ACT staffer, Sarah Russell sent me this story today. I think it illustrates the points I made in my last post about tolerance and property rights very well.
This is a true story, it happened in Utah!
A city councillor, Mark Easton, lives in this neighbourhood. He had a beautiful view of the east mountains, until a new neighbour purchased the lot below his house and built. Apparently, the new home was 18 inches higher than the ordinances would allow, so Mark Easton, mad about his lost view, went to the city to make sure they enforced the lower roof line ordinance. Mark and his new neighbor had some great arguments about this as you can imagine – not great feelings.
The new neighbour had to drop the roof line – no doubt at great expense.
Recently, Mark Easton called the city and informed them that his new neighbor had installed some vents on the side of his home. Mark didn’t like the look of these vents and asked the city to investigate. When they went to Mark’s home to see the vent view, this is what they found…