It can be interesting to see what riles people up on social media

Sometimes the things that people get riled up over on social media can be quite interesting.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

For instance, take a recent story about Corbin officials urging people to cut their grass before the code enforcement officer had to cite them for it being too high.

It was a story that we didn’t have room for in our printed newspaper that week, so we put it up on our website and social media as web only content. (Having more stories than you can fit into the newspaper can be a nice problem to have sometimes…LOL.)

As of Monday morning, there had been over 250 Facebook comments on that story that covered a broad range of feelings, such as “seriously is this really what we have to worry about in Corbin!” and “amazing how they can tell you what to do with your own property,” to “in Lexington, if it gets over a certain height, the city will mow it and charge you for it. We take pride in having well-manicured lawns and expect our neighbors to do the same.”

Other commenters pointed out roads, such as Kentucky Avenue, with potholes that need fixing. Many don’t seem to realize that many of the roads mentioned are actually state roads, which city leaders would also love to see fixed by the way.

Most of the commenters – many of whom I suspect don’t live inside the city limits – ­were basically opposed to the ideas of a city being able to tell property owners what to do with their property.

I get this sentiment, but it misses out on one of the basic reasons why people choose to buy property and live inside a city limits, which is many of them want a certain level of rules and regulations, such as zoning.

For instance, they don’t want to invest in a $150,000 home only to have their neighbor create a junk yard next door dragging their property values down and creating a health hazard. This is literally the kind of thing that can and does happen out in the county where there are zero zoning regulations.

They don’t want to live across the street from a house with half a dozen junked up old cars up that are up on blocks.

People often choose to live inside a city so that there isn’t a decaying vacant old house next door infested with rats and snakes. This still sometimes happens in a city, but at least there is a mechanism in place for dealing with it although it might take quite a while many times.

One of the other reasons why many people choose to live in a city though is that they want zoning laws in place, which is something that I think a lot of people are missing in this debate.

For instance, many people choose to live in a residential area zoned for single family dwellings. Sometimes this is because they don’t want a lot of traffic out on the street next to where their young children play. Others just want to live on a quiet street, which is why they choose not to buy homes in neighborhoods with zoned for multi-resident dwellings, such as duplexes and apartment complexes.

Also, several people living in residential neighborhoods choose their home’s location because they don’t want a business opening up next door, such as a fast food restaurant or a rehab facility just to name two examples.

Like it or not, when you choose to live in a city, you are agreeing to abide by certain rules and regulations even if it is your own property. Your neighbors are expected to do the same.
If you don’t like it, then there is a simple enough remedy, which is move out into the county.