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Comment by rayiner | Hacker News Reader

I don’t understand how you Californians put up with so much government. It’s not even good government. It’s not like you can point to great public services and whatnot to make up for it.

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If you are renting to a roommate and the guy knocks over a candle or falls asleep smoking in his bedroom you notice straightaway and can escape or try and put out the fire. But if you live next to a studio apartment and the fellow sets his kitchen on fire you may not notice until it's too late for you. Proper fireproofing is absolutely essential in multitenant units. There is nothing wrong with Oakland insisting on proper code, especially after that warehouse fire a few years back.

NYC seems a bit more permissive towards not-so-legal landlords, and every few months the NY Post reports a building fire with really avoidable casualties. From circumstances you suspect out-of-code rentals.

Most places have ridiculous zoning regulations.

It's only so painful in California because there aren't many convenient places left for greenfield development.

Well the upside is that the city actually allows this at all. If I were still living in Texas, land of freedom, this would be completely forbidden in most cities.

It seems like the "In Soviet Russia" jokes could now be applied to California (in the sense of regulations, I'm not claiming that California abuses humm rights as much as Soviet Russia did)

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