Entries categorized as ‘Nanny State’
Southern California is a dry place, prone to droughts. So Angelina and Quan Ha, of Orange, CA, ditched their water-hungry grass lawn about two years ago. They replaced it with “a drought-tolerant garden filled with lavender, rosemary and native wildflower seeds.” They claim the switch is saving them hundreds of dollars per year, not to mention hundreds of thousands of gallons of precious water.
The city of Orange promptly sued them, claiming their lawn violates local regulations. At least 40 percent of a yard must be covered with living plants. The city contends that the sparse shrubs and plants in the Ha family’s yard don’t meet the threshold.
“Compliance, that’s all we’ve ever wanted,” Senior Assistant City Attorney Wayne Winthers said. “They put up a nice fence, but it didn’t show anything about how they had complied with code, as far as the front yard goes.”
This is a fancy way of saying, “you will do what I tell you.” This is not a healthy attitude for any person to have.
The Has pled not guilty in court on March 2. If they lose, they are looking at up to six months of jail time and a $1,000 fine.
Fortunately, after a rash of bad publicity surrounding the court hearing, the city announced within hours that it was considering dropping the charges.
(Hat tip to Megan McLaughlin)
Categories: Nanny State · Regulation of the Day
Tagged: regulation, Regulation of the Day, california, lawn, regulations, orange, ca, ha, ha family, landscaping, orange ca, orange county, local ordinances, lawns, garden, gardens, gardening, lawnscaping, southern california, socal
One of Great Britain’s most light-hearted traditions is the cheese-rolling race. Every year on the May Bank Day holiday, wheels of cheese are rolled down Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth, Gloucester. Adventurous and/or foolhardy souls roll down the hill in hot pursuit; the one who gets a hold of the cheese before reaching the bottom of the hill wins. You can watch a video of last year’s race here. Winners get to keep the cheese as a prize.
Cheese-rolling races have been held at Cooper’s Hill since the 1800s. Until this year, that is. Health and safety regulators shut down this year’s event because it has become too popular. The Daily Mail reports:
More than 15,000 spectators turned out last year, which, at three times the site’s capacity, means it has ‘outgrown the location’.
Richard Jefferfies, one of the organi[z]ers, said: ‘‘We have had to cancel on the advice of the police and local authorities this year because of the issues of health and safety and other aspects.
‘As well as concerns about the safety of the crowd and the competitors, local landowners were also worried by the amount of damage done by people climbing over fences and that sort of thing.’
It is hoped the races will return next year.
Categories: International · Nanny State · Regulation of the Day
Tagged: cheese, gloucester, gloucester cheese race, Nanny State, regulation, Regulation of the Day, regulations, uk
Having eliminated all crime from New York’s streets, ended homelessness, rebuilt Ground Zero, and fixed the state’s ailing public schools, New York’s state legislature has set its sights on how much salt you eat.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg already has a plan to reduce NYC residents’ salt intake by 25 percent over five years. But State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) thinks that doesn’t go nearly far enough. It only covers New York City, for starters. The rest of the state’s salt intake would remain perilously unregulated under the Bloomberg plan.
That’s why Mr. Ortiz has introduced statewide legislation that would “make it illegal for restaurants to use salt in the preparation of food. Period.”
A $1,000 fine would accompany each violation.
Tom Colicchio, who owns a restaurant and has appeared on the television show Top Chef, is livid. He told the New York Daily News that “New York City is considered the restaurant capital of the world. If they banned salt, nobody would come here anymore… Anybody who wants to taste food with no salt, go to a hospital and taste that.”
He’s right; the salt ban does offend culinary decency. But there’s another angle that’s at least as important: personal responsibility.
If I want to pile on the salt, as Mayor Bloomberg famously does, that’s my right. But I also need to be liable for the consequences. If chronic salt over-consumption gives me high blood pressure and heart trouble, that’s my fault. I should pay the cost.
