Tuckahoe Village Departments

TUCKAHOE TALK
With Mayor John Fitzpatrick

Legal Time Capsule

November 10th, 2008

A young man came to a recent Village Board meeting to state his dissatisfaction with one of our laws. Apparently, Tuckahoe Police had informed this twenty-one year old that skateboarding was illegal in our Village. We further learned that he was instructed to stop or be issued a ticket. It seems that in 1931 a law was passed making it unlawful for any person to roller or ice skate or propel any roller device on any street or on any sidewalk in the business district. The Village Board is now considering amending this law. We are, however, of the mind to still keep it illegal to skateboard or roller skate on the sidewalk but allow its uses consistent with that of bicycles.

Village government is small enough that legislation that doesn’t fit just right should be “tweaked”. While often villages craft it right the first time, unfortunately, sometimes that is not the case. In the last year the Village Board has taken up several older laws that didn’t seem to be working or were burdensome on our residents. “When something doesn’t work, you fix it” may be an alien philosophy to many government officials, but to an electrician like myself, I get it. Perhaps Albany or Washington could use a plumber, he doesn’t even have to be named Joe, to remind them of this approach?

In Tuckahoe, we just reduced an administrative fee imposed on residents who commenced work without a permit. It was $1000 fee plus a fine and often the entire project didn’t cost as much as the fee. We also amended the Work Force Housing Law in hopes of sparking interest from developers to take advantage of this as-of-yet unused law. This piece of legislature allows for affordable housing for local teachers, police officers, and firefighters. Additionally, we are starting to rework the Landlord Registry. A law originally designed to give the Village greater oversight to absentee landlords, has now seen some residents caught up in the red tape of it all.

Although revisiting serious laws such as the aforementioned was in the best interest of Tuckahoe, nevertheless, we still have many other laws that remain unchanged and serve our community well. Still another group of laws remain on our books that make one wonder who they actually serve. Here are a few examples:

It is illegal to beat your rug in or upon any street. (Sect.19-3, 1931)

It is unlawful to throw upon or across any village street: a snowball, stone or missile. (Sect. 15-3, 1931)

A horse must be securely tied when left unattended on any street. (Sect. 21-83, 1931)

It is unlawful to fly any kite or balloon upon or over any village street. (Sect.15-3, 1931)

Interestingly, these laws were all written in 1931. It is quite possible that Tuckahoe’s Mayor Crouch who served then may have secretly been called Mayor Grouch by the neighborhood youth. Yet with any law we must give the benefit of the doubt that these were put in place to keep villagers safe.

One might think that most outdated laws were already removed but that would be wrong. While some communities repeal them, others choose simply to not enforce them. The main reason for not bothering to repeal could be the cost. Village Clerk Susan Ciamarra informed me that a firm, which identifies outdated municipal legislation, had approached Tuckahoe several years ago. Regrettably, the cost at that time was about $10,000, a sum better placed elsewhere.

Even our great State of New York has laws that have outlived their usefulness. Laws also remain on the books that are intended to alter acceptable behavior, not only behavior deemed dangerous to society. Take for example “Blue Laws”, which were generally designed to enforce moral standards usually relating to Sunday as a day of worship as opposed to commerce. New York State’s alcohol purchasing law certainly fits into the Blue Law category. It took until 2006 for this law to be revised. Then Governor Pataki signed an amendment, allowing alcohol purchases at 8am as opposed to noon on Sunday.

Action or even conversation on subject matter such as this may appear to some as frivolous. Some could point to this as a time when public officials need to stay focused on getting the economy stabilized so we may prosper in the future. This would hold true for villages as well as countries. However, even in 1931 as Mayor Crouch was staring into the abyss of the upcoming Great Depression, he was most likely prompted by villagers to address their concerns. Elected officials, especially at the village level still need to respond to constituents, whether larger issues loom or not.

Contemporary laws are the time capsule into the mindset of Villagers. Some may prove enduring or relevant while others less so. During the writing of this article my son, Alexander, pointed out there was website www.dumblaws.com that lists many odd laws in the United States. I was unable to verify whether this site had truly done its due diligence but it was rather amusing. I wonder if any of the laws passed during my time as Mayor, will give someone from the next century pause to wonder, “What the heck was the reasoning for that?”