Permit process is strangling progress

To The Eagle:

Several jokes in my repertoire, both straight and risque, start with Luigi coming ashore from Ellis Island with two bits in his pocket, filling a box with fruit and veggies for sale and graduating quickly to pushcart, then trucks, then warehouses and great wealth - an encapsulated summary of the American Dream. It's been an obsolete yarn for quite some time, since it's quite apparent that in today's reality, Luigi would need 16 licenses, five permits, union membership, and an environmental impact statement in place before acquiring his first box of fruit. One of the Tea Party mantras is that business, both big and small, is hindered not only by taxation but also needless and mindless regulation.

In early August, police shut down kids' lemonade stands in Iowa and Alabama, making national headlines. But it gets closer to home; in Longview an excellent fruit stand is back in business after being shut down three years ago for selling produce not grown on her own property. In Oysterville, a seafood business was barred from selling non-food items that they have been selling for 40 years because of zoning regulations. One of our local entrepreneurs has been repeatedly hindered by regulations that impose both unnecessary cost and inappropriate time limits on operation of her mobile food stand, and churches and other civic organizations have been put out of the bake sale business for lack of bureaucrat-blessed kitchens.

And it isn't just the food folks under the gun. In Olympia, a school attempted to improve its performance by segregating boys and girls in some sixth and seventh grade classes, a technique that has produced good results elsewhere. But results don't matter. In Washington there's an arbitrary rule that kids can only be segregated for athletics or sex education, so that experiment is over. In our own neighborhood, we can't seem to accumulate enough permits, licenses, authorizations and bureaucratic baksheesh to keep our roads and fields above water. Seems as if the only growth industry these days is writing mindless regulations. In order to get into the business you'll need to be certified to apply for an application for a permit of authorization.

Howard Brawn

Puget Island