i find the concept of grandfathering to be a study initself Tex Ranger. This is where one could easily apply what i call enforcement disparity.
please bear with me for an example...
quite a while back i lived in a town that was literally mired in the repetitive curse of the worst urban renewal there is...Fire
This went on until two FF's were kia.
The fire dept made an appeal to the powers that be, and were summarilly deputized to impose fire codes upon the public. This meant any public buildings , apartments, stores , etc.
They in fact did such a good job that they put themselves out of business as a Fire dept, ending up answering more alarm investigations than anything else
(and i wonder if the great Chicago fire could be a similar scenario Bigplanz...?)
The economic reprecussions became increasingly apparent as time went on. Apartment housings told to come up to code became more expensive to live in, so people simply went across the river (this was a border town) to live
Potential Businesses confronted with an extensive list of fire codes simply went elsewhere as well
Thus, out of sheer economics the lifeblood of the town started drying up, empty store fronts were common downtown, the populance followed employment , the tax base suffering the consequense as well....
The powers that be tried to kick up a revitalization program, where potential businesses could jump through X amount of bearacratic hoops to obtain funding for life safety improvements. Yet it was easier to simply cross the river, and open doors in a state who's enforcement was lax
Eventually the FD decided on a 'work with us' approach, simply asking for ongoing improvements in lieu of overnight upgrades
A happy medium you ask? imho, it's necessary within what will probably always be an apples/oranges system.
even were it all magically same/same, people's livelyhood(s) are a consideration
conversley, and in a broader world view, outsourcing prositutes the complete lack of the institution(s) of safety doctrines, readily witnessed in any walmart's goods made by chineese kids for a bowl of fish heads a day
~S~
