Dallas kicking around idea of charging for garage sales... (Howe: city hall, rent)

[HookTheBrotherUp]

City Council members propose $25 fee for garage sales in Dallas | DALLAS CITY HALL Blog | dallasnews.com

I have an idea... why not stop spending money the city does not have, or cut back on social freebies?

[Sandstorm214]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

I have an idea... why not stop spending money the city does not have, or cut back on social freebies?

That's a really vague suggestion for a very difficult problem. What specific "social freebies" should be eliminated? The city provides next to nothing in services beyond basic and fundamental needs already. This is hardly a problem limited to Dallas--most cities of our size are in an even worse position than we are. I'm sick of fees being tacked on to everything as much as the next person, but there really aren't any "social freebies" to cut back on. Every business demands tax incentives to build anymore, so the burden falls on the residents to cover the portions that business used to contribute. With trends the way they are, this is only going to get worse before it gets better.

[SloopJohnZ]

Ugh...I do not like this idea. Is this a common thing in other places?

[MurphyPl1]

IMO the biggest problem with this suggestion is the size of the fee. And the motivation.

It appears that there are very real issues with out of hand garage sales that have evolved into flea markets. If you are trying to curtail that, then registering garage sales and charging a nominal fee ($5), creating sign guidelines and restrictions would help to curtail those. But only if enforcement is a large part of the solution. The city doesn't need to do the job of creating signs - that's an unnecessary expense. Give people an idea of what is allowed and let them create their own. And tell them where they are allowed to put them. And giving code enforcement a list will allow them to remove signs for unregistered sales and signs that are out of compliance.

However, you have to keep the fee reasonable. And $25 is an unreasonable fee for a sale that might net you a couple hundred dollars. That will only serve to keep people not registering them and risking being caught.

But code enforcement is Dallas' biggest challenge. If they had the same initiative to add code workers and bring the city up to the standards it set, there would be need for fewer officers.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Some municipalities already use Google Maps, and Google Earth to find those with unregistered pools; at some point, the satellites will provide real-time surveillance, and they will be able to see the garage sales, and probably even know what people are charging for things if there is a price affixed to an item. Ha!

[Willsson]

$25 bucks just to put up a couple of tables and some odd stuff you could otherwise throw in the trash. Maybe someone could setup some tables just outside the city limit, rent them for ten bucks a weekend and eventually you'd have people coming from all over the county.

It's plainly just time cities, counties, states and yep, the federal government realized it's time to start cutting back. Start with the air conditioning in the office of the clown who suggested the $25 fee. I bet he could figure out real fast how to start cutting back on office expenses just to get that ac back on. Let 'em use a fan til then.

How is it elected officials can find ways to fleece those who elected them rather than find ways to make their local area of responsibility function more efficiently? Starting with Eddie Bernice Johnson.