In Jacksonville, backing into driveways remains controversial

In Monday afternoon’s NICE Committee meeting in the Jacksonville City Council, one thing became clear.

Backing into driveways, and the corollary issue of whether or not tags must be shown, remains an issue.

The discussion was lengthy. Council members discussed details ranging from whether it can be enforced to whether or not there code enforcement inspectors can onto private property to search for tags of suspicious cars. They also considered whether there are more important things to worry about than junk vehicles, or vehicles perceived as junk.

Council members discussed the feedback they’ve received from constituents and others. Councilman Al Ferraro heard about it at a gas station. Councilman Reggie Brown heard about it from a Tallahassee relative at a family reunion. And Tommy Hazouri heard about it, too.

From Republicans, no less.

The solution? Chairman Garrett Dennis set up a subcommittee, to look into the issue and report back to the committee two weeks hence.

Complaints at the time regarding the bill boiled down to doesn’t this council have anything better to do?

That was more than a month ago.

The original intent of the bill was not malicious. It was an attempt to remove eyesore vehicles and to generally clean up neighborhoods where they proliferate.

However, there are “unforeseen consequences.” The bulk of code enforcement in this vein is in Districts 7 through 10, which raises questions of inequities and arbitrary enforcement.

There also was the question of constitutionality, a quaint concept, but one still relevant to historians and cranks.

Do code enforcement workers have the right to look under tarps in people’s backyards, as they seemingly would if “zero tolerance” of obscured tags, et al., was the ultimate goal?

How much is that activity actually worth to the city?

The subcommittee, comprised of City Council members Hazouri, John Crescimbeni and Joyce Morgan, will explore those questions, as well as how similar issues are handled in other cities.

The attention, it goes without saying, comes at the expense of attention the Council could spend in other areas.

The initial furor over proposed prohibitions of backing into driveways and obscuring tags has faded. However, the larger debate, which is one of how much city government should reasonably expect to control regarding uses of private property, lingers on.