All of us want to live in the best city that we can manage to fashion for ourselves. That goes without saying.

Sometimes we have to crackdown a bit on those who let things go a bit too far, who don’t seem to have respect for the community in which they live and/or own property. Peer pressure is one thing, but sometimes the law has to step in to move things along in the proper direction, and in a timely manner.

The currently proposed ordinance that is aimed at getting so-called “absentee landlords” to do their part to keep their properties clean and safe seems to be a sound idea at its core. There are times when negligent property owners will need to be called on their inattentive practices, and some form of regulation seems to be in order.

We do hope that city officials will weigh the available options carefully and apply just and prudent strategies for solving the problems in question.

Specifically, the use of police officers to protect passers-by in perceived unsafe areas might warrant serious consideration. Could such a strategy create a drain on our precious police resources? The question must be addressed before a final ordinance is implemented.

We should do whatever we can do, within reason, to ensure that all of our neighborhoods become and remain as attractive and safe as we can possibly make them. Let us also take the steps necessary to do this in a clearly beneficial, deliberative way.