During the mayoral and council debate we had on
September 3rd. The topic of city cleanup ordinances and how slow they are was discussed. A number of sitting council members and potentials were debating the issue of what to do. You can see full coverage of the debates on the following two posts: (
Mayoral,
City Council). The main point derived from the debate was the ordinance was to slow and was hard to enforce. Interestingly most of the current council recognized this and appeared to have known it was the problem all a long. My question is, if they knew it was a problem, why hasn't it been fixed?
No worries, the council has now acted. Today's Standard Examiner reports on the topic (
See Here). The old ordinance, stating residents have 60 days to comply with cleanup ordinances, has been updated to say they now have 10 days to comply.
What a change! I applaud the council for making such a change. Now lets hope for strong enforcement.
The door is open to discuss how this ordinance came to be and is it a good thing.
4 comments:
If we didn't have the resources to enforce 60 days,I wonder how we will enforce 10?
@TealWren
That is the real question! As much as I applaud the decision, is this even a reality?
I suspect the problem will remain the same. What enforcement will there be? So we charge someone with a code violation after the 10 days. which will take at least 30 days to get into court. The person will then plead not guilty and ask for a pretrial which he's entitled to. This will take another 14-28 days after which he will come in again and ask for another pretrial or set for trial, taking another 30 days or so if not longer if set for trial. The trial takes place and assuming he/she is found guilty, sentencing takes place another 30-45 days out after which the judge orders the person to clean up the violation and pay a $250 fine. The court sets the matter for review in 45 days for compliance. No compliance so a hearing is set another 15-30 days out where the person denies the allegation and sets for an evidentiary hearing that will take place 15-30 days out. Anyone see a pattern or is it just me?
I think we all see the pattern. I agree with you Rick. I applaud them for making the change, however, I am curious to hear how they are going to DO it.
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