Otherwise known as “overpaid bureaucrats”.
Bob Klassen was issued the $60 ticket after temperatures took a dip. He says he’s a law-abiding citizen, but is forced to keep a car on the street because his driveway isn’t big enough. And when temperatures drop, he has to plug his car in or he has to jump it every day.
“The bylaw is written in such a way that there’s no actual way to run a cord to the street,” Klassen says. “I’m stuck, I’m at a loss. I have no idea where to go or what to do.”
There’s a petition here, but Regina residents are more likely get action by yelling at their city councillors – and not about cords. If that’s all they can find to do, then Regina has too many city employees.
Update. In response to some of the commentors…
So if I get a ticket for parking in front of a fire hydrant in my street, I should whine at SDA and argue that I have never seen any fire in this area and they just want to control my life.
You might have a point, if parking in front of a hydrant is prohibited for being a trip hazard.
Street parking was the worst idea ever invented, but it came about because cities allowed builders to build on doll house-sized lots.
Were I God (ha!), I would ban tiny lots and ban overnight street parking everywhere.
“Allan, having worked in the automotive service industry for over 25 years, I have to say.
Thank you for the business.”
You shouldn’t, you don’t get any of my business. I do all of my own work on the F150, and almost all of the work on my big rig.
If anything you should be thanking the folks that don’t properly maintain their vehicle. These are the same folks that require regular tows, and must plug their vehicles in everywhere they go otherwise it won’t start. Who do you make more money off of?
“allan, the underlying issue, is government control of all aspects of our lives… ”
I agree to a point, but having an unreliable winter vehicle that is required to be plugged in is a very bad way of pointing this out.
Sounds like this guy can’t even go to a mall for a few hours without worrying that his car won’t start due to no plug ins.
Here’s a protip for you folks:
High CCA batteries aren’t all that good. They do start better but only when they’re brand new. Due to thinner plates they aren’t as reliable and will actually have less power by the second winter. Skip the CT “Motomaster eliminator” junk. Buy yourself the mid range CCA for your battery size. Or better yet get an AGM battery.
“d) If you don’t have the mental wherewithall to watch where you’re walking on a public sidewalk then sooner or later something’s going to bring you down. It may as well be an electrical cord teaching you that lesson as a patch of ice or a banana peel.”
Sidewalks full of electrical cords–purposefully placed there by those whose perceived right to personal convenience and sense of entitlement outweigh even the most basic notions of public safety and common decency–covered by a few inches of freshly fallen snow.
Young children on their way to school. Seniors on the way to church.
Clearly, it’s their fault if they trip and fall. If they naively think that a public sidewalk should be generally kept free of man-made obstacles, and if they don’t have the common sense to shuffle down a snow-covered public walkway an inch at a time, using their lead foot or walker to probe for the usual potential dangers (electrical cord, garden rake, bear-trap) lurking underneath, then let their sprained wrists and broken hips be a valuable lesson in taking responsibility for one’s own safety.
Brilliant, as always.
Well said Kate. I recently had a somewhat related power cord incident with a tin badge dicktator.
A few months back one of my crews was replacing the siding on a house in Airdrie that had been damaged when the house next door burnt to the ground. As a matter of fact the house we were working on would also have been lost if not for the neighbor on the other side who hosed it down until the fire department arrived.
We were at day two on the project when the roofing crew also arrived bringing the total number of men on site to 10.
Halfway through the day somebody kicked in the table saw while our air compressor and the roofers were both running and pop goes the breaker. With the homeowners at work and the house locked up we were virtually powerless.
As the sky threatening rain and the roof and half the siding tore off it was kind of important that we finish what we started. We tried plugging in to the good Samaritan neighbor but no power there so we ran more cord to a house two doors down. I will also add that I rang both doorbells before trying to plug in and of course nobody was home at either place.
About five thirty a pickup pulls into the driveway at the house we are plugged into. I immediately approached this fella and started with. “Good afternoon sir. As you can see we are plugged into your power, we blew a breaker and were in a bit of a bind. I will be happy to give you some cash to cover what we have taken.”
