No Selective Enforcement

A question for columnist Nick Welsh, “Why do people hate Santa Barbara? Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came?” The city ordinance violated by the State Street brew pub with its neon sign was the law before the owners rented the space, before they renovated, while their advisors guided them through the permit process, and still is the law now.

If you or the owners don’t like the law, change it. But don’t ask the city to reverse proper decisions based on case-by-case sympathies. That is selective enforcement.

Journalist Edward R. Murrow famously said, “Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.” Nick, your recent column was not wise.