> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gabriel Orgrease
> Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 8:28 AM
> Subject: Re: [BP] opaque sealant on terra cotta?

> What they needed, and what I have found out numerous times, 
> was a way to get them off the hook. 

In my experience this applies not just to the staff but to the
commission as well (except perhaps a commission as politically-based as
LPC, where some  decisions aren't based necessarily on anything related
to preservation).

The way I explain it to our individual customers is that they need to
build the coat tree for the commission to hang its hat on. The public
hearing on the proposal is an evidentiary hearing. Without evidence, the
commission can't make a decision. The burden of presenting evidence is
on the applicant. So if you just take the time to make a decent case,
the commission can then do its thing to help you.

Just saying "I want it because I want it" is not always helpful. That's
when "property rights" and preservation have a collision.

People forget that public servants always have two customers: the
individual before them that wants something, and the community at large.
Sometimes the individual wants something that would injure the community
and I have to say no to that person. Bad customer service, some shout!
My reply is: nope, I'm serving another customer. (It also helps me feel
better about myself having to say no to someone, because I'm really just
saying yes to someone else.) But when that alternate customer becomes
the narrow preferences of the bureaucracy without reflecting the
[perceived] values of the broader community, then you have big problems.
Now it's just a reign of terror.

> Every time we put up samples the anonymous histo presto 
> conscious neighbor that I can only assume had a greivance 
> against the property owners would call up the LPC and 
> complain that the colors did not match. 

This is another kind of reign of terror...individual citizen activism
gone beyond rational basis. Most of the time in the historic districts
there is a tacit "winking over the fence" for all the work that goes on
in backyards and on the weekends without getting the Certificate of
Okey-Dokey. But when one neighbor gets under the skin of another for
whatever reason (putting your trash cans in the wrong spot, or parting
your hair on the wrong side), then there is no infraction too small to
report. We often find ourselves then engaged in peacemaking, which falls
into the "other related duties" of the job description, and for which
there are no courses in college preservation programs to prepare you.
Beyond peacemaking, we end up dealing with neurosis then psychosis.
That's a psychology minor that isn't offered in tandem with materials
conservation courses.

Bowler or beret?

_____________________________________
Dan Becker, Chief
Division of Planning and Design
Raleigh Department of City Planning
919/516-2632



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