The guy goes freaking ballistic. Screaming “THIS IS NOT ON! THIS IS THEFT AND I SHOULD KNOW BECAUSE I’M A CALGARY POLICE OFFICER!
I was shocked at the response as this is not the first time this situation ever arose and I’ve never had a problem dealing with others from whom we scarfed power.
This bloke (did I mention his thick British accent) informed me that had this occurred in Calgary he would have had me charged with theft but seeing as how it was in Airdrie he wasn’t going to bother the RCMP.
I gave the a$$hole $50.00 for the power we used and complimented him on his sense of community and concern for the welfare of his neighbors.
Dec 3 a contractor was replacing eavestroughs at the Anglican church next to our Legion. I’m an executive member. He asked to plug in to our wall three hours or so, for his power tools.
“Of course”, I told him. No big deal. Or I’m nutz or something?
Pretty vivid imagination there old couch. Then again if it isn’t the garden rakes and bear traps it’s likely something insidious like CO2.
Right?
@ eastern paul
Not nutz, just decent. Thankfully most folks are reasonable like yourself.
About syncrodox’s anecdote:
I did something similar for my neighbor a few months back. He kept popping his breakers with all the lights in his grow op, so I let him break through his basement wall, tunnel the 10 feet or so over to the feed into my house, and tap into my power supply before it hit the meter.
Damn neighborly of me, if I do say so myself. And how does the bugger repay me? Leaves a damn extension cord straddling the damn sidewalk. The cord runs out to a cube van parked in front of his house.
Now that I think about it, the cord goes into the back of the van, rather than under the hood. Peculiar place to put a block heater, but there you are.
syncroodox, actually I can’t recall a more anal group of people than those living in Airdrie, I’m familiar with the burnt house a block from Burt Church…
I commend Davenport for the great courage it must take for him to ever set foot outside his home.
Davenport never leaves it’s house without it’s trusty mine sweeper,christ you’d think it lives on an obstacle course,dumbass lefties.
This thread is clogged with morons. Somehow, car maintenance in -30 weather is the issue?
Tell you what: I’ll plug my car in every time it’s -25 or below. You don’t. At the end of two or three winters, let’s compare engine wear.
Idiots.
@ lickmuffin
When the house on the other side of you goes up for sale let me know.
@ marc in calgary
No kidding. When we set up on that job I spotted our 12′ dump trailer in the driveway of the destroyed house. The property was surrounded by temporary fencing but the driveway was available. Within a couple of hours the basement owner (as it was) showed up and told me to move it onto the street and proceeded to reconfigure the fence to block the driveway.
His thinking was that our dump trailer was going to crack his driveway. The truck he was driving weighs about four times what our unloaded trailer does and about twice what it weighs loaded.
Anal retentive is accurate but compared to these folks does an injustice to sphincters.
Yukon, plugging in the block heater is to help with starting, not with oil flow. If you knew anything about engines, you’d know that the oil pan is well below the block heater and receives absolutely no heat from it.
If you’re worried about wear due to lack of oil flow, run a good quality synthetic oil, or plug in an oil pan heater.
In fact I know of a certain Toyota pickup that hit 999,000 kms. No typo. Never plugged in. This is in Winnipeg to boot, with many 2 am starts. Bambi finally put that truck under. No engine rebuilds either. In fact other than regular maintenance the only thing that engine ever needed was one timing chain.
Maintenance > block heater
Generally the best way of running a power cord to the street for a block heater is over the sidewalk (helps if you’ve got a high tree branch conveniently located. I would be pissed off if someone ran a white power cord on the ground during the winter, but most power cords are bright orange and quite visible against the snow.
Syncrodox – quite bizarre situation you had with the power from a neighboring house. My next door neighbors renovated their house a couple of years ago and multiple power cords going from my yard to theirs to run power saws, etc. Never thought of charging them for the power they used.
One place I lived years ago had plenty of “squeaky snow” weather in the winter. One old guy had a clapped out old pickup truck, no block heater, and guess who’s vehicle always started in the parking lot at the end of work! He would stay long enough to jump start one or two helpless plugged in fairly new vehicles and then take off. We figured his engine compression must have been so bad the battery had it easy cranking it over while providing good spark.
