It's an Analogy, Obviously.

When is a community like a pirate ship? When you are in need of an analogy to protect the sensitive and occasionally confidential nature of your work, and your knowledge of the United Federation of Planets is rather weak.

Not that I'm really expecting anyone other than my immediate family to be interested in a blog describing the goings-on in a municipal planning office. Most people would consider it only slightly more interesting than, say, Adventures in Accounting. But honestly, I often find myself boggled by the happenings I end up involved in as my city's current-planning official. Thus, I felt the need to share, to provide perspective, to deflect blame. However, as I have previously stated, I deemed it necessary to change the names to protect the innocent (and occasionally the guilty.)

So I started casting around for a suitable analogy. Given my dilletante's knowledge of piratical lore, this was one of the first models I attempted, and I believe I can make it fit. First, though, I should explain the basic mechanics of the analogy.

1. Technically, the particulars of my employment are not analogous to a pirate ship per se. They are metaphorically closer to a privateering enterprise, as one could look upon the City Council as the holder of our Letter of Marque, giving us our mandate and providing us legal protections when our actions drift into the murky territory of protecting the health, safety and welfare of the general community at the potential infringement of someone's personal benefit.
2. The city administraion, our department's chain of command, and the community as a whole can be compared to the commaders and crew of a ship. We have carpenters, gunners, navigators, various masters and mates, plank owners, and nameless masses pressed into service. For instance, our storm water guy would be akin to the crew member in charge of making sure nobody dumps blige into our water stores. And a notice of violation is simply another form of flogging.
3. I have a pronounced limp, and my planning director, recovering from laser eye surgery, has an eyepatch.

Tomorrow we shall see how well this analogy works when applied to a real-life planning scenario.