Saturday, October 24, 2009

WHAT'S IN AN ADDRESS ?

Well if you live at 340 Beebe Road at the corner of Florence Road, a $2000 fine is in it when you do what lots of other people in this village have done and you put up a fence in violation of the village code.  If, on the other hand, you own the property at 323  1st Street, you'll only have to pay a $300 fine for putting up an illegal fence.


Now if you live at 223 Wellington Road and if you're a village trustee who has taken an oath to uphold the village code on three different occasions, you can put up an illegal fence AND an illegal pool and never pay a fine.  You see, that's a special address where the Village Code doesn't apply.  It's a magical corner sprinkled with fairy dust The people who live there are very, very special and because of their special nature, the rules don't apply to them.


There's another magical house in Mineola at 200 Banbury Road.  It's even more special because a very, very important man lives there - a mystical man.  He lives there even though you never see him there.  He's kind of like God that way.  He's called "Mayor" and he too has taken an oath to uphold and defend the laws of the Village not once, not twice, not thrice.  He has taken this vow four times.  But he can pick and choose the laws he's going to obey because he's a mystical man with magic hedges around his magic house.



He has "magic" hedges that are really only 3 feet tall even though they look 6 feet tall.  Now if they were really six feet tall those hedges would be in violation of the village code that the Mayor has promised to uphold, but because they are "magic" hedges they only give the illusion of being too tall.  Just like the Mayor gives the illusion that he actually lives in his magic house.  And that he's honest.  And law-abiding.  And not at all a hypocrite.

Welcome to Mineola.  It's a Magic Kingdom ~ at least for some.