Staring down a 10% local tax increase possibility in the budget Plainfield's City Council is currently struggling with, the cost of government is much on my mind lately -- as I presume it is on yours, too, dear reader.
And it was last night, as the Council got involved in the monkey business of a discussion around developing an ordinance to deal with those pestiferous (my view, not necessarily yours) Ledger ad bags thrown into residents' driveways on a weekly basis.
Council President Rashid Burney pointed out that Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson had told him it was not possible to PROHIBIT the distribution of these sales circulars, but it was possible to REGULATE it.
What came to me as the discussion went on is that it would be UNWORKABLE EXCEPT AT GREAT EXPENSE. (Bringing to mind other issues, such as those ubiquitous dish antennas about which we have an ordinance.)
Having an ordinance on the books hardly fixes a problem if it's not enforced.
And enforcing such an ordinance would cost the city.
To turn a blind eye and pretend that there is no additional cost to run the city incurred by ordinances such as this one strike me as the expression of the UNFUNDED MANDATES dilemma on the level of local government.
States complain about it when Congress enacts unfunded mandates.
Municipalities complain when the New Jersey Legislature enacts unfunded mandates.
Who is to complain when the City Council prepares to enact an unfunded mandate?
Bloggers?
As for the Ledger ad bags, maybe they should just be classified as 'OOLLA' -- one of Life's Little Annoyances -- and let it go at that.
-- Dan Damon [follow]
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4 comments:
Dan, how do you enforce an ordinace that is NOT on the books?
Are you suggesting we hire cope and then send them after the baggie throwers before we have laws on the books for such?
You are not making much sense here.
@ 7:28 PM -- I'm suggesting they drop the whole idea. If you like the coupons, use them. If you don't, figure it's an annoyance and throw the bag away. Simple.
Dan, this is another example of the "great mind" of Burney and the other council people. There is a free speech issue with this. Lets see if Burney feels the same way about all the POLITICAL GARBAGE that he and other politicians of BOTH PARTIES have strewn all over the place. Or maybe this is their way of "regulating" the campaign flyers of others. Some people like getting the circulars and don't find it a hardship to get them. Is this really a major, major problem, to the exclusion of the more pressing issues facing the city? Or is it a distraction? I think it's to distract us from the more important problems, like all the burglaries. A few of his neighbors complain about a few flyers and all of a sudden he is trying to write an ordinance? They call it hubris.
Dan, there are two issues here as I see it...1-we already have ordinances regarding property maintance, political campaign signs and the such that are not enforced. Even when we had all those Code Enforcement Officers they couldn't keep up with all the issues, & 2-it comes back to How much government do you want in your life? I for one want protection (army, police & fire) and road maintance (which shlould be paid for out of gas tax). Other than that...STAY OUT OF MY LIFE!
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