Letters – October 2018

Inequity in Bylaw enforcement should be an election issue

 

It has occurred to me that there has been a growing problem with garbage (and resulting rats) in Sandy Hill and that I needed to get to understand bylaw enforcement issues that relate to it. Well I have found out that the City has two very different approaches when it comes to the enforcement of garbage and parking bylaws, and that is very unjust in its implementation. My proposal for the incoming council is to address this issue immediately.

We need to level the playing field. From now on parking infractions will only be enforced when a resident places a call to the City so we should do away with random daily enforcement. Once there has been a complaint the bylaw officer will then call the owner of the vehicle and notify them that they are in violation and request they take action. They will give them a reasonable amount of time to move the vehicle, say a day or two, before an officer will go and check. For each complaint the bylaw officers will be given 3 hours to respond. Finally after a number of complaints for the same vehicle are received the owner will be given a notice and if there is no improvement the bylaw office may consider issuing a ticket.

I know this may sound a bit odd, but all bylaw infractions should be given the same treatment by the City and as current policy stands, vehicle infractions are treated far more harshly than garbage and that is just unfair. So if the above rules apply to garbage it is only fair that parking bylaw officers work under the same rules that their colleagues in the garbage do, don’t you think?

Remember to vote on October 22, 2018.

 

Ken Clavette

Henderson Ave.