register |  login
› LONGMONT
Loading Ad
Visit Other Hubs:
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Tower
Blog
Tiger Tales
Generally the topics that I write about and interest me are political. I stick to local politics and hope that others will too. This blog can be (should be) informational. At the very least, if you are going to whine and moan - you should be a voter. At the most, you should lead change or get out of the way.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~TigerTales

Home Rule without parents
Contributed by: Paul Tiger   on 2/16/2007

There are a lot of communities creating Home Rule laws for themselves, but almost all of the laws that weattempt to prevent crime come with a threat of the loss of freedom or income. Usually both. We hope that our lawmakers think though these laws before enacted, but they need our help. A good deal of the time they ask for our help. Especially the professional lawmakers. I mean the folks at the state capitol. State lawmakers are available for conversation and comments. Yes, they really are.

Local lawmakers in your town are less than professional. That's not an insult, just a fact. Reaching your local council person could be difficult, probably because they are doing something else besides being a lawmaker. Like running their private lives.

Professionals do research and try to understand their constuients and subject matter. They have staff to help. Locals don't have these resources and aren't likely to develop them.

I lived in Boulder for many years, and the city council there has become shy. Lawsuit shy. They don't pass new city laws anymore, they pass resolutions. They are saying 'we like this' or 'don't like this'. The various growth limitation ordinances that were passed caused them to lose wild piles of money in court, and then in settlements when the courts decided for the citizens over the city.

Smaller towns have tried some of the idiocy grown in Boulder in the 80s and 90s. If they were lucky no one sued them. But most have found themselves paying for these new and unneeded laws - through the public wallet.

One of the most pressing issues of how these laws have been created in the past concerns public input. City council members aren't professional politicians and often have the idea that once voted in that they are completely supported in their goals. Thus they meet in secret. They often don't think that they are meeting in secret, only that council members know where the meetings are taking place.

Now comes Lafayette. The city council met in secret with the city judge and police chief. Then they proposed a new ordinance that has a fine ten times the one mandated by the state, and adds a serious jail sentence that does not meet state standards for the same crime.

I'm talking about marijuana. Possession of less than an ounce by state laws since 2001 is a $100 fine and a petty offense. There is no jail time.
The state legislature thought this through. At a cost of $62 per day for each of the 125 people found to be in possession last year in Lafayette, the public cost would be $2,828,750. And that is the sort of waste that the legislature was bringing to an end.

As reported in local papers, the city council of Lafayette did not allow public comment. A Lafayette judge resigned when he heard what the city council was doing.

The Parents of this Home Rule debacle are the citizens of Lafayette. If they are listening they might guess that the cost will be more than three million bucks a year. Someone is going to sue the city. If not for the law itself, then for the way that the council got to it.

It is pretty clear that the Lafayette council is not on the same page as the voters of that town. The voters there supported the 2006 Marijuana-Alcohol Equalization Act of 2006 by a 54% margin. However, also in 2006, the city council 'permitted' its police force to grow marijuana in a city park and then gave unwavering support to the police when an officer killed a young man who was suspected of marijuana use and cultivation. The coroner disproved that he was a marijuana user and the city is now in court over a wrongful death suit.

It seems that Lafayette interest in making petty offenses into capitol crimes supports the city's police in justifiable actions.

Blog a response ... be witty, ascerbic, whatever suits you ...


SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above blog



Current Rating
Based on 1 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the blog

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Paul Tiger

Longmont , CO

Paul Tiger has posted 1 blog entry and 3 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Paul Tiger 's average blog rating is 5.
BLOG ENTRY RSS FEEDS
SAVE AND SHARE THIS ITEM

BLOG LIST
WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?
Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is  register,  then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyonewhat events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Ad

Loading Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Ad

This YourHub.com community is produced by The Denver Newspaper Agency
Web Development and Channel Analytics provided by Indigio

terms of use //  privacy policy
the staff //  advertise //  help & faq
buy photos