There’s no question at all that an extension cord laying across a sidewalk is a tripping hazard, particularly if it is not lying dead flat, and how easy is it to make a PVC-wrapped cord lie dead flat at 20 below?
When I lived in Calgary, and had to park on the street, I rigged a “gallows” of scrap lumber to pass the cord well over the heads of passers-by. That’s the safe and responsible thing to do.
And one really should plug in their vehicle when the temperature plunges. It does less damage to the engine, and makes for less wear and tear on the starter and battery to crank a warmed engine versus a cold one. Just because you can start your car without plugging it in, it doesn’t mean you should, unless you’re OK with wasting fuel and taking years off the potential life of the darn thing.
Having said that, the dude in Regina should not have been ticketed, unless he had been given previous warnings, and disregarded them. And any bylaw that purports to control such tripping hazards should expressly permit the use of an overhead conveyance for the cord, as long as such device is substantial enough to not be a hazard in its own right. I remember seeing some awfully dodgy setups along Calgary streets.
The real issue here is a badly-written bylaw, combined with (possibly)over-zealous enforcement.
Kate @ 3:11
couldn’t agree with you more, and furthermore to all of you here who rightly condem government for inserting itself into all aspects of our lives, but are supporting this stupidity, keep this in mind: There are civil mechanisms to solve slip and falls, negligence and the like. Remember that when you next want to complain about some city councillor do-gooder wanting to ban you from keeping your boat in your driveway or having a BBQ pit in your back yard or forcing you to wear rubber boots so you won’t cath your F^&*%*(&^ death of cold in wet weather. Give them an inch…
My owners manual states minimum 3 hours at -15. I give two hours below -25. My car will start at -35 but why would I do that? Below -25 I always start it in neutral. Blew out a transmission seal at -40 one year.
@syncrodox, Waterhouse, and H.Ryan: Kate paints a scenario in which she considers pedestrians who trip over an electrical cord on a public sidewalk to be ones at fault rather than the private homeowner who placed the hazard there, and you agree with her?
And I point out that, Saskatchewan winters being what they are, cords laid on a sidewalk could easily be obscured by snow such that a lack of “mental wherewithal” might not really be the issue here, and you jump reflexively to her defense?
I’ll say this: you’re nothing if not loyal.
“Yukon, plugging in the block heater is to help with starting, not with oil flow.”
Yes. I think most of us realize that the oil pan is below the block heater. However, please explain how an engine warmed by a block heater spins over much easier than one that was not plugged in. And obviously, it has nothing to do with the battery or the starter.
The block heater warms the engine coolant which, in turn, passes on some degree of warmth to the oil pan. Mechanics 101.
@ loki
Like I said earlier to eastern paul, decency and reason are the norm but in IMHO are becoming a lesser majority.
Look up this thread and figure out who is so far removed from the practical knowledge of how things work as to be helpless.
There are more than a few.
Off topic. Were you on Adler today Kate?
But, but. but…….
Forget the starting feature. What’s going to happen when all the apartment living Yuppies purchase an electric car that needs a nightly recharge?
Old Couch
I’ll say this: you’re nothing if not vacuous. And you make my point.
BTW. Did you know that over 50% of the Safety Consultants I have ever met were injured on the job prior to becoming a Safety Consultant?
Weird eh?
“Yes. I think most of us realize that the oil pan is below the block heater. However, please explain how an engine warmed by a block heater spins over much easier than one that was not plugged in. And obviously, it has nothing to do with the battery or the starter.”
Less friction and metal expansion, the cylinder walls are warmer allowing the pistons to move up and down quicker. Piston to cylinder wall is by far the highest contributor to friction in a starting engine.
“The block heater warms the engine coolant which, in turn, passes on some degree of warmth to the oil pan. Mechanics 101.”
Not really, since neither are being circulated. Block heaters generally warm the block near the top, this is more for warmth in the cylinder to aid with initial starting. The oil pan is way at the bottom, and the oil isn’t anywhere near the block. Not only that oil pans are thin and not insulated. Even a fully warm running engine going down the highway at -30 has a drastically colder oil temperature than one at normal temps.
