Board of Adjustment Meeting

I keep being asked to serve on various city advisory boards here in North Miami. This one is the Board of Adjustment. We're a "Quasi-Judicial" board that holds public hearings, and we make recomendations to the City Council on whether or not somebody can get a variance to build too close to the property line or have a fence higher than the ordinance allows, that sort of thing. Nothing really major, and the council still has to aprove it. We meet once a month in the Council Chambers.

When the current City Charter was adopted about 45 years ago they put in there that we'd get paid $10.00 a meeting. Back then that was enough money for a couple to go out to dinner at a moderately priced restaurant and maybe see a movie afterwards. Gas was about 27 cents a gallon. Now I probably spend more than $10 driving around town looking at the properties on the agenda. The Council salary is also set in the City Charter but they gave themselves an expense allowance plus health insurance. Not us! I keep asking myself why I keep doing it month after month.

Oh well, I do enjoy it. It gives me something to do when I'm not running around taking pictures that include myself. It's an excuse to travel around the city and keep up with trends in housing and what new businesses have moved here. In this shot I'm pondering something of great importance to somebody who applied for a variance. I don't remember what it was now though.