The Santa Ana City Council has made official its new dog barking ordinance. It is just awful. According to the O.C. Register, “The new law, adopted late Monday, allows the city to issue citations to the owners of barking dogs without pursuing a criminal case.”
The new law does give “dogs a break when they’re barking to protect their property against possible trespassers, or when someone is teasing or provoking them.” However, the law also allows “enforcement officers” to “write citations based on a signed complaint, without seeing or hearing the offending dog.”
Really? That means a fellow could call in a complaint, “enforcement officers” could show up a half hour after whatever caused the dog to bark has moved on, and you could still end up with a citation.
And what about puppies? Aren’t they given to incessant barking while they get used to their new homes? And don’t some breeds bark more than others?
Thankfully the ordinance does allow for a warning the first time. That is because I showed up to a recent City Council meeting and requested that change to the new law. I wish however that this law had not been passed in the first place. Santa Ana residents now “could face a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in jail.” Wow! Do we punish taggers that harshly? I doubt it.
“The law also sets down minimum requirements for shelter, water and food for dogs. And it requires owners to clean up the mess “in a sanitary manner” when their dog takes a bathroom break on someone else’s property.”
Weren’t those aspects of the new law already in force? I find it hard to believe otherwise.
My take on this new law is that the City managers have found a new way to raise money. Thank God we don’t have an ICE program because I could see people getting deported over this.
I think this issue is going to crop up during the next elections. Particularly if you see the “Usual Suspects” abusing this new law by using it to attack their Mexican neighbors. Doesn’t one of them brag about calling Code Enforcement thousands of times over the last few years?
I can see it now. Someone will challenge this stupid law and the City will spends tens of thousands of dollars trying to defend it. Does anyone have any common sense on the Council?
loud car radios need to be targeted.
This is a stupid ordinance. It gives license to the *usual suspects* to be grand snitches.
I hope someone sues the city over this one. The city always loses because they are incompetent.
I bet this new ordinance keeps Tim Rush busy.
I agree with all the posters – this is a stupid law – too discretionary, too complaint driven, not fair. What if the neighbors have someone working on their house and don’t notify the neighbors? The dog will be barking to protect the property because some negligent neighbor forgot to tell anyone. Too much discretion built into the law. Makes me mad.
I have a suggestion. Instead of council members experimenting with laws that affect people living in the city, why not look at SUCCESSFUL, WELL-RUN CITIES for guidance before passing punitive ordinances?
Immitating competence would eliminate foolish decisions and is good practice until city reps get the hang of doing the right thing for the residents.
you seem to disagree with just about every issue that comes up. I agree that these laws should be enforced, apparently there were enough people including hispanics that were complaining and what does this have to do with ICE. YOU want to make everything a racist issue. Are you looking to run for a position soon and looking for voters. Not everyone wants what you want. Maybe these dogs are not being treated right and thats why there barking if there isnt anything wrong they get a warning – big deal- as long as the owner isnt cited and the dog is fine and the person calling the complaint is happy then there isnt an issue. And as far as graffiti goes there is a fine and jail time.