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The Danger of Being Neighborly Without a Permit
CityLab ^ | Feb 20, 2015 | CONOR FRIEDERSDORF

Posted on 02/23/2015 8:19:02 AM PST by Freelance Warrior

Three years ago, The Los Angeles Times published a story on the Little Free Library movement. The idea is simple: A book lover puts a box or shelf or crate of books in their front yard. Neighbors browse, take one, and return later with a replacement.

The L.A. Times followed up last week with a trend story that got things just about right. "two cities have recently cracked down on one of the country's biggest problems: small-community libraries where residents can share books," Michael Schaub wrote.

"Officials in Los Angeles and Shreveport, Louisiana, have told the owners of homemade lending libraries that they're in violation of city codes, and asked them to remove or relocate their small book collections."

We've constructed communities where one must obtain prior permission from agents of the state before freely sharing books with one's neighbors! And their proposed solution is to get scarce public art funds to pay for the needless layer of bureaucracy being imposed on the thing already being done for free.

The power to require permits is the power to prevent something from ever existing. This lovely movement would've never begun or spread if everyone who wanted to build a Little Free Library recognized a need to apply and pay for a permit. Instead they did good and asked permission never.

(Excerpt) Read more at citylab.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Society
KEYWORDS: littlefreelibrary; permit
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To: Hardens Hollow; null and void; laplata; Gluteus Maximus; Salvavida; Foundahardheadedwoman; ...

CWII Spark Ping — From the Article: “two cities have recently cracked down on one of the country’s biggest problems: small-community libraries where residents can share books,”


21 posted on 02/23/2015 8:42:25 AM PST by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: Jewbacca
Oh, good!!! I am hoping it was sarcasm, but knowing the LA Times and knowing the caliber of its "journalists," it is entirely within possibility that the line was serious. Not that I actually read the piece, you understand!

{^)

I remember the tagline of one FReeper years ago that read something like, "Proudly posting without reading the article since 1998!"

22 posted on 02/23/2015 8:43:33 AM PST by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: Freelance Warrior

This is satire, right? If not, then ad hoc renegade libraries are the least of our worries.


23 posted on 02/23/2015 8:43:46 AM PST by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)
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To: Oldexpat
Half the population of LA can’t read or never reads...

How long did you live in L.A. to know it so well? And what part of L.A.?

I've never lived in L.A., myself. So. Cal., yes. L.A., no.

24 posted on 02/23/2015 8:47:57 AM PST by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: Freelance Warrior

A Little Free Library sounds like a better way to protect your house from burglars than any security system.


25 posted on 02/23/2015 9:04:48 AM PST by Organic Panic
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To: Freelance Warrior

Is there a permit for the pile of garbage Furgeson claims is a memorial for Michael Brown?


26 posted on 02/23/2015 9:07:25 AM PST by Organic Panic
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To: discostu

The point is not to encourage literacy (though that is a worthy ideal), but to encourage community interaction. People getting out and together and just talking to one another.


27 posted on 02/23/2015 9:14:59 AM PST by Purdue77
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To: Freelance Warrior

Neat map at site.

One way to get around busy bodies is to not paint “Little Free Library” on it. Sure, the neighborhood knows what it is but Mrs. Kravitz wouldn’t have legal proof.


28 posted on 02/23/2015 9:17:52 AM PST by bgill (CDC site, "we still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: Freelance Warrior

Politicians tend to be parasites. That’s why leftists and muzzies are so much alike. They both believe in the proposition: All Power to the Parasites!


29 posted on 02/23/2015 9:20:51 AM PST by samtheman
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To: Freelance Warrior

Coming to your town soon ?

30 posted on 02/23/2015 9:21:24 AM PST by piroque ("In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act")
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To: Purdue77

And then go back inside alone and read.

I’m all for scattering books around to people. But as social engineering they don’t tend to accomplish much.


