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Muncy Borough Council adapted tougher penalties for codes violations at a recent meeting.
As last Monday's edition of the Sun-Gazette reported, the new policies intend to focus on repeat offenders of maintenance and nuisance ordinances.
It isn't necessarily fair to single Muncy borough out -- our years of coverage of city and borough councils and township supervisors across our region inform us all that this problem isn't new or limited to one corner of Lycoming County.
And the problem is not a simple matter of aesthetics. Many of the conditions ordinances address are about safety -- about keeping the risks of fire or injury or other calamity lower.
While we hope Muncy's new efforts are successful and encourage every municipality to attentively examine their ordinances and enforcement policies, we must note that one solution is beyond the scope of government: A sense of community, or responsibility.
While perhaps a naive sentiment, it would truly be better if more residents of our communities and property owners within our communities more frequently showed the initiative to address the state of their own residences.
Of course many do. And they are the ones whose efforts make neighborhoods safer and more welcoming.
But if more residents and property owners felt that sense of responsibility, our municipal governments would have more latitude to focus on budgets and tax relief and economic development rather than preventing a curious child from injury in a condemned building or yard overgrown with brush and strewn with debris.