WOOHOO! Good weather = time to build

[nachoman]

i do volunteer work for a children's camp in the mountains near Wrightwood here in So Cal, and they have just the opposite problem. They lease the property from the U.S. Forrest Service because it is located in the Angeles National Forrest, but it is also located in an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County. They need to get permits for any construction from both the county and the Forrest Service. Guess what, the county and the Forrest service disagree about almost everything! Imagine trying to build something with two government agencies each telling you to do it their way and not the other's way!

If you think that is rough, try working for the enforcement agency. They aren't the ones responsible for making the red tape, but they are responsible for hanging it. When I worked for a regulatory agency, all I cared about was gathering the information I needed to complete my task. Any other weirdness that I ran into I let be someone else's responsibility. As one angry landowner screamed at me, "I live out here for a reason - to get away from the government". My job was simply to verify well records from an old and poorly maintained well database. I ran into plenty of angry landowners who wanted to complain about everything, and the only information I cared about was whether a well still existed. In the process I ran across structures that had collapsed, people living in trailers that may be missing windows or doors, people living without plumbing or septic systems, marijuana gardens... These people were living 25 miles from pavement, and 25 miles from electricity. As far as I was concerned, if they want to live that far away and that lifestyle, that is their choice. My job was simply to verify a well database. Anything else was beyond my jurisdiction and I did not have the time or resources to deal with.