Someday, when the mountain of evidence is big enough, people are going to realize that I’m not crazy when I say that zoning is fascist and tyrannical. Here’s one more piece of evidence on the pile: Reason.TV’s Drew Carey talks about a town that’s a modern-day Footloose (how many of you realize that was based on a true story?), prohibiting dancing and using other zoning ordinances to try and force a good, family-friendly restaurant out of business. No one knows why, and no one can get any answer from the local government goons.
The Web Home of Shane Killian
Education, Liberty, Skepticism – For our minds, for our freedom, and for our future
Shane,
Years ago, I worked as a free speech advocate, fighting against the DMCA.
Currently, I live just down the road from San Tan Flats, near Johnson Ranch and I may be able to shed some light on this situation.
Queen Creek and just outside QC – Pinal County area, is an area known as Johnson Ranch. I live only a few minutes from here.
The basic justification in the San Tan Flats dispute is the noise.
In the past, population was dim. Then, subdivisions in QC started popping up at amazing rates. The local paper reports that population increased by 100,000 in 3 years.
These newcomers are complaining about everything from selling turtles on the side of the road (which according to ordinance is legal) to the speed limit.
The speed limit was reduced 10 mph recently and photo radar was brought in.
A Walmart was erected which blocks the San Tan Mtns… nice..eh…
At any rate, in the local paper/newsfold, the Indepence, there are always multiple noise complaints against San Tan Flats.
It doesn’t seem to matter to these newcomers that the Flats has been there long before the new residents. The noise doesn’t bother me at all. Of course I live a little further out, but honestly, there aren’t any subdivisions directly across or behind the Flats…
Not sure if that helps but I believe there is significant pressure by residents against the Flats and from what I’ve seen so far, having lived here for over a year, the residents win, especially when there are fines or money the local government can obtain…
Thanks for the comment!
They looked into the noise angle, and interviewed all the neighbors in the immediate vicinity. None of them had any complaints. Apparently the place does a good job keeping the noise to a minimum. Who knows? I think the government goons at least owe the people a reason.
Thanks for fighting against the DMCA!
I know Drew Carey from PennRadio, he seems like a fun guy with a mission. I like the invocation of the “Kevin Bacon game” (related to the Erdös Number Project) at the beginning of the video.
According to oracleofbacon.org, Carey has made far too many hops (Carey – Berry – Beatty – Parker – Bacon, yielding a Bacon number of 5). The oracleofbacon algorithm comes up with 2 (Carey – Steven M.Porter – Bacon). Some people even have a pretty small combined Erdös-Bacon number, which is quite rare, as you would expect (see Wikipedia). But I digress. 🙂
I really hope this story will have a happy ending for the San Tan Flat folks. Sad that only going to court seems to settle these things.
A few months ago, I blogged about a town that used zoning to stop dancing at a local restaurant. An amazing organization, the Institute for Justice, which uses litigation to fight against oppression, has won victory for the family that runs the restaurant