I made an appearance at Raleigh City Council this afternoon for a Parks board item which requested the city apply for status as a Playful City USA. Before I got to the microphone, the Council told me they were all fine with the agreement and promptly voted unanimously to approve it. It took me longer to put on my suit than it did to present the item, which was a welcome change!
The Council also approved making recycling theft a crime. Only District B Councilor John Odom voted against it, which is surprising to me. I thought he would be all for protecting the city from having to raise its recycling fees, and willing to protect the privacy of his constituents by discouraging strangers rummaging through their recycling. I’m not sure his reasoning, since at one point during today’s debate he said he “wasn’t against” the ordinance yet voted against it anyway.
With multiple homes in my neighborhood losing their air conditioning units (one just two doors down) to metal-scavenging thieves, I feel we should discourage these jackasses from prowling the neighborhood. Hopefully this will help.
Update 7 March: In response to a comment on the N&O story about this, let me say again: this isn’t about homeless people, it’s about professional metal scavengers working neighborhoods. Homeless people don’t fill up their pickup trucks with cans (and work in teams, for that matter). Folks need to apply some common sense here.
Update 2: And while we’re at it, let me say that I fully support efforts to help our homeless. As the chair of the East CAC I fully supported the Salvation Army’s building of a homeless shelter on Capital Boulevard within easy walking distance of my home.
It’s true that homeless people are hurting, but don’t you think we can find a better way to help them than just offering them our cans?