Making everyone in a town or city happy will never happen. For the most part people in municipal roles can only take a shot to do their best for the community as a whole.
Many interesting discussions have been popping up on the streets of Golden over the past few weeks involving very different aspects of what is happening in the community.
A discussion over mobile vendors seems to be on the leads of many conversations.
This is a tough issue for any community. Businesses that serve food have every right to be concerned over this expansion. If you own a storefront then you pay the stereotypical business tax that cuts into profits. Mobile vendors may be taxed but it will be no where near as much as having a restaurant.
In the case of the vendors, what is fair will depend on which side of the serving tray you sit on. The vendors will bring more choices to the area and give people who are on the run another easy place to grab a bite to eat. The argument has also been used that they will not affect the other businesses in a significant manner. Some people have also said that this is what having a capitalist-based economy is all about. Different businesses are working hard to find those hard-to-reach dollars from customers.
Those businesses could counter back that the mobile vendors will have an unfair advantage because they do not have the heavy costs on their backs. I have also heard people say that, overall, it hurts the town because the businesses which are the backbone of the community will suffer in the long run if the vendors take over different parts of the town.
A second raging debate on the streets of Golden seems to centre around the town’s new bylaw officer who is out and about enforcing the rules of the town.
When I first came to Golden I heard many discussions centre around what exactly the bylaw officer did in town. This is no longer in question by anyone as he has made his presence felt in the downtown core and beyond.
It is fascinating to hear people go from, one person doesn’t do enough, to the next officer doing too much.
This is sadly far too common of an occurrence.
The officer has a certain set of rules that he has been hired to enforce. The option is not there to follow some of the rules some of the time, and others whenever they feel like it.
There can be very little grey area when you have a job like this to do. This is similar to working as a police officer. No one likes to get a ticket, but in most cases if you received one then you more than likely deserved it.
So if you do find yourself having a chat with the officer in town remember, this person simply has a job to do and rules to follow.
No matter what happens at the end of the day showing respect is a key to getting by, because having a hissy fit is not going to make anything better.
