PLATTSBURGH
CITY, NY - 4/28/14
As
mentioned in a previous post here at Dogtown 12901 I documented that dogshit remained next to the Veterans
Monument in Trinity Park for about two weeks.
I emailed Mayor Jim Calnon the link and below is his response and then
my reply I have just sent also via email.
* * *
Calnon,
James
Mon,
Apr 28, 2014 at 9:00 AM
To:
"Luke T. Bush"
Luke,
First
of all, thank you for calling this to our attention. We get dozens of calls
like this to various offices, including mine, each week. We are always grateful
when one of our citizens alerts us to a pothole, garbage, uncleared sidewalk,
dog/bird droppings, skunks, streetlights out, and a host of other unpleasant
things. While we do see many things in
the course of a day, we do appreciate the notice, particularly when we haven't
seen it yet. We should have this
monument area cleaned today.
Secondly,
however, is the means that you chose to give us notice. Had you drawn our attention to it and we
failed to clean it in a reasonable amount of time, we should be hung out to
dry. But, rather than tell us first, you
post it on the internet and then send us a notice that it was posted. Some unthinking and uncaring dog owners
allowed the beauty of our City and our honoring of veterans to be marred;
posting your blog before notifying me that it was there, or putting down the camera and picking up the
offending mess yourself, was
unthinkingly and uncaringly spreading your version of dogshit on the internet.
Jim
Calnon
Mayor,
City of Plattsburgh
518
563-7701 office
* * *
Mayor
Calnon:
Thank
you for your quick reply.
The
dogshit issue like clearing snow from the sidewalks has been one of the major
complaints from Plattsburgh citizens for decades. The Press-Republican has run articles and
letters about the problem. Ergo the city should be aware of the problem.
The problem
has also been discussed in common council meetings. I remember one PR article from years ago that
included a statement from a councilor who said he was in New York City
(Manhattan) over the weekend and it was cleaner than downtown Plattsburgh when
it came to dogshit.
I find
it surprising that no city employee, especially one employed by public works,
noticed the mess at the Veterans Monument over a period of two weeks – not two
days.
From
what I understand there used to be a part-time city employee who specifically
cleaned up the downtown area. Is he
still on the job?
It's
time for the city to raise awareness about the dogshit problem, especially when
someone can be fined for not picking up their pet's waste. The threat of a fine for a property owner not
clearing a snow from a sidewalk seemed to make a difference over the winter.
In your
reply you said that I should have put down my camera and picked up the
offending mess myself. Really. I didn't leave the mess. I'm not a city employee. Not my responsibility. It is the responsibility of the owner to pick
up after his pet. Besides signs in
Trinity Park telling dog-owners to scoop up, there is a waste bag dispenser standing
in plain view in case a dog-owner forgot to bring a plastic bag.
And if
the owner leaves the fecal matter behind and is caught in the act it's then
upon the city to enforce law and fine the owner. If the scofflaw isn't caught then the city
has the responsibility to clean up the mess.
So please don't put this problem on me when the blame lies
elsewhere. Also, I'm not being paid by
the taxpayers and downtown businesses to pick up after human pigs.
You
said in your reply it wasn't fair that I posted first and then contacted you,
that I was "was unthinkingly and uncaringly spreading [my] version of
dogshit on the internet." No, it's
not my "version." The dogshit
was there: objective fact. I only made a
photographic record of it.
The
trouble with me reporting the problem, again and again, to the city directly
without raising awareness through my blogging leaves the issue in the
background, out of sight, out of mind.
Maybe other citizens will now say something instead of averting their
eyes and walking on.
And
since I consider your email response public I will be posting it at my blogs
with this reply.
Luke T.
Bush