But that’s not how the current health care system works. We suffer from the 12-cent problem: on average, people only pay 12 cents for every dollar of health care they consume. Roughly 50 cents are picked up by the government, and insurers cover the rest.
That means people have less incentive to watch what they eat than under a more honest system. Why not rack up huge health care bills? Everyone else is paying for me. Health care on sale! 88 percent off!
Freedom cannot exist without responsibility. Decades of government encroachments in health care have taken away a lot of our responsibility for health care decisions. So it makes some sense that Mr. Ortiz would finish the job by taking away peoples’ freedom to eat what they want.
A better solution would be to have both freedom and responsibility, instead of neither. Ban the salt ban. Give people more control over their health care dollars. Let us be free. Let us be responsible. We’re all adults here. Treat us as such, Mr. Ortiz.
Categories: Health Care · Nanny State · Regulation of the Day
Tagged: bloomberg, brooklyn, diet, felix ortiz, freedom, health, Health Care, health care reform, mayor bloomberg, michael bloomberg, Nanny State, new york, new york city, new york daily news, new york state, new york times, nudge, nyc, paternalism, personal responsibility, push, responsibility, salt, salt ban, tom colicchio, top chef
In Tenneessee, it is illegal for barbershops to have fish tanks. That could change as soon as today, though. HB2823, sponsored by Rep. Ty Cobb, is up for a vote today in the state Senate. It would make barbershop fish tanks legal once again. The bill already passed the House by voice vote. Why the need for such obscure legislation? According to Tennessean.com,
[Rep. Cobb] proposed the measure after a constituent who owns a barber shop with a built-in fish tank told him she was asked to drain the aquarium after a state inspection and told she could only have fake animals in it.
While fish tank liberalization won’t affect very many people, it is heartening to see legislators repealing laws instead of passing more of them. Legislators looking for other things to repeal can start by looking at other Regulations of the Day. Congratulations to Rep. Cobb for doing the right thing. More, please.
Categories: Nanny State · Regulation of the Day
Tagged: regulation, Regulation of the Day, Nanny State, regulations, ty cobb, tennesee, tennessee legislature, tennesse house, tn house, tn senate, tennessee senate, barber shop, fish tanks, weird regulations, obscure regulations, absurd regulations
New York City’s public schools spent $18,365 per student in the 2007-2008 school year. That spending has been growing at more than double the rate of inflation over the last decade. That’s a lot of money. But since it isn’t spent very wisely, nowhere near that amount actually reaches the classroom.
Instead of firing teachers for incompetence (and sometimes worse), the district re-assigns bad teachers to “rubber rooms,” where they do nothing except receive their full salary. Maybe play Scrabble or surf the Internet. But mainly sit around and get paid.
Average teacher pay in New York City is approaching $70,000. There are about 700 teachers in rubber rooms. Assuming the rubber room teachers draw roughly average salaries, we’re talking about as much as $50 million that never makes it to the classroom from rubber rooms alone. That’s nearly $50 per student right there.
To make up for some of the money that gets lost in rubber rooms and central offices, schools often have fundraising events like bake sales.
Well, not anymore. At least not bake sales. Those are basically banned in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg and the city’s Department of Education worry that bake sales contribute to child obesity.
Bake sales are technically still legal. But only approved foods can be sold. And only at approved times. And never before the end of lunch hour. And you have to keep detailed records. And so on.
Complying with all the rules is just too difficult for a school basketball team raising money for a new scoreboard, or to cover the cost of traveling to a tournament.
Anything goes after 6:00 pm, food-wise. But hardly anybody stays in school that late. PTAs are given a longer leash. But even they cannot hold more than one bake sale per month.
(Hat tip: Fran Smith)
Categories: Nanny State · Regulation of the Day
Tagged: bad teachers, bake sale ban, bake sales, bloomberg, fundraising, government waste, mayor bloomberg, Nanny State, new york, new york city, new york public schools, nyc, nyc public schools, public schools, regulation, Regulation of the Day, regulations, rubber rooms, teachers, waste
Many government schools have zero-tolerance policies. They are supposed to help discipline rowdy students. But they are inflexible. Too inflexible.
