[RP TownTalk] code and vendors discussion

[Marc Molino]

Paul,
I can't say what Roland's entire point was in sending the article, but he made pretty clear that he felt the solution to dealing with illegal vendors and folks selling stuff in the streets was for the town to use the resources/tools they already had (fines, impounding property, etc.). Then I think Lou and someone else pointed out the town is actually doing this. The question was raised by Lou, given our town's limited resources, whether flower vendors deserved high priority or not (when compared to breakins, car thefts, medical/human waste along the Anacostia). Then Roland sent the article that basically says, if you let a little transgression go, it gives the impression that no one cares, thereby creating a domino effect and leading to worse crimes.
 
This was not intended as a lecture--your question actually made me think through the whole argument. It sounds like Roland's proposal is to strictly enforce the restriction of illegal and street vendors. The question is does the town have the reources to stay on top of something like this? Are there things we as citizens can do (e.g., call the police when we see vendors selling bottled water or flowers, donate to the fire station so they're not out in the streets looking for funds, etc.)?
 
I wholeheartedly agree that looking for someone to blame is counterproductive.-Marc


Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 10:24:59 -0700From: paulric at yahoo.comTo: TownTalk at riverdale-park.orgSubject: Re: [RP TownTalk] code and vendors discussion




Thank you for making my point even more clearly than I did. 
 
> "But we tend to overlook or forget another source of fear -- the fear of being bothered by disorderly people. Not violent people, nor, necessarily, criminals, but disreputable or obstreperous or unpredictable people: panhandlers, drunks, addicts, rowdy teenagers, prostitutes, loiterers, the mentally disturbed."
 
I don't think that street rose vendors, yard sales, or firefighters collecting donations fall into this category, so I'm still wondering what Rolands point was in posting that article as his response to a simple question, and still wondering what he is suggesting we do about the situation. 
> "Just as physicians now recognize the importance of fostering health rather than simply treating illness, so the police -- and the rest of us -- ought to recognize the importance of maintaining, intact, communities without broken windows."
Again, what does this have to do with spending our limited resources on the rose vendors on East-West highway vs. funding crime prevention? It seems to me that what you're saying is that as long as the rose vendors aren't breaking any windows we should leave them alone, yes?
 
On a side not, but one that pertains to this topic:
 
I am continually amazed by some of the people on this list. There are those here who see a problem, and immediately want to point fingers at who is to blame. A perfect example of this is when the "Hyattsville Metro" sign was being discussed. I asked who we should contact to get the sign changed, and someone (I'm not sure who anymore and don't care enough to look in the archives to find out) immediately responded with "Forget that! Who's to blame for this?" or words to that effect. This is completely counter-productive, and absolutely nothing was done about getting the sign fixed. 
 
It doesn't matter who was at fault. The first priority should be to get the problem fixed, then to prevent it from happening again, and THEN, if anyone still cares, to find out who is to blame. Spending our time, energy and money on finding out who's at fault doesn't do a thing to fix the problems that Riverdale faces. 
 
So once again, what do we want to actually do about it?
 
Paul
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