Plugging in is a good idea of course especially at colder temps. But if a gasoline engine won’t start unless plugged in, there is *always* a maintenance issue.
I learn something every day! Turns out, being in contact with a warmer surface than the outside air will not warm coolant or oil!
That must be why your car’s cabin heater is a glowing red element that sits on your dash…
Allan, isn’t absolutely wonderful. You can shovel all the sh!t you want on the internet and never have to back it up!
That’s not what I said, the coolant in the block definitely gets warmer. In fact most block heaters heat the coolant directly. They’re called wet block heaters. Some (newer style) block heaters just go into the block itself. Those are called dry block heaters.
So you guys have an issue with the city bylaw in regards to power cords for block heaters, I wonder if you’re equally upset that our government requires all cars sold in Canada to have block heaters? Either one is a nanny state.
“You can shovel all the sh!t you want on the internet and never have to back it up!”
Please elaborate. Ad hom attacks usually pop up when one is losing any sort of argument/debate no matter how small.
Davenport, if it’s strictly speaking, a matter of tripping over a privately owned electrical cord laid down or over a publicly owned sidewalk… why, as Lance correctly points out, is it the private owners requirement to clear the snow from it? (in Regina). The sidewalks are owned by the city, yet if the private individuals don’t clear them of snow, the city will clean it or send a private snow removal crew to remove it, and then bill the private individual that owns the house abutting said property.
It’s not a question of liability, when people trip on a poorly maintained city owned sidewalk, I don’t think they’ll get anywhere suing the city for a new set of front teeth, implants running about $100,000. from a dentist… It’s a question of governance, and its overreaching into our lives.
Where can I give to the Victims Of Block Heater Cord Mishaps Fund?
Running power down a 14/2 wire to a Chevy Volt at minus 30C will surely save the planet.
Ohhhmmmmz.
you jump reflexively to her defense?
Maybe Or maybe I just thought your little nightmare scenario of legions of schoolkids and seniors turtling around in drifts with cracked hips while a blizzard howls was hilariously stupid, and wondered at the mental state of someone so fearful of encountering an extension cord.
Davenport –
Sorry, but your ludicrous sentence: ” Sidewalks full of electrical cords–purposefully placed there by those whose perceived right to personal convenience and sense of entitlement outweigh even the most basic notions of public safety and common decency – demonizes people who the public have determined, through the bylaws, committed harm proportionate to a $60 fine. Sorry, again, but it seems you liberals favorite form of government always turns out to be a police state, or more precisely, personal rule by yourself. Remember, Mr. Klassen is a fellow citizen; probably not so different from yourself, and just as entitled to treatment as such: Please leave your hate – or whatever it is – at the door.
Can’t you cobble up an overhead crossing with two sticks and some string? Or would you need a permit for that?
Paulie, Bob Klassen @ 11.15 outlines why this is not ok.
A thinking person would do this, but the City of Regina makes this illegal. Plenty of folks do this, I don’t know if plenty of folks are penalized for it.
Well, here’s the thing …… if you let one person get away with one extension cord then someone will surely string 2 or more cords across the sidewalk. The guy 2 doors down from me rents out one space in his garage to someone who stores his boat there then he stores his own boat & 5th wheel in his yard. Add to that the fact he has 2 kids at home who have cars and voila … 3 cords across the sidewalk.
Unfortunately, you have to draw the line somewhere because some people can’t use common sense.
Most people in these parts do the up and over. Never heard of anyone getting a ticket for it. Common sense, not so common anymore.
Maybe we need a extension cord registry. You know…to prevent extension cord tragedies and what not.
I don’t need to say the I WORD…do I?
I am with Kate and Marc in Calgary on this one. From reading through the comments it becomes clear why municipal, regional, provincial and federal governments get away with creating volumes of laws, bylaws, and regulations concerning anything and everything. We still have far too many who see no problem with control zealots and who often are control zealots themselves when it pertains to others.
My oh my…what a pile of …well whatever these comments are.
Bottom line: Public Throughfare…therefore no cords across the way. If every house had one running out to the street, it’d be a damn hazardous mess.
Don’t ticket the guy on the first call of course!
