--- Mel Miller <nourmahal@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> I would write a cool, balanced letter to the Mayor
> with a cc. to the City Attorney chronicling each
> contact you have had with the code nazi (please dont
> call her that in the letter, use her name - Officer
> Dyke, etc.), explain your position, and enclose a
> few good color pictures of your Mustang in your
> driveway (wash and polish it) to show that it is
> not a Junker (no offense to what were some pretty
> good German airplanes).
Yes!! I anticipated this and washed it yesterday...of
course, it rained all day today but I'll wash it again
and wax it up really nice...
> It is clear to me that the wording of the ordanance
> requires both requirements to be met. Since the
> definition of inoperative is "Not working", The Fire
> Marshall is all wet. I would not register or insure
> the vehicle or knuclke under to them at all.
Precisely. I spoke with the Fire Marshall today (true
genius there) and this is how the conversation went:
"Hello?"
"Hello, may I speak with Mr. Meese please?"
"Yes?"
"Hi, I spoke with you before about the Mustang on
(address) and at the direction of the code enforcement
officer, I was able to obtain a copy of the text of
the ordinance..."
"WE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT THIS BEFORE! You need to
have the car registered or inspected for it to be
legal."
"Ok, but according to the ordinance it says --"
"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK IT SAYS! THE ONLY THING
WE GO BY IS THE INTERPRETATION WE GET FROM LEGAL.
They told us that it has to be operational AND have
either a valid inspection or registration
certificate."
"That would mean you're defining the word "and" to
mean "or" in the ordinance...I think maybe there was a
misunderstanding in the interpretation...in the text
of the ordinance, it says if it is operational it
doesn't need--"
"I'm not going to discuss this any further. If you
need more info, you need to call the City Attorney's
office."
"Ok, bye. <click>" I was respectful to this dingbat
the whole time despite his arrogant attitude. Kill
'em with kindness. <grin>
This was AFTER I'd called the City Attorney and he
told me to call the Fire Marshall. When I spoke with
him, I told him he wasn't going to talk to me so he
said if that happened to call him back. Surprise. I
called the City Attorney back and he put me on hold
and told the Fire Marshall not to issue any citations
until he can investigate more (I'm not sure how much
investigation one needs to be able to determine the
meaning of that ordinance...it seems pretty
straightforward to me...)
> I would talk to my neighbors to see if any of them
> have a problem of some sort with the Mustang, but,
> if it is good looking and not up on blocks, I
> cannot imagine anyone objecting to it on a paved
> driveway whether or not it ever moves.
Yeah...my neighbors are good folks. There are many
other way more serious problems with ordinance
violations on my street than my compliant Mustang. I
doubt anyone there would want to call any undue
attention on themselves unless they're just really
stupid. :-) Besides, being a college town, the
turnover rate is so high I usually don't have the same
neighbors longer than 9 months.
> I don't know...Clinton had trouble defining 'is',
> and he was a Rhodes Scholar!
Yeah, I know. I was thinking the same thing when I
found myself having to explain to these people the
proper interpretation of the text. I'm not an
attorney, but I can read/write/speak English fairly
well and the ordinance text is just not that
complicated.
> What is College Station Coming To?,
Hell in a handbasket. Someone told the City Council
this is some sort of warped version of The Woodlands,
I guess. I used to think I wanted to live in College
Station after getting my Masters but I'm thinking I'd
rather live in Austin (of all places). If I'm going
to be treated like I live in Austin or The Woodlands,
I want to LIVE in one of those places and not the slum
of Central Texas known as College Station. No, I'm
not irritated...not a bit. :-)
> Mel Miller
> TAMU 70
> 2 X M725
T. Bloxom
TAMU '99 and '01 (should be '94 and '96, but I got a
late start)
1985 M1009 CUCV
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Sep 02 2001 - 11:15:41 PDT