Alexa Gonzalez, 12, was arrested and put in handcuffs for writing “I love my friends Abby and Faith. Lex was here 2/1/10 :)” on her desk in green marker.
Seems a bit much. At the very least, she should be made to clean it off. Maybe given a day of detention. But haul her to the police station in handcuffs? Overkill.
The child is not described as a trouble maker. But now she has a criminal record. At age 12. This will not help her when she applies to college in a few years. Or when she applies for a job during high school.
Ms. Gonzalez is not the only victim of one-size-fits-all zero-tolerance policies. The CNN story linked to above also mentions the plight of Chelsea Fraser. As a 13 year-old, she was arrested and handcuffed for writing “okay” on her desk.
CNN notes a third child who met the same fate. She is known in court documents as “M.M.”
In Chicago, 25 students were arrested because of a food fight. Arrested. Try detention next time. Let the punishment at least be in the same order of magnitude as the crime.
Categories: Nanny State · Regulation of the Day
Tagged: child discipline, discipline, government schools, overkill, overreaction, public schools, school discipline, zero tolerance, zero tolerance policies, zero tolerance policy
Pancake races are a Lenten tradition that date as far back as the 15th century. Contestants navigate a course as quickly as they can while holding a frying pan and flipping a delicious pancake a certain number of times.
The races are most popular in Britain. But other countries hold them, too. For over fifty years, the town of Liberal, Kansas has competed against Olney in England by setting up standardized courses in each town and comparing racing times. The Americans, despite being relatively new to the sport, actually have the all-time edge on the Brits, 33-25.
The secret to winning is to cross the finish line before your opponents do. That usually means running. The problem is that sometimes, running violates British health and safety regulations.
An official warned the racers before the St. Albans pancake race:
“Due to the wet weather conditions and health and safety regulations, in this year’s race, there will be no running allowed. Only walking is permitted. Any team that runs will be disqualified.
“It is a genuine health and safety concern. People fall over in the dry, they will certainly fall over in the wet.”
Three teams defied orders and pursued excellence as fast as they could. They were disqualified.
(Hat tip: Jonathan Moore)
Categories: International · Nanny State · Regulation of the Day
Tagged: britain, health and safety, kansas, lent, lent traditions, liberal kansas, Nanny State, olney, pancake day, pancakes, pnacacke races, regulation, Regulation of the Day, regulations, traditions
February 11, 2010 · 1 Comment
The Chicago Tribune has a jaw-dropping story of regulators gone wild:
Department of Health inspectors seized, slashed open and poured bleach over thousands of dollars of local peaches, pears, raspberry and plum purees owned by pastry chef Flora Lazar… Inspectors cited no health problems with any of the food.
And that’s just the beginning. Read the whole thing. This is a scandal. Ms. Lazar is out of business for six months and has lost about $6,000. There is no evidence of harm. This is no way to treat a small business. Especially during a recession.
(Hat tip: the ever-resourceful Brian McGraw)
Categories: Nanny State · Regulation of the Day · Uncategorized
Tagged: chicago, flora lazar, food, food inspections, food safety, foodies, fruit candy, regulation, Regulation of the Day, regulatory abuse, safety inspections, small business, waste
A Los Angeles couple recently paid an artist to paint a mural on the wall in front of their house. As you can see from the picture, it is filled with cute, cuddly forest creatures.
Now the city is threatening the couple with half a year in jail and $1,000 in fines for violating outdoor advertising regulations.
It is worth noting that the mural is clearly not an advertisement. Tacky, maybe. But definitely not an advertisement.
John Stossel has more.
Categories: Nanny State · Regulation of the Day · The Arts
Tagged: advertising, john stossel, los angeles, mural, outdoor advertising, phil lumbang
