Week 3- Teddy Cruz and Non-Conformity

I was really interested to read about Teddy Cruz's work in both the San Diego and Tijuana areas. I really enjoyed reading the piece by Solnit and getting to see Cruz's work from his own perspective on either side of the border. I was especially intruiged by his ideas of non-conformity especially those in relation to zoning regulations and building laws in the U.S. It is a tricky issue to approach, the idea that our government (in trying to protect it's citizens), are in actuality, limiting their successes. People living near the border or in multi-family/extended-family homes are often hindered by laws that keep them from expanding or adapting their property to certain specifications that would greatly improve their lives. At what point do we allow our government's arbitrary rules to keep people from living their best life possible and in this case, living comfortably under extenuating circumstances. Why should the government care about additions on someone's own property or an extra room or a certain breaking up of space? I really liked Cruz's non-conformist approach to the project Living Rooms at the Border which would break up a "church" space allowed 3 allocations into 12 different spaces and create a much better situation for the community surrounding that property. Visionaries like Cruz are the ones who make a difference in the world. Not by fighting with weapons but instead fighting with ideas, and good ones at that. They take the initiative to implement their ideas and prove to those who have doubts that they are, in fact, making a life/a community/the world a better place.