Bali Szabo lives in Hailey.
By BALI SZABO
I am disappointed and appalled, though not surprised, by Hailey's proposed "gentrification ordinance." It is blatant class discrimination. The underlying issues, masked by euphemisms, are class warfare, racism, ethnic/white trash vs. money. This is a form of cultural encroachment wherein one group imposes its orthodoxy and hegemony through the law. (In many places, racism was the law in the '60s.) It is a knee-jerk, punitive response to a conflict in cultural values and expressions.
Since when is intolerance a cultural and civic value? And since when does the Holy Grail of property values trump human values and diversity? (Since ever.) The greatest damage to property values has come from lack of oversight and greed of the finance sector over the last decade, and not from parking on one's lawn. Typically, we are treating the symptom, not the cause. A tightly corseted, buttoned-down lifestyle has legal sanction, and a relaxed, more informal, sloppier one does not?
Many a commentator has opined that the U.S. has become a gated community. The anti-immigration rhetoric, bolstered by bureaucratic and physical barriers, have belied the spirit of the Statue of Liberty. Americans are showing an increased preference for living in like-minded (closed-minded) communities. Is Hailey beginning to copy the claustrophobic homogeneity of neighborhood associations with all their constrictive rules? I dare Hailey to try this ordinance in Gannett, Carey or Shoshone.
Wealth has served Ketchum well, just as diversity has served Hailey well. This proposal flies in the face of this community's greatest virtue—a melting pot of all kinds of people. We are, by far, the most diverse town/city in Idaho. In fact, we have few peers in the West. If we start to treat people like junk, we perpetuate the very behavior we seek to remedy.
And then there's the issue of the can of worms/slippery slope, litigation trap. The assault rifle sculpture was a shot across our bow—reality and paradise at odds. I've been all over the back roads of the U.S. Old appliances and auto carcasses are honored lawn ornaments. How many of us are packrats who hate to get rid of anything? George Carlin dealt with this issue brilliantly when he said, "It's my stuff and your #*&%."
I know a great lady in Hailey whose entire garden is off-the-shelf plastic/metal ornaments. I've seen outlandish paint jobs, and entire lives moved from the inside to the outside. There's a guy in Truro, Mass., who decorates his entire house and grounds with thematic nicknacks that mark the major holidays, like Christmas, Easter, Halloween and the Fourth. He has dedicated his whole life and wealth to this expression of Americana.
This never ends. How about yard sales? An assortment of personal junk/treasure on public display? Isn't that an eyesore? How about if you grow the wrong stuff in your yard? Can a golf course mentality impose its will on a lived-in/on yard? Since when are environmentally poisonous waterhog lawns sacred?
Gentrification is consumerism, conspicuous consumption/pavement, habitat and value encroachment, an excessive resource use that's clearly detrimental to the big picture. Want a "trout-friendly lawn"? Park on it.
