No, merci, to French toast on the sidewalk

DEAR READERS >> Johnnie had other assignments this week, so here’s a column from March 2020 that reminds us that tossing French toast onto the sidewalk is, um, for the birds.

DEAR JOHNNIE >> My neighbor throws leftovers, muffins, biscuits, corn bread, rice, French bread, on the sidewalk in front of her house to feed the birds and other animals. When it snows this ends up being a mushy mess. When this freezes to the sidewalk it also creates a trip hazard. Is this against city code to throw food on the sidewalk and street in front of your house?

I feed the birds myself, but use feeders in my backyard. Wouldn’t a feeder in her back yard be better?

DEAR BIRD LOVER >> I’ll get to your second question first, here: Yes, undoubtedly a bird feeder would be a better option. I understand wanting to feed birds and have them around, but setting food out on the sidewalk and leaving it there doesn’t seem — to me, at least — like the best way to do that.

Perhaps your neighbor is trying to attract raccoons instead?

To get a definitive answer to your first question, I reached out to the Longmont Police Department and spoke with Sgt. James Brown.

“We have a municipal ordinance and a county ordinance,” said Brown on whether your neighbor is violating any laws. “Basically, the way it’s worded, is it says that any person who deposits, throws or leaves any litter on any public or private property or in any waters, commits littering.

“And then it defines litter, it’s actually very general, it just says … ‘the term litter refers to all rubbish, waste material, refuse, garbage, trash, … debris or other foreign substance, solid or liquid of every form, size, kind and description.’”

So it definitely sounds like your neighbor is violating at least one ordinance here. Brown said, though, that from a “law enforcement standpoint,” the concept of being reasonable about enforcing these laws comes in.

He said that if the food was only there for a short amount of time and birds were picking it up and flying away with it relatively quickly, officers would likely not act to enforce that law, even though that would technically be illegal.

He also said that if this French bread were to be piling up on your neighbor’s front yard or on another part of her property, he added, the ordinance wouldn’t apply.

“So if they own the property or lease the property or are the renter of the property, then the letter and law wouldn’t apply,” Brown said.