Who 'Ya Gonna Call?

Well, if the situation was such where I was facing a class 2 ethereal vaporous apparition, I'd get Ray Stantz and the boys on the blower, but since we're dealing with the land of the "living", we're forced to contact city agencies. Still, I'll wager that a few Proton Packs would make some damn fine SNOW REMOVAL devices!

Now let me preface my quasi-rant today by saying that MOST city agencies do a respectable job, and this in no way reflects on their attempts to serve the public.

So please, get that dead horse back UP on it's hooves, 'cause I feel a "beating" about to happen!

It's been close to 72 hours (that's THREE days in "Jack Bauer" time) since that last snowflake fell upon the confines of our fair city, and the plows have done THEIR job, so why aren't the PEOPLE doing THEIR job? Houses with several strong backs and plenty of time to kill (especially when the city shut down for a day) STILL have not even tried to shovel off their sidewalks. This is simply deplorable.

There is absolutely NO excuse to NOT clean off your steps or sidewalk...none at all. I know of one house nearby...the woman is NOT disabled, works at a Pizza Hut, has a "boyfriend" (who works when the mood strikes him), and 2 teenage boys...ALL able to lift a shovel (which they DO own). Not one flake has been lifted from thier sidewalks. Cripes, we have one white-trash guy "claiming" some sort of "disability" (down the block), shoveling AND using a snowblower so it must be that medical marijuana he smokes and grows helping HIM out, eh? See...you CAN move snow...it just takes the DESIRE to make it happen (desire=coke mule in some areas).

Now, I've been to Walgreens...they STILL have shovels...and rock salt...and gloves. So do the grocery stores, as well as the local Do It Best. And people ARE out driving around, so THAT'S not an excuse. Well, we did have that older black man stop by the other night while it was STILL snowing and "offer" to clean the sidewalk (for a price), so at least there is ONE (other) shovel out there. He had friends with shovels too, so it HAS been confirmed there is more than one shovel (besides my THREE) in this area...LOL!

Today's Journal-gazette even has a front page story about people having to walk in the street and in the article it relates how a mother and daughter in Angola were victims of a hit & run driver (who was ALSO drunk). Imagine that. We've dodged the bullet (so far) in Fort Wayne, but it would not surprise me to hear of similar situations on any given day.

Funny thing...during summer months, there are several cars that carry (the community) lawnmowers in the trunks to numerous houses, aside from the usual "lawncare" specialists, so why not carry some shovels around and clean the sidewalks?

Now I would just LOVE to see NCE (Neighborhood Code Enforcement) come around and start CITING these buttwipes for non-compliance (to city ordinances), but I can't honestly see that occurring. First off, NCE is understaffed (a recurring theme with most enforcement agencies in this town). We can tax homeowners out the ass for anything and everything else, but when it comes to budgetary constraints for NEEDED departments, it seems that Dr Zaius and his cadre of LAWGIVERS get our their red markers and start "trimming the fat".

And there are those that see NCE as the "Code Nazis", travelling here and there just making peoples' lives miserable because they can...WRONG. NCE is there to make lives better, but if people LIKE dilapidated houses, that must be fine. Same goes for parking control. You like illegally parked semi tractors on a residential street? And waste management is just trying to keep vermin from infesting your neighborhoods. What? you LIKE having litter and garbage in YOUR street and alley? NO?

Captain Tom Bandor at NCE is good people; ditto for Matt Gratz at Waste Management, and the folks at parking control are there when you need them. If people would stop and THINK once in a while, we might not even NEED these departments in the first place. Hell, the only reason we HAVE laws in the first place is for the LAW-LESS!

But it makes you wonder WHAT would happen *IF* we could have these agencies fully-staffed, with adequate coverage for the entire city, writing citations for those skirting the law. I'd bet the whole city would benefit greatly by getting more people "up to speed" as far as following the rules and regulations WE paid to have legislated.

It's never going to be a perfect world (or city for that matter), but it can a helluva lot BETTER than it currently is.

All that is required of US, is that we want it BAD enough.