For some time, the chairman of the neighborhood association’s planning team has been trying to get an electronic copy of the ordinance that established the NCCD south of 45th Street, to use as a template for writing a draft ordinance to create the NCCD north of 45th. She’s pestered various members of the city’s Neighborhood Planning and Zoning department about it for months, but had gotten noplace.
Tonight I emailed her a finished copy of the complete ordinance.
Now it helps if you know that full-text copies of ordinances come from the city clerk’s office and can generally be had for the asking. I walked in and told the clerks I wanted a copy of Ordinance 020131-20, and after they got over their astonishment and delight at a citizen who knew not only exactly which ordinance he wanted but also its reference number, they printed me a copy and sent me away with their blessings. I scanned and OCRd the document Sunday and cleaned up the formatting this evening. Total time invested: maybe four hours across six days.
Moral: When you want something from the city, ask a former city bureaucrat to do it. He may well know more tricks than you do.
Agent 007 imitates the massage of some Los Angeles devils. Fnord.
