- December 4, 2025
Dear Editor:
As anticipated, Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris's initiative to discontinue city restrictions on house colors and parking has incited wailing and gnashing of teeth among those homeowners who long for the good old days when Palm Coast was an HOA (subject to contracts which evade Constitutional rights), before it became a city (subject to the Constitution). Their tendency is not so much to "Love thy neighbor" as it is to "Control thy neighbor." (After all, thy neighbor might get uppity notions about having some sort of human right to control his own property!)
I suggest a compromise, "Leave thy neighbor alone."
The mayor may tend to court controversy, but his instincts on this particular issue are commendable. The city should have the power to impose property restrictions only for public safety purposes. It should not have the power to impose property restrictions based solely on esthetic considerations, even if they are valid (which they may not be) and even if they affect property values (which they may not do).
For those of us living forever in the thrall of those precious "property values" so beloved of Realtors, etc., I suggest that you consider a more important matter: your freedom. Individual freedom necessarily includes control of one's own property (to live and enjoy freedom, one must make a living, hence acquire and use property). And controlling your own property is far more important than whether it is worth a few dollars more or less. That reality applies to everyone.
My freedom is inseparable from yours. We are all free, or we are all at risk. So if my neighbor chooses to paint his house purple, I may not enjoy it, but I will learn to live with it, because it is his house, not mine.
Anthony Teague
Palm Coast
