Editor: As a home owner and taxpayer in the City of Langley for 27 years, I have never felt the need to write a letter to editor until now.
I read Laurie Thomas’ letter (the Times, April 22) on her experience with parking in downtown Langley and I feel for her, as we had a similar experience a few years back.
On a particular New Year’s Eve some family members had bought tickets to party at a local pub.
The plan was for them to drive to the party leave the vehicle and get a safe ride home by dad (me). In the morning we went to pick up the car and, gee, guess what — a parking ticket.
It never crossed anyone’s mind while planing a safe trip home that doing the right thing would result in a parking ticket.
It was very unfair and uncalled for, as the car was picked up at 8 a.m.
If the City is looking for revenue they should set their sights on a responsible pet ownership bylaw — a cat licence.
Many communities have implemented such a bylaw in order to curb the stray unattended and feral cat problem.
As an example, the city of Winnipeg started theirs, in January, 2015.
The City had 30 per cent of the population abide to the bylaw and in the first year made $264,322, $15 for spayed/neutered cats and $50 for intact cats.
The cat population has gone unchecked and has become a world-wide concern, because of the decline in the bird population, caused by domestic cats running free.
One councillor I spoke to asked me the question, “Yeah, but how do you enforce it?”
The same as dog licences. Of course you may not be able to keep your cat on your property, but it still makes you responsible for their actions.
At local parks kids can’t use sand because of the cats’ mess.
They dig up gardens of non-cat owners who have no other recourse but trap them and take them to the SPCA — if the cat is lucky.
In cities that have this bylaw, revenue is also received from non-compliance, for example a fine with a portion of the money going into spay and neuter programs.
It’s always been a mystery to me why cats are the only domestic pet that gets are free to roam unchecked.
I have two dogs that are smaller than cats and were attacked on one occasion in their own yard.
This is not another tax gouge, it would simply be doing what’s right for the safety of the pet, the song bird population and, yes, money for the City. Maybe then you could park for four hours.
D. Nordal,
Langley City
