Livability of cities

I sent the following email to a Duluth city councillor who is proposing an amendment to the city's tall grass and rubbish ordinance. I doubt whether the amendment will do any good considering how little money Duluth or any other city has for enforcement.

I appreciate your concern about the livability of Duluth, but as a walker, I wonder if your amendment to the rubbish and tall grass ordinance will have much effect.

Laws and ordinances have three purposes:

to provide guidance to people of good faith (yellow lines to divide streets)
to punish people of bad faith after the fact (burglary laws and so forth)
to make legislators feel good (flag burning amendments)

Given the current financial support of government by citizens, I would say the mowing ordinance comes more under purpose 3 then purpose 2.

My grounds for saying this are the effectiveness of the snow shoveling ordinance and the snow shoveling hot line. It’s not that city employees are not responding to requests in a timely fashion; they do as I recently found out about shrubbery blocking a sidewalk. The problem is that it is rare for citizens to call in about obvious problems.

For example, dozens of students walk to UMD or Woodland Middle School, but often over half of the sidewalks on 19th Ave, E. 8th St., Woodland Ave., or St. Marie St. are not shoveled in a timely fashion after a snow storm. I doubt many students bother calling the snow shoveling hot line.

I could call in dozens of properties in this same area that have shrubbery blocking half or more of the sidewalk or trees hanging over the sidewalk at eye level. Surprise, on Garden St with all of its nice yards or city trees on one of the avenues either side of Lake Ave. just north of Superior St. But, like many people, I’m reluctant to make a “nuisance of myself” or even spend the time calling in with sufficient details for action.

I’m sure that city can’t afford to have a “walkability patrol” when it can’t afford enough police to strictly enforce the speed limits on Arrowhead Road, Snively, or Woodland Ave.

I wrote an article on walkability for the Reader Weekly three years ago:

http://www.cpinternet.com/~mdmagree/walking_2004-10-21.htm

Many of these problems still exist.

In any case, thanks for your concern about the livability of Duluth. I wish I could feel confident that your efforts will make a difference.