
Boy, 9, creates library in his front yard. City, stupid, shuts it down. - Doublon
http://boingboing.net/2014/06/19/boy-9-creates-library-in-his.html
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jonemo
Slightly misleading headline. The city has no issue with the "library", they
take issue with the library being a free-standing little shack making it a
building code violation.

Restricting where on a property one can erect structures is common in building
codes across the world. And as always with laws and codes, once you allow for
exceptions, everyone and their uncle will go to court to get an exception too.

What I think the city should have done is invite the kid over to city hall and
offer their assistance in navigating the process towards getting permits or
whatever is needed to continue running the "library". That would be a helpful
lesson to learn and probably yield a nice photo op for the mayor in the local
newspaper - win win. Instead they taught him that government and bureaucracy
are soulless machines.

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tlrobinson
Do they consider dog houses to be free-standing buildings? Bird houses?

 _" Instead they taught him that government and bureaucracy are soulless
machines."_

I think that's a better lesson than how to "navigate the process towards
getting permits" for a damn bookshelf.

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halviti
Since we're being pedantic, many cities have different rules for what is
allowed in a front yard vs. a back yard, which may actually be the problem...
this often leads to the occasional news story about the town that forces
someone to remove a garden in their front lawn, etc.

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randunel
The story is really about a piece of furniture being considered a detached
house annex. The child and his books have little relevance as far as the city
hall is concerned, only used to attract clicks.

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gambiting
I can't even imagine what the person reporting this must have been thinking.
Indeed, America, land of the free.

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kteofanidis
The rule of law is a great thing. It's a shame when short sighted people
enforce the letter instead of the spirit of the law as that undermines order
in the long term.

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tzs
What is the spirit of the law in this case?

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m_t
Probably something along the lines of "Do not build dangerous things in your
yard, were they could fall on people passing by. Also no ugly stuff." Which
could or could not be relevant toward that bookshelf.

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pizza
Mark Twain would have a field day in 2014

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Sgoettschkes
America, land of the free... Just wow!

I'm living in Vienna and these things are common here. We have local stores
having a "take something, leave somthing" shelf. We even have a few
"cupboards" installed by the city at public places installed for this kind of
book exchange.

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kubiiii
Same in France, and they are always full of books. People like this kind of
social experience and there are very few abuses. I have not checked if the
overal quality of the books tend to go down after a few months ending up with
yellow pages.

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dwild
The books have nothing to do with the article. The issue is the bookshelf, not
the books by themselves. The law prohibit to have that kind of structure in
their front lawn.

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DrinkWater
Seriously, how cold-blooded do you have to be?

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donmb
Land of the free ...

