I, too, think the city fathers should get behind an effort to have licensure only by the state. That will be a strong sign that they don't want too much coziness with those regulated. It would be a clean-government move. And the state standards should be strong enough to suffice for Minneapolis.
As Jim G said, there should be no reason that a homeowner with the skills can't get a permit and do the work and then get it inspected. This is a pro-consumer system of values and that is what our government should consider a priority. Personally, I wouldn't do too many things, but I know a lot of other men and women, confronted by the staggering per-hour rates of professional plumbers, would. I have to think that it is not the nature of the work that causes that but an artificial restraint on the market. If I, without either training or even aptitude, can do simple plumbing work, the rate of pay should be modest. But adverse regulations have made it nearly unaffordable for a lot of people. People who use plumbers have many more votes than the plumbers do. If the playing field is severely tilted, it has to be a corruption of democracy. We progressives should be helping to tilt the playing field back towards the level. ===== ===== Jim Mork----Cooper Neighborhood "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God"--Matthew 5:9 United for Peace http://www.unitedforpeace.org/ __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
