76-08-B6
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1977
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Building Codes[edit]
Transcript[edit]Several years ago a number of dropouts from urban life migrated to the hills and valleys of Northern California's sparsely populated Mendocino county. Most of them were young people with little or no money, but a willingness to build a new life for themselves in a healthful rural environment. These new arrivals bought up remote forest plots and, like the pioneers a century before, set about building their own homes out of whatever could be found. The influx of these "alternative life stylers" caused alarm among the county fathers. They often wore strange looking clothes and had too much hair to suit the local establishment. And so the county government decided to try to drive them off. Their weapon was the California building code, a weighty document prescribing how all new structures must be built. It didn't matter that these do-it-yourself homes were usually located in remote forest areas. The county decided to enforce the Code against them. So out came the Code inspector, by jeep as far as it would go, and then on foot. On each offending dwelling he placed a red tag that marked it as unfit for human habitation. The inhabitants were required by law to evacuate. It would not have been surprising if these homeowners had reacted with violence to this obvious persecution. But to their credit they did not. They came down from the hills to form an organization called United Stand. They shaved and dressed up and set about to convince the citizens of Mendocino county that oppressive and unreasonable enforcement of the building code against their homes was thinly disguised tyranny. Over a period of three years they won their fight. Two red tag victims accused of substandard plumbing went to trial, and despite the obvious truth of the charges, a Mendocino county jury refused to convict. United Stand was able to persuade officials in the state capitol to draft a new section of the Code to deal more leniently with self-help buildings. A United Stand leader was named to the code study commission. This summer they won a last ironic victory. The State Fire Marshal arrived at the Mendocino county courthouse, home of the local code enforcers. He informed county supervisors that the court house did not meet state fire safety standards. The supervisors, reported United Stand's-newspaper, were "disturbed by the cost of compliance" and "rebelled at having to take orders from the authorities." Undeterred, the fire marshal said that he might be forced to close the court house and issue a criminal complaint for the supervisors' failure to comply. Thus, those who had sought to employ the power of the government to drive out peaceful residents living in their own homes, themselves fell victim to the dictates of a higher authority. The point is this: Once we accept the idea that government power may properly be used for any purpose, we may find the enforcers transformed into victims. That's worth thinking about. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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