If you make a Law, enforce it
Our Town Council announced with much fanfare that parking would not be permitted on certain roads in winter. The reason given was that snow plowing can’t be done if cars are in the way. So we just had a snow storm that meant plowing was needed - and Hibernia street had cars parked and the plow went around them. But no tickets were issued and no cars were towed! So why make a law if it is not going to be enforced? It just makes sure there are empty parking spots for people who ignore the law. I wonder if there was enforcement for any roads on the list. The Police can’t do the enforcing on a stormy night - they are busy with other problems. So who enforces?
January 24th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
A possible explanation may be found in the way the town responds to such matters. I believe that it is the Town’s policy to act only on direct complaints from citizens who feel that there is or has been an infraction of some sort. The Town does not act in a pro-active way, preferring instead to only react to complaints received. In many ways it makes better sense than to pay “infraction police” to patrol 24/7 looking for potential charges to lay. The general population provides many more eyes and ears than we can afford to pay. BUT - it means people have to take the initiative to correct a perceived wrongdoing. It means they have to stick their neck out for what they think is right, and that’s not always as easy as just complaining to whomever ELSE will listen, even when the listener has no power or authority to act on the matter. As for the snowplowing issue, the plow driver is the one who can initiate the enforcement process but in most cases seems to prefer to “go around the problem”, perhaps because of the time factor. Nevertheless, a call from the plow would certainly go some towards getting a longer term solution to the problem. Then again, someone else would probably complain that the plow is taking too long to clear their street. Can’t seem to win on this one.
January 24th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
And police departments should be implementing technological means to upload/record streaming video from cellphones dialling into 911.
January 25th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Mr. Schumann’s comments are likely true with regard to the police enforcing some laws and by-laws only when somebody complains.
That certainly seems to apply with the frequent illegal parking in disabled parking spots by those without the designation, which I see often and find appalling. Rampant selfishness is the motivating factor here.
Likewise, the by-law about clearing snow from sidewalks doesn’t seem to be enforced either. For pedestrians often forced onto the roads because of uncleared snow on sidewalks, it’s not only inconvenient but sometimes dangerous.
It’s even more of a serious issue for the disabled, for whom getting around during winter is hard enough without thoughtless citizens adding to their burden by neglecting their legislated requirement to clear their snow.
It’s doubtful though, that the police have the time or resources to adopt a pro active approach to these issues, unless we want to see an even higher police budget adding to our town taxes.
I’m not expecting action on any of these issues anytime soon.
January 26th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Deb’s observations are both keen and insightful. As with almost anything, there are real costs associated. We could, or should be able to, assume that if we are willing to pay for those services, we could benefit from more diligent enforcement of existing by-laws. One of the questions would be - when are the infractions serious or important enough to warrant the additional expenditures, or on the other hand, enough to divert existing resources from other areas of concern? It demonstrates that an on-going and careful re-evaluation of our priorities is essential. That’s part of the budgeting process but I don’t see that happening often enough at any level of government. Yet, that’s one of the more important reasons for even having governments. For those interested in such mundane pursuits, it would perhaps be interesting to observe just how much “re-evaluation” goes into the town’s budgeting process. Personally, I’ve attended a number of these proceedings and I am not impressed by the depth of assessments undertaken in the realm of open public discussions. That opens the issue of transparency, something for another discussion sometime.
January 26th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Jaw-walking is against the law. Every time I visit Cobourg I don’t see a police officer trolling the downtown to enforce that particular law. I would be inclined to discourage such enforcement. On the few times I visit Cobourg, I jay-walk across the main street to enter The Paper Lace, to purchase something and sometimes not. I am an admitted law-breaker. Mr Schumann stills welcomes me into his retail outlet.