A maniacal fruitcake shot and killed the Zoning Officer in a sleepy, little municipality in northeast Pennsylvania last week. He also killed two innocent bystanders who had absolutely nothing to do with his decades-long argument with the township. And he critically injured the wife of one of the now-dead bystanders.
But he didn't burst in with guns blazing. First, he approached the municipal building where a friend of mine was leaving. He demanded to know who she was and why she was there. Then, as she and another woman headed for their respective cars, he returned to his vehicle to retrieve the first of two guns he would use that night. And he didn't head in the front door. His first shots were those of a coward out in the dark shooting in through the windows of a brightly lit public building.
While my heart breaks for the dedicated public servants and concerned citizens who were killed or injured last week, and while I am seriously concerned for my own well-being anymore, my thoughts turn to a culture so devoid of understanding regarding how local government works that it scares and angers and saddens me in equal measures.
About half of the calls I receive as Zoning Officer in my little, rural township view me as big government interfering in their lives (No, sir, you can't put a garage right on your neighbor's property line. I enforce setbacks.). The other half demand to know why I can't fix what is broken in their little neighborhood (You mean they can paint their house that hideous color and you can't/won't do anything about it?).
Sound analogous to the fractured, increasingly combative national dialogue? Not enough government intervention? Too much government. Pathway to citizenship? Immigrants are bad. Budget? Deficit. Safety net? Let them eat cake. Healthcare? None of the government's business. Gay marriage? It will destroy my heterosexual lifestyle (they still have trouble articulating that one so that it makes any sense). National security?/Privacy?/National Security?/Privacy? Oh, sorry, that one goes both ways.
But so much of the ideological divide is also based on ignorance. The how and why of government is important. If you want to criticize President Obama, at least understand the executive branch's capabilities and limitations. You can call it Obamacare, but it was Congress that enacted the Affordable Care Act and the Supreme Court that upheld the law. Mayor Bloomberg may love us and want the best for us, but he can't/shouldn't keep us safe by stopping and frisking everyone in New York for no reason (other than skin color or hoodie), or dictate what kind of soda we can drink.
I believe a lot of the recently state-enacted voter restrictions and abortion rules are eventually going to be struck down by the courts. State governments are famous and cagey about enacting laws to circumvent the courts, only to be handed their heads on platters.
Local governments are no different. In Pennsylvania, so much of what a municipality may or may not do is defined by case law - not the authorizing legislation (the Municipalities Planning Code or the Second Class Township Code) - but the courts that have interpreted those rules. If you don't know about that city that was successfully sued for not allowing that cell tower, you'll probably come to a public meeting and demand that the elected officials deny a local cell tower permit because they're ugly (it happened recently and it was a former editor of a national newspaper making the demand). If you don't know that Pennsylvania municipalities have to provide a zoning district for ALL uses, you probably won't understand why they allowed an adult bookstore in town. And if your elected officials are not particularly bright, that adult bookstore may have ended up right next to the local elementary school, or that strip club next door to that church. Municipalities can plan, and they do, and like Mayor Bloomberg, they sometimes push the envelope. In the end we are left with rules that can withstand legal challenge, and not necessarily what we really, really, want.
I don't take people to court very often. Usually we find a solution amenable to all. But people need to understand that the maniac who killed Dave Fleetwood, Vinny LaGuardia and Jerry Kozic, and who critically injured Jerry's wife, Linda, was an animal. He was living in a trailer without a bathroom. He was defecating into a bucket and then dumping the bucket in the woods. He didn't have to live that way. He chose to live that way. He believed he had a right to live that way.
This wasn't big government taking this poor guy's property. I have a huge elderly population in my township. We have no city water. We depend on private wells that are not regulated or tested under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Do you know what drinking water contaminated with fecal coliform can do to an eighty year old with leukemia?
I have a small but fervent libertarian streak in me. I respect property rights. In a free country, I should have the right to use my property in any way I see fit. But I also believe property ownership is a privilege. I have the right to do anything I want...unless... or until...my actions prevent you from enjoying your property as you see fit. That is how I justify my responsibilities and obligations as a Zoning Officer. I am here to protect people - frequently from themselves or each other. That includes and shall forever mean protection of the groundwater, surface water, flora and fauna that we all have the right to enjoy.