As for helping one’s self to so called ‘good samaritan’ power…give yor head a shake syncro and buy a portable generator for such occasions.
I.ve been a serious contractor for years and wouldn’t be without one.
Next time I run out of gas in my truck would it be okay if I used a hose to dip into your tank?…course if you turn up while I’m doing the deed I’ll be happy to offer you some cash !
Also for the guy being uptight about strangers using his vacant driveway… well some folks are just naturally neurotic now aren’t they?…what’s he going to do when the lumber yard truck turns up on his building site and wants to offload that very heavy drywall up by the house.
Anyway…my two cents for what its worth.
26 Years in Automotive and HD industry. 10 Years owning my successful shop in Whitehorse Yukon. Specific courses taken in lubrication.
No long argument. Just a simple 2 fold statement.
1 Allan is an idiot.
2 Shops see his kind coming and rub their hands.
Allan, davenport, has it occurred to either of you geniuses that there are plenty of ways to get an extension cord/power line with socket over, under or around a sidewalk without being a tripping hazard?
The guy is not allowed to do -any- of them, by city bylaw. No particular reason for this rule, its just a rule. But he -has- to do it, or his car won’t start. With the obvious accompanying economic and social problems of no car in winter.
This is the very essence of capricious, oppressive, objectionable, BONE HEADED governance by uncaring political hacks that we Canadians are so familiar with. I call it Regulation Hell.
I note which side of the argument you have chosen, and I savor the future sweetness which will be mine when inevitably both of you meet up with your own personal regulation hell.
By the way Allan, the term you can’t seem to find is “viscosity”. Starting an engine at -30F with no block heater results in oil starvation with the obvious resulting accelerated wear of all bearings fed by pressurized oil. Crank and rod mains, cam bearings, lifter rollers, etc. The newer the engine, the more damage.
Block heaters keep viscosity low enough for oil to flow. Its called conduction, Allan. Unless the wind is blowing right on the oil pan, it stays warm.
@ old duffer
You make some points to which I will reply.
1. Is the overhead, underground or cover-up solution preferred?
2. All decent contractors should own a genset. Even we own one. Fact is it wasn’t in either of those trucks that day.
3. If you are ever hard up for gas to get to work I will definitely help you out.
4. The fella with the delicate driveway caused this whole course of events.
5. As a first responder (the cop) I would have thought that he would be more understanding of the situation.
6. As second responders….we were all ten of us there to mitigate the damage. I viewed what we were doing as beneficial.
7. Is it really that back biting out there?
I’m making an assumption that this commentor is right because I did’t check the bylaw myself.
Just to be clear, here is how the bylaw reads in Regina (bylaw 9900 code 68(2).)
“Cord Across the Sidewalk
68. (1) No person shall place or leave any cord or cable across, above, or on any public highway or sidewalk.
(2) No person shall allow any cord or cable left across, above, or on any public highway or sidewalk to be attached to their vehicle while that vehicle is parked on a street.”
Which means even running an elevated line is an infraction.
I can see some argument against having cords on the public walkway, but I don’t see why a person who must park on the street, should be prevented from maintaining a cord high enough so walkers are not inconvenienced.
I’d give more credence to the theory that an electrical cord poses an unmitigated hazard on Regina sidewalks if I had no knowledge of the current state of disrepair of most Regina sidewalks.
Geez Rob. Actual knowledge of the situation is unappreciated. Narrative’s and all that.
I might be a little late to be commenting but here goes;
Allan, the manufacturer of the engine in my truck, Cummins, recommends that the block heater be plugged in below 40 degrees f.
It starts a heck of a lot colder than that without being plugged in, but it is to the engines detriment to do it. Your advice to the masses about vehicle maintenance is accurate, but just because an engine can start in -25 or colder without pre-heat doesn’t mean it should become common practice.
So, everyone gets what they paid for your advice, and that’s what its worth. I’m going to go with the recommend of the engine manufacturer that I paid big dollars for. If I had to get a cord out to my truck on the street to plug in the block heater, then by golly, that’s what I’m going to do.
allan: “I wonder if you’re equally upset that our government requires all cars sold in Canada to have block heaters?”
You might want to tell the BC car dealers this. Dork.