where the land use hasn't been legally established. Some have been jailed for defying the officials in downtown Los Angeles, while others have lost their savings and belongings trying to meet the county's "final zoning enforcement orders." Los Angeles County has left some residents, who appeared to be doing no harm, homeless.

The video is more like stills with audio.  The most hilarious part is when the one resident shows the letter he got from the county saying his neighbors didn;t like what he was doing.  Resident said, "Nieghbors?!  You mean the jack rabbits, snakes, and spiders?" and then the photos pan out showing resident is in the middle of BFE with no neighbors in sight.

[BlueStarLizzard]

For the record, "phonehenge" looked pretty cool.

This is just disgusting. Why does a privet residence require hall widths to be wheelchair accessable? Why does the hight of electric sockets matter?

If a guy wants to park his classic cars (or his beaters for that matter) on his property, as long as they arn't leaking nasty into the ground matter?

And the bit about the older ladys water tank was just stupid.

LA County officials need a whoop upside the head, to knock the stupid out.

[sanglant]

have to string 'em upside down, and bleed 'em for weeks, to get it all out.

[HankB]

The article makes it sound as if the "authorities" are deliberately TRYING to provoke something.

If they ultimately succeed and target a cold, calculating person rather than an excitable hothead . . . they may be left quite unhappy at the result.  

[Gowen]

The state of california is going out of it's way to drive everyone out.  My wife looked up on zillow the house she lived in with her dad and step mom.  Nice homes but not mansions.  The taxes on the home 2 doors down went from $3500/year to $16,000/year.  Who can live there?  No wonder Nevada is chock full of displaced californians.  They voted this mess in and it turned on them and bit them on the rear end.

[roo_ster]

FTR, I am not against all property regs at all levels of gov't. 

I am in favor of folks enacting them at different levels and applying them with some sense.

What has happened here is that urban folks and bureaucritters in LA County, with numbers on their side, have decided to impose wholly inappropriate regs on rural folks, most of whom made a conscious choice to live out in BFE to be left alone and leave their neighbors alone.  But, now the urban busy-bodies are after them.

For my own part, I live in a municipality that does some relatively rigorous code enforcement.  I knew that when I bought my home.  Heck, that is partly why I bought where I did.  I had options to buy elsewhere if I could not manage to keep cars out of the front yard and un-upholstered furniture off the front porch.

[BlueStarLizzard]

HGood point, rooster.

I still don't get the code regarding hallways and electric sockets. The halls may hurt resale value, but thats the homeowners business.

[tokugawa]

Well then, roo-ster, ya gonna just love this one....http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13575

[gunsmith]

I wonder how many of those folks always just voted D.

I do feel sorry for them though, I just hope they remember their CA experience when they move away, like I did.

[RoadKingLarry]

Well then, roo-ster, ya gonna just love this one....http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13575

Just what we need, a bunch of metrotards trying to tell us country folk how to live.

[230RN]

We must have ordered liberty.  We can't have them just doing what they want. 

[Hawkmoon]

I still don't get the code regarding hallways and electric sockets. The halls may hurt resale value, but thats the homeowners business.

Height of electric sockets is to ensure that a person in a wheelchair can reach the socket to plug something in. The electric code is only concerned with the wiring, so it would allow receptacles to be right at floor level, which is too low for most wheelchair occupants.

However ... I've never heard of any jurisdiction that enforced handicapped requirements in single family residences. In my neck of the woods the accessibility requirements apply only to apartments, and to a percentage (10% IIRC) of condo units or townhouses in a project.

[charby]

HGood point, rooster.

I still don't get the code regarding hallways and electric sockets. The halls may hurt resale value, but thats the homeowners business.

Electrical outlets are probably part of the National Electric Code. Dad is a retired electrician and he usually informed me of such things.

Hallways are probably part of the Americans with Disabilities Act, doesn't surprise me that California has stricter codes.

Basically if you don't like a the laws/codes of a place, move.

[RevDisk]

Basically if you don't like a the laws/codes of a place, move.

Unless you cannot afford moving (disabled and fixed income, etc), and you're overwhelmed by voters who don't mind voting away your freedom to line their pockets. 

I concur with roo_ster.  This is a deliberate way of controlling folks that wanted to live out in the boonies.  Personally, I'd follow charby's idea.  Don't move to areas where this sort of thing is inevitable. 

