tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22571319.post117370510981891445..comments2023-06-18T10:03:39.982-05:00Comments on Gregorian Rants: Getting the Kohl's store in Carbondale or why you need a pro-business mayorPeterGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13362919400474969329noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22571319.post-1173709311731282442007-03-12T10:21:00.000-05:002007-03-12T10:21:00.000-05:00Your argument is sound when you are dealing with p...Your argument is sound when you are dealing with people's lives like criminal cases. But this is a civil kind of thing, the bar is lots lower.<BR/><BR/>These rules can be changed in a verity of ways. Because we haven't heard any complaints about what happened, we can safely assume it was legal and followed the rules.<BR/><BR/>If you were in business and had dealt with these things, you would know that the rules are as complicated as the IRS tax documents. If you are skilled and knowledgeable about the rules, you can navigate them. Those of us without these skills lean on the city employees to help us. If the city employees do the most sever reading of the rules and don't help, we get stuck.<BR/><BR/>This is standard mid-level bureaucrat stuff. If the person at city hall is managed to help and is skilled, they can help you understand the rules and do what you want to do by changing very little. If they are managed to not help or unskilled, they just say "NO!" Often just changing what you are asking will give you a good result, but you can't know that without help.<BR/><BR/>The problem at Carbondale City Hall for many, many years has been the city zoning and planning employees have been managed to say, "NO!" instead of helping people. They are following the letter of the law, but most of them know they could help you figure this out if they wanted to. <BR/><BR/>How do I know? Because I have been in lots of city hall zoning and planning offices and Carbondale's in the Neil Dillard era was the worst to deal with that I have experienced.<BR/><BR/>You often have to take your business elsewhere if the city hall people say "NO!" Mostly the city wants people to stay, so this is a bad result. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for the interesting comments.PeterGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13362919400474969329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22571319.post-1173707855162350152007-03-12T09:57:00.000-05:002007-03-12T09:57:00.000-05:00Either you're assuming Redmond made up the sign ru...Either you're assuming Redmond made up the sign rule wholecloth - which seems unlikely - or its a rule. And when a city makes a rule, they need to follow them. For example, we don't want them to sometimes Mirandize people and sometimes not. Rules exist to that everyone has to play the game the same way. If the rule doesn't match "common sense," you change the rule. But arbitrarily following them is the worst possible thing you could do.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22571319.post-1173707273238188172007-03-12T09:47:00.000-05:002007-03-12T09:47:00.000-05:00I have never heard that any rules were broken on t...I have never heard that any rules were broken on the Kohl's sign, unless you want to give us details about that, it would be better to assume you are incorrect.<BR/><BR/>There are ways around every rule, they are guidelines and not the Ten Commandments.<BR/><BR/>It is OK to accommodate businesses, when they are going to give you far more then they want in return. The Kohl's sign is a great example of this, Carbondale got a lot and gave up something that doesn't hurt. A great trade.<BR/><BR/>People who choose to follow bureaucratic rules, instead of common sense, seen to inhabit Southern Illinois in great numbers. Everyone seems to want common sense, instead of the rules, when looking at their own lives. I know I do.PeterGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13362919400474969329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22571319.post-1173705953144999352007-03-12T09:25:00.000-05:002007-03-12T09:25:00.000-05:00Your argument is that its good the mayor ignores t...Your argument is that its good the mayor ignores the zoning rules, rather than trying to re-write them, and that its bad that the head of planning & zoning should ignore the zoning rules? Talk about having it backwards. The zoning rules need to be firmed up and enforced, not ignored. I don't particularly care about a big sign or whatever -- so change that rule. But under no circumstances should cities blythely ignore their own rules. Otherwise, what's the point of having rules in the first place?<BR/><BR/>And before you ask...yes, cities should be prepared to say good-bye to businesses that try to blackmail them. St. Louis, for example, did the right thing by not paying for the new ballpark.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com