O'Fallon Is a Great Place to Live, But it Could Be Better

It would certainly be nice if the would enforce its ban on fireworks this year. 

It seems a shame that there is an ordinance in place to protect the tax payers of the city yet there is little done to utilize it. 

I realize that the days surrounding the holiday are a busy time for the police department and that they cannot be everywhere all of the time. But I do believe that if citations were issued, the word would spread that fireworks are not going to be tolerated any longer.

As it is now, the word is "Yah it is illegal, but they never do anything." There is constant talk of the economy and how everyone is strapped for cash—this would seem to me to be a perfect opportunity to raise some money and keep the city a bit safer at the same time.

Oh and before someone wants to call me unpatriotic for not wanting fireworks going off at all hours of the night for a week, there is nothing patriotic about keeping your neighbors up all night, catching their house on fire or depositing your litter over the entire neighborhood.  

While on the subject of ignored ordinances, I would also like to bring up the ordinance banning street parking during inclimate weather.

This is another great ordinance that is ignored due to a limited number of available police during bad weather. Once again, I believe that if O'Fallon decided to enforce the ordinance, it would soon become a non-issue.

But as it is, people just choose to ignore it because it is of no cost to them. I would think that in the case of snow, the plow drivers should be able to radio in and report problem areas leaving the police to take care of accidents. 

It is hard for me to understand why we bother with these ordinances if they are never to be enforced. Did it not occur to anyone that these would be unusually busy times for the PD or has it not occurred to anyone that this would generate revenue and make the city safer?

Both of these issues being enforced would pertain to a small percentage of the population, yet impact a large percentage for the better.