[Ben]

Personally, I'd follow charby's idea.  Don't move to areas where this sort of thing is inevitable. 

Problem is, you can't know the places where this is inevitable or not. It might look like a great place for you now, but lots can change in 20-30 years.

[charby]

Problem is, you can't know the places where this is inevitable or not. It might look like a great place for you now, but lots can change in 20-30 years.

I'm pretty sure places like WY and ND will still be the same in 30 years.

[charby]

Unless you cannot afford moving (disabled and fixed income, etc), and you're overwhelmed by voters who don't mind voting away your freedom to line their pockets. 

I'm pretty sure the Boonie Rats could out number the other folks in terms of voting if they would get off their asses and do so. Folks who attend meetings (in numbers) and voice their concerns usually are the ones who are at the table.

[henschman]

People usually think of the Federal and State governments being responsible for most of the tyrannical laws out there, but a lot of folks don't realize that local governments can be quite a pain in the ass as well.  Zoning and codes are some of the biggest infringements on our liberty.  Nobody has a right to enjoy the view of his neighbor's property.  

I'd love to find a city that doesn't have all these BS codes, but it seems to be a pretty much universal phenomenon among cities that are any larger than the "podunk" category. 

[henschman]

People usually think of the Federal and State governments being responsible for most of the tyrannical laws out there, but a lot of folks don't realize that local governments can be quite a pain in the ass as well.  Zoning and codes are some of the biggest infringements on our liberty.  Nobody has a right to enjoy the view of his neighbor's property.  

I'd love to find a city that doesn't have all these BS codes, but it seems to be a pretty much universal phenomenon among cities that are any larger than the "podunk" category.  I guess that's why I plan on buying a large acreage in the country as soon as I can afford it, and hoping that some city doesn't come along and incorporate my property without my consent. 

[French G.]

People usually think of the Federal and State governments being responsible for most of the tyrannical laws out there, but a lot of folks don't realize that local governments can be quite a pain in the ass as well.  Zoning and codes are some of the biggest infringements on our liberty.  Nobody has a right to enjoy the view of his neighbor's property.  

I'd love to find a city that doesn't have all these BS codes, but it seems to be a pretty much universal phenomenon among cities that are any larger than the "podunk" category. 

West Virginia, the land that zoning forgot. It has definite plusses and minuses.

[sanglant]

that's "the land zoning ran screaming like a little girl, bleeding profusely, from". or something like that. my english is extra bad today.

[roo_ster]

I'm pretty sure the Boonie Rats could out number the other folks in terms of voting if they would get off their asses and do so. Folks who attend meetings (in numbers) and voice their concerns usually are the ones who are at the table.

Did you look at the pictures?  This ain't rural Iowa.

[zxcvbob]

Houston, Texas has no zoning laws, and they are proud of it.  There are still building codes tho'.

It sounds like LA County is trying to enforce current codes on old buildings that may have met the codes at the time they were built.  Ex post facto law. (that's why old structures are supposed to be grandfathered)

[Hawkmoon]

Basically if you don't like a the laws/codes of a place, move.

I believe that's what these folks thought they were doing.

It also sounds like many of them have been there for decades, and the County is only now putting them in the crosshairs. Makes you wonder how many of the regulations they are being clobbered with are ex post facto, enacted after the construction was done and therefore not applicable.

My house was built by my parents in 1950. There are a LOT of things that don't meet the current code for private homes, but were legal in this state in 1950. I am not required to change anything. The only legal requirement is that any new work has to meet current code.

The ADA does not apply in private, single-family residences. California, of course, probably has its own accessibility regs, but it's still pretty surprising to hear that they are being applied inside a private dwelling.

[Hawkmoon]

I concur with roo_ster.  This is a deliberate way of controlling folks that wanted to live out in the boonies.  Personally, I'd follow charby's idea.  Don't move to areas where this sort of thing is inevitable. 

Where is that? I have a cousin in AZ who always wanted to live way out of civilization. He has built out (WAY out) in the boonies three or four times, then had to move still farther out as the unincorporated areas where he lived were gobbled up and subsumed by one of the incorporated municipalities. You can't always predict where such encroachment is inevitable.