#atxcouncil: Government Agency (with Well Documented Vindictive Streak) Seeks Vague, Open-Ended, Powers (to enforce arbitrarily)....

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

By now, there's been plenty of ink spilled on the City of Austin's proposed new "window screen" regulations; a representative sample:

The City of Austin’s Code Department is asking for residents opinion on a new regulation to add to its already lengthy list of them.

The regulation would require homeowners to install insect screens to all windows on their homes, at all times of the year.

....

Of course, while mosquitoes and bugs do pose an issue during the summer months and those surrounding them, they are all but a non-factor throughout the rest of the year. Nevertheless, that is when the City of Austin decided they would attempt to regulate Austinites year round. No word yet on how the city would enforce or punish if the regulation was to be put into place.

There's a lot that can be said about this proposal, starting with the fact that this is a textbook example of the type of mandated costs that slowly but surely drives up cost of living.

But it goes deeper.

Anyone who know the Austin Code Department's record knows their long history letting their friends do whatever they want while those they don't like are hounded incessantly.

In just the past few years, the Austin Code Department has:

• Ignored numerous violations by politically subsidized slumlords.

• Conducted illegal SWAT team raids (no joke).

• Who can ever forget the case of Matthew Palmer's fence?!?

• [Note: While the three examples listed above are the most flagrant abuses of which we're aware, this YouTube channel details numerous other acts of petty tyranny by the code department.]

And that's before we get into the unconstitutional enforcement powers the code department has been granted under the Short-Term Rental ordinance.

In other words, as it relates to any potential screen ordinance, 'selective enforcement' will be the order of the day.

Bottom Line: On what planet do we want to give the Austin Code Department, as it currently exists, this sort of power?!?