Will Plattsburgh Commit To The Dogged Pursuit Of Licensing?

How many dogs are licensed in Plattsburgh City?

And how many will be licensed after Jan. 1, 2011?

New York State is getting out of the dog licensing business, letting local communities handle it. More paperwork but on the plus side each community can keep all of the funds, no more sharing with Albany.

A municipality must pass its own licensing law before the new year begins. I might have missed any mention of it but has the Plattsburgh Common Council addressed this issue? I don't recall seeing anything in the local papers. I did a quick Google search and also searched the Press-Republican website; no hits on the change.

Of course, the Common Council has been involved with so many critical issues such as Halloween candy, fluoride in the water, and impeaching President Shrub. After all, local concerns like dog control and more funds for the city have to be put on the back burner.

Maybe Plattsburgh's new dog licensing law (if they're working on one) will also raise the fine for leaving dogshit in a public place -- like the middle of downtown sidewalk or anywhere on a park lawn. Saranac Lake nails scofflaws $75 for that offense. Plattsburgh's fine is a bargain at $25 -- that's if anyone bothers to enforce it. (See Plattsburgh Code, section 161-18.)

This a matter of public health and community image. Then again, maybe that's the image Peeburgh wants to project, someone scraping dogshit off a shoe.

For a city crying the blues for years about debt, one would think Plattsburgh would be at least looking at dog control, fines and licenses, from a financial perspective.