Do Not Knock Ordinance an Example of Wasted Effort

Remember all that CITCOM huffing and puffing about the need to protect households from peddlers or petitioners knocking on their door four or five times a year? The debate lasted several meetings; it included the use or not of special signs (to be supplied by the city or purchased somewhere like Frentz Hardware); attempting to distinguish among commercial callers, religious groups, dedicated college kids, and cause-focused nonprofits -- just writing this reminds me of how unfocused and feel-goodish the dialogue was.

Almost a year after passage of the ordinance, I asked City Clerk Melanie Halas how much activity there has been. Her reply:

"As of today [24 April 2013], we have 1,117 on the list.  We provide a list to any peddlers who apply for a permit so that they know what residences do not want to be bothered.  Any calls that we receive from residents stating that they have had someone who did knock at their door are investigated and we usually find out that they did not have a permit, hence why they knocked at a door of someone who was on the Do Not Knock List.  For the most part, we have not had many calls on it."

Only a bit over a thousand households out of, what?, 12,000 even bothered to list their home. Those few who experienced knocks despite being on the list ("We have not had many calls on it") were visited by people who hadn't pulled a permit or who probably had no idea that such an unenforceable ordinance had been passed. Versagi Voice's 20 August 2012 coverage of CITCOM's deliberations provides some details re the debate and vote. Those of us who were concerned that the city clerk's office would be swamped with handling such trivial matters are relieved.

Do Not Knock: a perfect example of elected officials wasting time and staff on feel-good legislation to solve a problem which was never really a problem, and certainly not the kind of problem that can be ameliorated by legislation. Some Libertarian-type observers uncharitably suspect that it's not so much a feel-good motive operating; instead, they see just power-lust and a wish to leave something with the politician's name in the record.

Frank Versagi is the editor of Versagi Voice.