31 posted on 02/23/2015 9:21:55 AM PST by discostu (The albatross begins with its vengeance A terrible curse a thirst has begun)
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To: MeganC
We once loaned a shovel to our neighbor who needed it after a discussion with some bureaucrat who was telling him he needed a permit to fix his fence.

Coincidentally, we haven’t seen that bureaucrat around lately.

Happy ending?

32 posted on 02/23/2015 9:22:33 AM PST by samtheman
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To: momtothree

The ACCEPTANCE of the control over citizens by the citizens is simply beyond comprehension.

I think its time to take small stands wherever you can. If enough people push back, it might stop. Wait to long and they will cite precedence and history and all sorts of things.


33 posted on 02/23/2015 9:27:12 AM PST by Adder (No, Mr. Franklin, we could NOT keep it.)
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To: Freelance Warrior

I was a commercial fisherman years ago and from Alaska to Southern Cal, nearly every harbor and fish buyer had a book exchange for the crews. This government unapproved activity must stop!!!


34 posted on 02/23/2015 9:30:25 AM PST by dainbramaged (Get out of my country now)
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To: Adder

A freeper posted a quote some time back about when so many laws come into existence.. we all become criminals. (I wish I could remember the exact quote). Anyways, I kept track one day of all the laws I broke and it is way more than you would think. I start my day by breaking one.. I heat up the car in the carport without me in it. Yes.. that is against the law even if the car is on your property. I’ve become quite the lawbreaker in my “old” age. LOL!


35 posted on 02/23/2015 9:36:46 AM PST by momtothree
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To: Freelance Warrior
All you can do is to choose whether to pay the taxes yourself or via another person together with his interest.

Roundabout way of looking at it, but ultimately, he is required to pay the taxes, not I. And I also don't act like the property is mine - In most ways, we all pay taxes like this. Bottom line, if my landlord's taxes aren't paid, they don't come after me for my alleged property. They go to him. Works for me. I'd rather work it that way than pretend I own a piece of property. No one actually owns their property - it now all belongs to the State, as evidenced by their ability to tax and regulate and permit every single thing you do. If you have to ask permission to build something on your property, that property ain't yours.

36 posted on 02/23/2015 9:39:01 AM PST by dware (The GOP is dead. Long live Conservatism.)
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To: Freelance Warrior

Conservatives need to actively shrink government; the strategy of trying to hold the line is no better here than it was in Vietnam. We should eliminate most permits. The insane number of hours required for a beautician is an unnecessary barrier to entry. The insane price of a taxi medallion in NYC is an unnecessary barrier to entry. A permit to share books again serves no sane purpose. We need to start disassembling government at the federal, state, and local levels.


37 posted on 02/23/2015 9:45:22 AM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: dainbramaged

My towns trash transfer center(the dump) has a book exchange. I always look through it to see if there is anything worth reading. The last time my son went with me, I picked up an orginal hard copy of Robert Ludlum’s: The Bourne Identity and gave it to my son. I read it fifteen years ago.

Gosh, I hope the Town Librarian doesn’t come after me.


38 posted on 02/23/2015 9:45:26 AM PST by woodbutcher1963
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To: Freelance Warrior

For those of you who don’t believe that these are effective or exist:

There are lots of these around the country and it is growing in popularity. I have thought of starting our own.


39 posted on 02/23/2015 9:49:41 AM PST by buffaloguy
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To: Adder
I have a plan that would stop all this in its tracks. Currently they let people file complaints anonymously, and the busybodies are VERY busy. My plan is that you can file a complaint but YOU are the complainant and if it goes to court you must be there as the plaintiff. Do that and it stops this $h*t immediately. We're supposed to have the right to face our accuser are we not? well the stupid government wouldn't have done anything without a complaint from some nasty neighbor. Wanna be nasty? Put your name where your nasty is!
40 posted on 02/23/2015 9:51:27 AM PST by mistfree (It's a very uncreative man who can't think of more than one way to spell a word.)
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