Replying to a message of Ross Cassell to Dan Ceppa:

 RC> I tend to think your opinion of this case is highly tainted by your
 RC> rabid atheism and that if it were more of a case of being a
 RC> Tupperware Party you wouldnt be so inclined to side with the city?

If it were *A* Tupperware Party I don't think the city would ever have become
involved.  If said Tupperware Party was being held every week and/or several
times a week it's likely that the city would become involved.

 RC> Better yet, if this man was working for ACORN or having some grassroot
 RC> political meeting to elect Democrats to office, you would have no
 RC> problem.

 RC>>> In Kirkland can you obtain a permit to hold a gathering at your
 RC>>> house in which traffic and parking issues are presented and your
 RC>>> guests are allowed to disturb or inconvenience your neighbors?

 DC>> Who cares?  The point of the matter is that the situation is against
 DC>> the zoning codes.  They have 2 choices:  Pay for the needed variance
 DC>> or move to another neighborhood where those restrivtions do not
 DC>> apply.

 RC> Oh please, paving his lawn and installing a parking lot and erecting a
 RC> steeple is a zoning problem, not having people over as guests.

While it's portrayed as just 'having people over as guests' that's not exactly what
is usually meant by the term insofar as private residences are concerned.  'Having
people over as guests' doesn't occur on a regular weekly basis or several times a
week.

I have a friend of mine that 'has people over as guests' 3 or 4 times *a year*;
most recently on the Sunday before Memorial Day.  Now my friend lives in a
lakefront home on a private road on the outskirts of Lincoln, NE; he not only has
to deal with the city of Lincoln, but also with the homeowner's association (I
don't know about his particular association, but many if not most of them are
populated and run by petty tyrants who get off on telling people how to live their
lives).  Obviously parking is a problem because there are usually about a dozen cars
involved and the homes have very small street frontages (a driveway and one parallel
space is normal).  But his gatherings don't occur every week, and on those 3 or 4
days a year when they do occur the neighbors are only inconvenienced in the late
afternoon and evening.  In the several years that he's been there I'm unaware of any
complaints.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+