Comments on: Sewers and Leashes: A Local Story

By: Local Government and Ridicule – The Blag Switch

Local Government and Ridicule – The Blag Switch — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:11:21 +0000

[...] been meaning to comment for a while on this article over at Front Porch Republic. For me, there seem to be several object lessons in the column. As [...]

By: John Willson

John Willson — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:37:43 +0000

anomdebus,

Good question about the press. The metropolitan area papers were all represented, including two (a morning and an evening, one of which no longer exists) major newspapers. Almost every semi-independent community still had newspapers in those days, and the ones within fifty miles of the city were all there. The guy who got things right (and didn’t lie) was the owner of an independent pennysaver. He lived in our neighborhood and everybody knew him, and he probably would have had to move if he got it wrong. There was no TV represented, but one radio guy that I wouldn’t talk with. I remember that just about the time this incident happened Joe Namath defended President Nixon by saying that if the media quoted and told the truth about the Prez the same amount that they did about NFL quarterbacks, then Nixon must be one of the really, really good men.

By: alittlesense

alittlesense — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:15:37 +0000

But whatever are we to do about feral city councilpersons? A city near me has had a number of council members over the past 20 years who make bad-tempered pit bulls look like canaries.
One of them was obsessed with what should be considered porch furniture, and spent most of her term on that less-than-burning issue. Of course we had a number of feral mayors also.

Can we not have a leash law for such?

Btw, an earlier poster, John Medaille, seemed far too fascinated with the decompression chamber for me to want to be alone with him ever.

By: Tuesday: December 1, 2009 : DBKP REPORT

Tuesday: December 1, 2009 : DBKP REPORT — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:25:56 +0000

[...] on December 1, 2009 Politics of Local Government: Sewers and Leashes: A Local Story Holding Out For a Fiscally Conservative Hero? More Climate Change: Snow possible for Houston [...]

By: Tuesday Morning Fun Link - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine

Tuesday Morning Fun Link - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:52:48 +0000

[...] A tale of local government. [...]

By: John Willson

John Willson — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:21:09 +0000

I like both of the stories, John; and Steve’s Illinois outrages. My story is not really about dogs, of course, but about dealing with one’s neighbors. Similar things jump up all the time when we tell such real stories, whether about neighborhoods, families (the place when you go there, says Robert Frost, they have to take you in), or churches. Once you get to the state or national level the stories become more and more abstract, even unreal. It’s interesting, isn’t it, that dogs do “energize the base” at the local level. I remember the farmers in my home town spending countless hours talking about their horses. They were all dairy farmers, but nobody had any particular attachment to the cows, which gave them what income they had, but those horses inspired love, tall tales, lifelong enmities, and several layers of gambling. Which is another way of saying that what’s local is what’s real, one of the main points, I take it, about this site.

By: John Médaille

John Médaille — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:43:30 +0000

Just back from Romania–I have great stories to tell about the Front Porch Republic that exists under the official “republic,” but your story caught my attention, because I have two related stories, one from my service on the city council and one from Romania.

In our city, it seems we were killing the stray dogs all wrong, in a decompression chamber (think doggie holocaust.) After months of agitation, we agreed to have them killed by lethal injection. Of course, this was very hard on the animal control workers, since it required personally killing each dog, which could be dangerous and and was psychologically difficult. After a few years, we quietly went back to the chamber.

In Romania, Ceausescu bulldozed houses to make way for gray Stalinist apartment blocks. People couldn’t take their dogs with them, and so they multiplied. When the new government tried to round them up and kill them, the NGOs protested about the “cruelty,” and demanded that the dogs be neutered and tagged. So now everywhere you go there are stray dogs. Watch your step. At night, they hold barking contests. And be careful not to wander into some spot of ground they consider their own; they will defend certain territories.

What unites both cases is that the interests of dogs are more important than the concerns of real people. Four legs good; two legs bad.

By: Steve Berg

Steve Berg — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:39:20 +0000

Dangerous dogs are a major source of trouble to city management. Here in Illinois, the dogs have a very powerful lobby in Springfield. Every dog gets one free bite on a human, before they can be considered dangerous. Dogs know this. The state will not allow any municipality to single out a breed or several breeds with a ban. So, a village or city cannot impose a ban on Rottweilers or pit bulls. It is not just young mothers who get concerned about the 120 pound pit bull next door, who is foaming at the mouth and straining on its kite string “restraint” while casting a glassy eyed but hostile glare at their children. No, it is people like postal workers like the one in Galesburg who required more than 90 stitches to close up the bite wounds from a pit bull that cane through a screen door to bite him. Galena has imposed a “reasonable person” test for dangerous dogs, and so far it has held up in court. If a reasonable person thinks a Galena dog is dangerous, then the owner is required to build a kennel for it that resembles a fort in the Maginot Line. One would think that the Concerned Young Mothers would be able to out-lobby the dogs, but that is not the case. Perhaps our rulers recall President Truman’s wise saying that if you want a friend in Washington D.C. get yourself a dog, and apply it to themselves.

If you really want to get the populace riled up, propose a new fence ordinance. Anyone who does not think that the human species is territorial has never gone through a municipal fence war. Normally fearless city managers have been known to get weak kneed when fences are involved in a dispute.

By: D.W. Sabin

D.W. Sabin — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:09:36 +0000

When the Law is based upon who moaned loudest most recently, you can count on a lot of moaning done loudly. You can also count on the standard issue demagogue you describe…said characters are masters at mining money and notoriety from the troubles of others. The levels of Florid Indignation they put on are fine local theatrical productions.

By: stephen masty

stephen masty — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:11:12 +0000

I can hear H L Mencken laughing on his cloud.

But alas, George Kaufman was correct when he said satire is what closes on Saturday night.

By: Bob Cheeks

Bob Cheeks — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:32:13 +0000

The beauty of local gummint! Tried it myself re: another matter, ended up serving time in the local and county facilities but missed out on the state and federal, though heavily fined in both arenas!
I will say that having taken a stand at the barricades that first time and experiencing the thrill of battle, repeating the political act is not only not a problem but eagerly anticipated.
One gets the impression that we will either behave as men with some knowledge of republicanism and take our stand accordingly or we will mimic the behavior of the professional servile class and sit, huddled, with our hands out, begging for sustenance from some apparatchick.

By: Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:02:09 +0000

I love the smell of democracy in the morning!

Great story, John. And thank for doing what government does best: namely, protecting the common good against the vicious evil that is stray iguanas. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!