People who choose to live in town give up some choices when they move inside the city limits.
Laws and ordinances let us know what the rules are and are designed to protect the quality of life for all people – young and old, rich and poor, black and white – who live in town.
Fire codes, health regulations, sewer permits, curfews, speed limits, construction codes and animal ordinances don’t target one person – they apply to us all. And the key word in that phrase is “us.”
Those living in the county and out of sight are allowed to live and pretty much do as they please. Sadly, state and federal regulations tend to be the standard of decency for individual county residents. If you want to live like a pig, go live in the county.
But those who choose to live or own property in the city must realize they give up a certain amount of choice and independence when they decide to become our neighbors.
This newspaper has repeatedly said we support the city officials when they decide to clean up property and send the owner the bill. The community shouldn’t have to look at or see property values drop because of overgrown lots and abandoned houses.
We also want to point to repeated stories in your Clarksdale Press Register of abandoned homes that have caught on fire, residents complaining and appearing before the Board of Mayor and Commissioners and previous promises by that board to clean up the neighborhoods where they live.
So we are somewhat puzzled when the municipalities make a decision to enforce some laws and not others. Sometimes it is just a wink from a commissioner of mayor and the ordinance is not enforced on that individual.
If the ordinance is not a good one, it should be struck from the books.
We have people leaving this community in droves and one of the reasons is declining property values. Our city also has businesses and industry looking at us as a possible location for economic development and jobs. We can solve these problems if we enforce ordinances on the books.
City ordinances are the rules and regulations we all agree to live by if we are going to make this town our home. They need to be enforced.
