Animal Waste Ordinance

[The Free Hornet]

You should suggest to your city council a public awareness campaign regarding keeping the public places clean. It can include dog droppings as well as trash. I would say no for the fine or fee or whatever it is and yes to a general condemnation of the practice. Make it a public ordinance to not leave dog droppings, but don't fine people for doing so. Knowing that you are doing something wrong will probably stop 90% of people from leaving the stuff behind.

Will this "public awareness campaign" target the wild geese and who will pay for it?

-This does not appear to be a "problem". I take my dogs for walks in the nearby parks all the time and rarely, if ever, see any domesticated animal waste. It's not as though we are trudging through fields of it.
-This originally stemmed from an open forum where just over 20 city residents showed up with questions/suggestions. All in attendance said that they would favor such an ordinance. That being said, this is a city of roughly 25,000 people. 20 residents seems like a very insignificant basis to me.
-The mayor has previously displayed that this is a bit of an irritating issue for him at a city council meeting. He complained about the waste being left behind from wild geese in the area, and actually asked if we could do anything about it. I had a hard time not laughing at that meeting. Still, this doesn't appear to be where the ordinance is originating from.

 

[bolil]

Well, if your dog craps on someone elses property or the commons not picking it up should result in humiliation. There is no reason to give a thing as small as this the teeth of law, imo.

eg. I see your dog take a shit on my lawn while you pretend not to notice, I will mail that shit to you. If it happens again, I will start shitting on your lawn.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Well, if your dog craps on someone elses property or the commons not picking it up should result in humiliation. There is no reason to give a thing as small as this the teeth of law, imo.

eg. I see your dog take a shit on my lawn while you pretend not to notice, I will mail that shit to you. If it happens again, I will start shitting on your lawn.

Pour bacon grease on the poop. Hopefully, the dog that did the pooping will be the first dog back to eat it.

 

[Aeroneous]

Alright... the meeting has adjourned. Here is my Justin Amash style "transparency" post.

I voted Nay on passing the City of ******* Animal Waste Ordinance on to council as amended. This ordinance would make it illegal for animal owners to allow their animals to deposit waste on public property or someone else's private property. Prior to the vote of the substantive motion, I successfully moved for an amendment to clarify the phrase "private property" in order to protect the rights of ******* residents to act as they see fit on their own property. The ordinance now reads, "the property of another." I was also nominated and elected to be the Vice Chair of the board.

This ordinance is based off the opinions of a statistical pool of only 22 residents, which is not nearly significant enough to warrant a law for nearly 25,000 residents. Additionally, laws which try to govern personal responsibility have been historically ineffective. Finally, requiring police officers and animal control officers to actually investigate and fine residents for such "offenses" is a true waste of time and resources. Such trivial matters should be handled at the HOA level, or between a witness and the "offending" party.

The ordinance passed, 3-1, with one member not present.

Trivial, I know, but I'm having fun with my little bit of effort to protect liberty.

 

[DamianTV]

Pigs are animals, and everything they do is a waste.
So maybe I'm actually for it.

Then we could start by eliminating Pigs as their cost to the state for their Pensions is massive. Not to think of all the innocent people they get put in prison to falsely validate the existence of their jobs. Oh, did I say Pig? I meant Cop. Well, they're animals too and their shit shouldnt be tolerated by anyone.

 

[jclay2]

Vote no and focus on real issues that will enhance freedom and help your community.

 

[CaseyJones]

Alright... the meeting has adjourned. Here is my Justin Amash style "transparency" post.



Trivial, I know, but I'm having fun with my little bit of effort to protect liberty.

+rep

 

[helmuth_hubener]

In theory, OK. In practice, in the situation we're in, we should be doing everything to eliminate laws and fines and government. Cops would just use this to harass people. So you should vote no.

 

[erowe1]

I am on a city council board where we discuss/vote on ordinance recommendations for the council, and we have an issue coming up for debate soon that I would like to hear some libertarian opinions on.

I'll leave out the specifics and my own personal stance for the sake of the debate, but the proposed ordinance would basically make it illegal for an owner not to pick up their animal's waste in public areas. The ordinance would impose a very small fine, and enforcement would be left up to animal control and the police force.

What say you, fellow RPFers? For or against? I would love to hear some discussion on the issue from a libertarian perspective before I cast a vote.

+Rep for being on the city council

 

[Philhelm]

No. Why should armed men, who are damn well known to be sociopaths, be granted yet another reason to harass people for an act that is natural for an animal to commit? Are the police going to be shooting at pidgeons now?

Of course, if people took their animals on private property, it becomes a property rights issue.

 

[2young2vote]

Will this "public awareness campaign" target the wild geese and who will pay for it?

No, it wouldn't cost anything. Send a letter to the local news stations and paper describing the situation. That is how my city announced that it is getting rid of the leash law - they told some people who spread the word. I've never actually seen the rule and i've never read any official documents, but I know that it happened. The same would happen in his situation.

 

[amy31416]

You let it go,,
Birds poop wherever they fly,, Rats, mice and other animals go wherever.

When horses were used as general transportation,, folks hired a street sweeper.

Do the same,, hire a few of the unemployed to clean parks and sidewalks.

Look to the folks pushing this,, to pony up the cost.

I like this idea. Might even go a bit further and recruit homeless folks to do this and pay them by the pound. I think the worst thing to do is pick up each poo and wrap it up in plastic to be thrown in with the regular trash, environmentally speaking.