BY DAVE PARRO
First Aurora Alderman Juany Garza made national headlines by getting an ordinance passed that makes it illegal to leave up Christmas lights for more than 60 days. Then she targeted flag-waving out of car windows. Her next odd cause? Public urination.
All three laws obviously target obnoxious behavior in the Hispanic community. Would a white alderman be able to get away with raising the same issues without being labeled a racist?
The 2nd Ward alderman's latest idea is a proposal that would require residents who throw large parties to provide portable toilets outside for their guests. Although the City Council adopted a public urination and defecation ban last December -- which Garza was also partly responsible for -- Garza said she's still getting complaints every weekend about party-goers relieving themselves on neighbors' lawns. She thinks maybe the bad behavior would stop if toilets were more readily available.
Only Garza could get away with pushing all these off-the-wall ordinances, but she's addressing real problems in the Hispanic community. Garza, a Mexican immigrant, admitted her fellow calendar-ignorant Latinos were the ones who prompted the Christmas-lights ordinance, and the flag-waving law was obviously aimed at the rowdy caravans on Cinco de Mayo and Fiestas Patrias. Now she's essentially telling drunken Hispanic party-goers to stop using Aurora's streets as their own personal bathroom.
If a white alderman made these proposals, the ACLU would have come calling long ago. But kudos to Garza for realizing her unique influence as the only Hispanic member of the City Council and taking political risks by trying to deal with sensitive racial issues that have a real impact on the quality of life in this city.
Public urination is not an "odd cause". It's disgusting! Little (and big) kids shouldn't have to worry that the grass they play on or the trees they climb are covered with pee.
And it has nothing to do with race. Pee is pee, and if people throw a party they need to provide bathroom facilities. Good for Ms. Garza for taking the initiative on this!
The government already has too much to say about what every one can or can't do, it should not try to mandate appropriate manners. Aurora is quickly becoming a comunist state.
I think I will just inject a little humor into this debate!!
Two weeks ago a limo driver showed up to take my daughter to the airport. The limo driver greeted us on the front porch. He said he needed to go to the bathroom really badly and wanted to know if he could just go in my back yard. Feeling that was the lesser of two evils (I certainly didn't want a stranger in my home bathroom), I told him that was fine. I had to chuckle then when I saw my female neighbor at that moment walking around in her yard which has no impediments to block the view of my backyard.
My daughter said he was the worst driver. I don't know if he ever did end up relieving himself, but I will surely never give him the privilege of escorting my precious cargo again!!
These are the experiences that give us great stories to tell later!! Ha!! Ha!! Hee! Hee! Pee! Pee!