The Pinehurst Hot Mess: Got a Pet Peeve? Bring it to Us. (We’ll BAN that mutha.)

 

Imagine being able to institute a government ban on ANYTHING that personally irritates you.  Karens. Liberals. Yippy little dogs. The Pilot. HOAs. Screaming children. Yankees. 

 

Here in The People’s Republic of Pinehurst, we can make that happen, captain.  All it takes here is for one person upset with something to contact the village council, and an ordinance change heavily regulating or banning whatever irritates said upset person.

I first became aware of this phenomenon about ten or fifteen years ago when ONE little old lady got upset with the kids next door playing basketball in their driveway.  She complained to the local government, and doggone if they didn’t pass restrictions on children being outside.

Of course, a bunch of parents went nuts over this.  How can one cranky old person complain to village government, and get whatever bothers them banned?

The restrictions on kids got disappeared almost as fast as they appeared.  Things got quiet and sane for the next little while, until the Strickland-Pizzella cabal took over.  Four to five LOUD, snobby couples got upset about rental property next door to theirs, made up some garbage about said rental property, and complained incessantly to village government.  That, my friends, is how we got the Great Vacation Rentals Crisis of 2022. 

Two handfuls of irritable people managed to stir up a hornet’s nest and create a whole new batch of problems for local property owners.  They didn’t get the ban they wanted, however.  Instead, a moratorium was enacted.  There will be no new rentals, but the existing ones can continue even if they change ownership. This threw a monkey-wrench into The Country Club of North Carolina’s plans to build new vacation rentals within the confines of its gated property.  This new decision appears to really fly in the face of our protected property rights. So, it will likely go to court, at great expense to local taxpayers.  All thanks to John Strickland, Pat Pizzella, Jane Hogeman, and their cocktail party pals. 

What’s next?  Well, it appears we’re about to get a crackdown on exterior lighting at Pinehurst homes. An ordinance change to make this so is on the agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting.

How did this all come about?  A group of busybodies decided they didn’t like the lights at ONE residence in town.  That’s right.  ONE HOUSE.

They berated and harassed the property owner.  She refused to bow down to them.  So, the “angry mob” took their grievance about this ONE property owner to village government.  Now, thanks to this little group’s kerfuffle with ONE of their neighbors, the whole village is getting subjected to some new draconian regulations regarding exterior lighting on private residential property.

What’s the fuss about changing ordinances in response to complaints about ONE resident?  It opens up the rest of us to the wrath of these busybodies. Village government has been weaponized to come after us regarding our personal property.

What happened to talking to neighbors, or even mediation?

Your property IZZ OUR property in Der People’s Republic of Pinehurst. Ve haff vays of making you compliant to the vhims of the angry, geriatric Yankees down the street from YOU.