California homeowner Etienne Constable was told he needed to erect a cover to obscure his boat from view of neighbors or he would face a $100 fine. Municipal codes state that "boats and large pickup campers, motor homes, recreation vehicles, utility trailers, and vacation trailers can only be parked on driveways if screened on the side and front by a 6-foot-high fence.” Constable gave in and complied with the order, but put his own tongue-in-cheek spin on it by having a photorealistic mural of the boat painted on the front of the screen. "I'm not a rule-breaker but I like to make a political statement as necessary as well as a humorous statement and a creative statement,” said Constable. He explained that he frequently uses his boat, Might As Well, to go fishing and has kept it parked in his driveway for 4 years without receiving any complaints. Constable said the fence cost him a few hundred dollars to erect, and then he paid neighbor Hanif Panni to paint the mural. The artist has been inundated with requests from other neighbors to paint similar murals on their properties. Constable said he hasn’t heard anything from city officials, but he assumes they are aware.
