Wild Ride

Homebased business owners seem to be on a roller coaster ride these days with local municipalities, zoning boards, planning commissions and others caught behind the times. Outdated, conflicting, discriminatory and poorly written zoning ordinances confuse and discourage people who want to run businesses from home.

Sure, the planning commissions and zoning boards--not to mention state and federal governments--should respond to changes in demographics and the needs of homebased business owners. But they certainly aren't the only ones keeping us on this zoning roller coaster. Every time a homebased business owner has to use his or her own resources to respond to an assault from a disapproving neighbor, every time an unqualified organization rallies to the aid of a business under siege, every time exemptions and special favors are given to corporations to develop work-at-home programs but not to their homebased business counterparts, it muddies the waters.