The current national park philosophy, adopted by Allentown, is Carry In/Carry Out. In our environmentally woke time, the belief is that people will take their trash with them, after they guzzled their sports drink. Allentown accordingly removed most of the trash containers from the parks, instead installing larger capacity containers, which only have to be emptied once a week. While previously one man and a pickup truck removed the bags, now a dump truck, two men and crane are used to extract the 8ft. long bags from a pit below the containers.
It all sounds wonderful, until you drive through downtown Allentown any Monday morning...It looks like there was a parade every weekend. The litter in Allentown is astounding...Many throw their trash down even if there is a container within several feet. Parents throw down their trash in front of their children.
Rather than less trash containers in our parks, we should have installed more. There is nothing Allentown can learn from national park bureaucrats. Our traditional park system was second to none.
Again Mike, in Allentown is there any accountability anywhere? At the top, the middle,the bottom? Was there ever? Will there ever be? I gave up working and waiting fot it years ago. On a brighter note one candidate for mayor takes the issue seriously enough to set an example. Every Saturday he is out there with supportors picking up litter, cleaning out trash choked parking lots, vacant lots, and neighborhood wooded areas. That's more than just more words that's leadership. Of course the candidate is Tim Ramos.
ReplyDeleteI normally do not reply to comments, but.... Scott I commend you for all the years you picked up litter in the West Park neighborhood. While I'm sure both Ramos and Tuerk set good examples, Allentown needs people to stop littering, not just picking up after them. Police and Parking Authority should hand out stiff fines.
ReplyDeleteGoing out into the neighborhoods and setting an example is a good start. Our schools should take the time to deliver an anti-litter message. Allentown had that about twenty years ago, it was called cleangetaway.
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand that volunteers who pick up trash are doing a good service for the community, sadly, I believe it just encourages more of the same behaviour from the population.
ReplyDeleteIt is not just in the city but everywhere, look at the convenience store parking lots, mall parking lots, the trash is everywhere. Many of the stores have to clean up there lots several times a day.
It is the same along the highways, fast food bags and beer cans are everywhere.
We still have littering laws on the books, but never enforced. it should be enforced with a small fine and 8 hours of picking up trash.
Although I will gladly host one guest post for any candidate before November's election, I will not host comments from others saying what their candidate will do about this or any other issue.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived on 8th St, I cleaned up the litter with a neighbor. We once collected 4-5 contractor bags of litter. I was shocked there was so much trash on one street. We had one family that flicked cigs all day. When I moved, another neighbor asked them to put a butt can. Their response: the guy up there cleans all this.
ReplyDeleteSadly some people have no shame, they abuse the good will of others.