They are two feline felons.

The cat leash law is among the absolutely worst ordinances ever past by a then weak Council. It is unenforceable and is a benefit only to about the 2% of our population who hate animals in general and specifically cats.

The cost of fair and equitable enforcement is prohibitive. The city simply cannot afford it. Even worse it encourages a bad neighbor policy but only in the few areas inhabited by the haters. Cats are everywhere as anyone who walks in their neighborhood will note including mine. I have even seen them on city property doing their cat thing of discouraging the presence of rats and mice.

During the ordinance debate the Council appeared most impressed by the false statement that birds were disappearing in Edmonds because of cats. One person told the dramatic and disgusting tale of how her poor cat poop eating dog would dig up cat feces and then come inside and throw up on her new rug! Ugh, but it certaunly impressed the Council.

And Mayor Haakenson, to his credit, pointed out the fact that the city simple could and would not be able to afford proper and equitable enforcement.

The cat leash law should be repealed as it was in one of our neighboring cities, I’m not sure, but I think it was Mountlake Terrace. Edmonds should rejoin the majority of cities in the Puget Sound area that do not have such a sillyand laughable law.

Ron,

My guess is that you walk mostly during the day. When my husband and I take evening walks, we see cats roaming all over Edmonds. Cats are nocturnal animals. And I have never seen a leashed cat, thankfully.

Once again Ray you are right on. Now that Council member Bloom has seen the cats who are in violation of the law she may wish to lead a movement to repeal the law or in the alternative work with enforcement folks to find a way to enforce the law. As citizens which laws should we follow and which ones should we ignor? Maybe council should give the citizens some guidence. I a survey I took one day driving around town, 9 out of 13 dogs I saw who were on a leash were in violation of the law because they we are an non compliant leash.

The law passed and I know of a guy who was fined under the law. I think his neighbor complained and pushed for the fine. We have cat walking through our property all the time and I asked Animal Control about the new law. I will let them speak for themselves rather then report comments that were made at the time.

Ther must be an exemption for the off leash dog park, right? What is a “compliant” leash?

Peter,

The Cat Leash law was actually passed on a 5 to 2 vote. Can you believe it?

Voting for: Olson, Marin, Orvis, Moore, and Wambolt. Voting against: Dawson and Plunkett. All of these folks with the exception of Michael Plunkett have left the Council and Michael will be departing shortly.

The triggering event was my complaint against a neighbor for luring, trapping, and abusing my cat Turbo. I figured out later that the baited trap had been working for about a month until the day Turbo outsmarted me and got out to his regret. He was one scared, bloody, filthy, hungry messed up cat when we were finally able to retrieve him. I understand the trapper had kept catching another neighbor’s cat and releasing it, which led me to believe Turbo was being deliberately targeted because I had caused the trappers to be warned by the police to keep their dog at home, while they kept insisting that their dog was not running loose. So I photographed the dog running loose. The dog catcher had also suggested this “get even” probability on a report. The former city attorney suggested that Turbo may have been guilty of trespassing. No charges were brought for the trapping that I believed to have been a violation of state law and a gross misdemeanor (along with the good neighbor policy).

With additional salt in the wound, the trapper successfully organized a minority of bird people and other assorted anti-cat folks, including the owner of the cat poop eating dog who then convinced the Council to pass this nutty law.

To adequately force this law down the throats of the citizens involuntarily at least one additonal and unaffordable full time cat enforcement officer would be required and which would also cause unnecesary PR problems for our outstanding police dept. We simply cannot afford the cost nor the disconnect it would create between citizens and city goverment. A levy would then be even less likely to pass.

I believe now the only enforcement occurs after complaint of a very few chronic complainers. Most cat owners are unaffected. The quality of life in the few areas with a chronic complainer is reduced a bit and thats not good. Initially it was especially tough on families with kids who were not used to keeping their kitties prisoners. Another even more undesirable fact is that this law encourages many of our adaptative citizens to work quite sucessfully around law enforcement with little risk. And our one current dog catcher doen’t really need the extra work of having to be playing hide and seek games with cats and cat owners. I’ve observed a “staking out ” on occassion in my neighborhood which always gives me a chuckle.

Peter, I’ve talked to many folks, who like yourself are a bit stunned to learn the cat leash law really exists! And that even included one Edmonds police officer.

The Edmonds cat leash law is just too moronic for our otherwise sensible city. It should quietly go away. I would bet money that the current Council would vote precisely the opposite, that is at least 5-2 against, if the issue would be reconsidered. It might just help the Council’s goodwill enough to get a needed levy passed.

And that sequence would certainly be best for all concerned,

Ron,

Hopefully this link to the minutes referenced will work:

https://edmondswa.gov/images/COE/Government/City_Council/Minutes/2007/070515_Approved_City_Council_Minutes.pdf

I just reviewed the minutes, and my recollection had been that the student representative, Shaun Callahan, summed the opposition to confinement of cats up nicely. This was the first time that I noticed the astute, intelligent, input of our student reps to council. Peter Gibson carried that on nicely, as has our current rep, Alex Springer.

The intent of the revised ordinance, as it applies to cats, was never to require that they be on leashes. The intent of the ordinance is to restrict cats from intruding on the private property of others and causing a problem. It was never expected that the police would respond to a complaint about a cat roaming down a sidewalk – complaints that very likely never will arise anyway.

Joan: I agree with you assessment of recent student reps. We’ve got a bunch of bright young people coming along.

Quick summary: Ray Martin and his neighbor couldn’t get along, dragged the council into it, wasted a lot of time, money and energy.

Ray, I bow to your unimpeachable knowledge of personal attacks.