Judiciary Gone Mad: Man Gets Jail for City improvements

I have long though that cities, municipalities and the judiciary are over-zealous in trying to rule individuals' lives. Now courtesy of the Daily Breeze comes more evidence that these socialist busybodies are interested only in making ordinary peoples' lives worse, not better.

In Torrance, California, Francisco Linares bought a one-acre lot, tore down the existing house and built a new building. He then asked the city to repair the fence behind his proerty. However, the city informed him that it was on his own property and that it was his responsibility. Fair enough. Linares replaced the fence at his own expense. However, the city then deceided that the fence was indeed on city property and sued Linares to remove his improvements. Now a judge in Superior Court has sent Linares to jail for six months becasue he never got city permits to have the work done.

Cities have an indisputible duty to maintain pubic property, but they have no right whatsoever to engage in this kind of micro-management of the citizens' lives. Linares made the changes on his own property, and the city has no right to insist that he need permits or anything else in my view. If it were public property, then fair enough- it is city land. However, in this case, the story tells us that Linares was subsequently found to have done plumbing upgrades without city permits as well. Why should he need them? Again- it's his property. As long as the changes pass inspection, then there iss no need to get permits, in my mind.

The saddest part is that a judge found the man guilty and sent him to jail. This is a gross miscarriage of justice, in my opinion. Hollywood starts regularly get probaztion for far more serious offenses. Why is Linares going to jail simply becasue he didn't feel like dealing with some petty bureacrats?

It is time that we deal these busybody bureaucrats and teach them that their power ends where private property begins. As a nation, we used to understand that. It is a piuty that we seem to have forgotten that simple fact in these days of ever-increasing State power.