The following article appeared in the February 1 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
Maggie Laidlaw is watching you.
The Ward 3 councillor said Monday night she is prepared to pick up the phone to tell on anyone violating the city’s tougher idling bylaw.
Laidlaw said while the city received fewer than 10 complaints annually under the old bylaw, which allowed vehicles to idle for up to 10 minutes, with that shortened to three minutes “you’ll get many more calls; certainly from me.
“I will look forward to starting to make some phone calls,” Laidlaw said.
Councillors endorsed a staff recommendation to shorten the period vehicles can idle – that is, be running without moving.
Coun. Cam Guthrie, the only councillor to vote against the tighter restrictions, said the small number of complaints suggests idling is not a pressing issue.
“I don’t think the vast majority of residents in Guelph are asking us to review this bylaw,” Guthrie said, suggesting the city is “trying to be green” but it is largely “symbolic” as the bylaw is rarely enforced anyway.
“This is just another tool … for residents to be tattle-taling on their neighbours,” Guthrie said.
Derek McCaughan, the city’s executive director of operations and transit, conceded there are not many charges laid under the idling bylaw. But he added the purpose of having the bylaw is to let staff take action if they do get a complaint.
“This is a tool for staff to have at their disposal,” McCaughan said.
Mayor Karen Farbridge noted the idling bylaw was developed in 1998 after a Ward 1 resident, whose husband had emphysema, complained about commercial vehicles idling outside her home “and filling the bedroom with fumes.”
Staff spoke to the owner of the truck, but with no bylaw in place there was little they could legally do to curb the activity.
Coun. Ian Findlay noted the bylaw review “wasn’t to facilitate Maggie’s quick dialing,” but rather was part of an ongoing review intended to ensure the city’s bylaws remain current and relevant.
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I would say the change from 10 to 3 is symbolic but the law won’t be if people make the the effort to use it. As was pointed out in comments to the Guelph Mockery article, there are people who leave the air on while they go grocery shopping. I have seen that one myself. Tattle on my neighbors Cam Guthrie. I would have loved to. I once had an upstairs neighbor who fired up her clapped out diesel jetta under my window and smoked me out daily.