In so many cases where expenses are legitimately enraging, the trouble lies with whom public money is being spent to benefit. An expensive car to drive a politician around or a first-class trip overseas represent more public money than necessary spent on the comfort of those public servants responsible for spending it. A magnificent piece of infrastructure put in place to last a generation or more is public money is spent to improve the city. That’s what public money should be spent on, and more often we ought to insist public servants spend the dollars necessary to do the job right. Read more: Spending for public benefit is no scandal: Keenan | Toronto Star
It’s as if as soon as there is activity in an urban setting, local government springs into action to regulate it. Cities and towns are well-known for imposing all kinds of of rules and codes, a great maze to be navigated both in the creation of buildings and their occupation and operation. On a proportional basis, the tight control exceeds anything decreed at the state or federal level. So it was with great interest to learn of an initiative in one of the regulatory regime’s most guilty parties, San Francisco, to loosen up a little bit. And the rebellion, to its great credit, began in the Planning Department. More: CityLab —
The Tragic Comedy of Small Business Permitting
