Photo: When the City Says Your Boat Needs a Fence
The city of Seaside, California, ordered a man to cover the boat parked in his driveway. He offered a lesson in malicious compliance.
(Photo: Courtesy of Hanif Wondir)
"I'll do what they want, but I'm not going to do it their way," Etienne Constable told The Washington Post after the city of Seaside, California, ordered him to build a fence to cover the boat parked in his driveway. In July 2023, Constable received a letter from the city, saying the municipal code requires that boats be hidden by a 6-foot fence. Threatened with a citation and fine, Constable enlisted the help of his neighbor, muralist and graphic artist Hanif Wondir, to paint the fence to look exactly like the space it was built to cover up.
