The Tyranny of the Bylaw
private property rights protects more than your land…
A handful of parents on a quiet Brampton court are crying foul after Brampton bylaw officers ruled it’s ‘game over’ for their children’s summer fun.
The residents were notified Tuesday that the basketball nets sitting on the grass at the bottom of their driveways were to be moved immediately, or the city would remove them and the owners charged.
The five families on Melissa Court in the area of Williams Parkway and Chinguacousy Road took a stand, insisting that bylaw 93-93 section 29 (1) — “No person shall obstruct, fail or encumber any city highway”— does not apply.
“We have no sidewalks. They (the basketball nets) are not on the road. They aren’t obstructing anything,” said Jean Catania whose 14-year-old son, Cody, won his basketball net for his school fundraising efforts.But their defiance was short-lived. Cody Catania went outside Friday afternoon and discovered his basketball net was gone, removed by city officials.
Not on the street, mark you. On the boulevard. These nets cost anywhere from $100 to $500, and piddly little by-law officers, these pimply minions of bureaucracy, have the right to steal them off the lawn.
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