no excuse for Penns Grove trash and littering

[nemisis]

a decent discussion on nj.com for a change. like it used to be before. talking about the trash blowing around this town and i do mean the paper and plastic variety.

it was mentioned that there is the possibility of there not even being a code or ordinance for businesses and property owners keeping their property's clean. to begin with, there shouldn't be a need for either. certainly a business owner should be interested enough in the appearance of his business to keep it clean. the same for peoples property. but evidently class and common decency are no longer a major part of the boro inhabitants.

so, if there is no code,why? if there is a code then why isn't it being enforced? if the code officer doesn't think she should get out and write violations because she isn't getting paid per mile then i see two choices.
1. replace her.
2. furnish her with a vehicle such as an old police car ,or , use of the street department pick up a day or two a week. that hasn't seen as much use as normal in the last year.

in my opinion she could patrol the town one or two days a week and make a huge difference. if there is a code that allows 10 days for making changes then that should not apply to trash clean up or grass and weed cutting. 2-3 days is all that is needed for that.make the fines escalating so that it would get expensive enough to make a statement. there is no sense in this town looking like a damned landfill after a windstorm.
before we get too hard on the code officer lets make sure shes not doing what shes been told to do, and thats nothing, so someones feelings don't get upset by a ticket. kind of like the bike helmet deal,people can't afford it.

at some point in time our leadership in boro hall is going to come to the realization that the rest of us have, to draw people to our town it has to have a decent appearance. if mel can do it with his little corner store on penn and pitman so can the rest of the town. the filth in this town is absolutely stupid. now lets see the mayor and council get off their asses and do something constructive.

the mayor,every council member,every boro employee, should be charged with reporting trash sites that they see everyday. they are out there everyday as we are. it certainly should not be the public carrying the load of reporting everything and then having those reports ignored.

the mayor and council are so great at spreading election newsletters try one having to do with litter and loitering to residents and businesses and then enforce it. this is such a stupidly simple problem to get under control. someone just has to start an initiative. someone just has to give a damn.

[bleh]

The only available vehicle I can think of is the sweeper. While he/she is making their rounds they can turn on the vacuum.

Cleaning up the trash is a quick fix, not a resolution. The resolution would be stopping the cause of the trash.

I may be wrong but I seriously doubt it. Finding the source of the trash isn't rocket science. I noticed the bulk of the trash shows up on our streets during and just after the day people put out their trash.
Next chance you get, drive up and down some of the streets during these times and observe how the trash is placed at the curb.

Trash that is not bagged properly or placed in containers without lids, overstuffed or just sitting out in the open seem to be the main source of our demise by debris.

Fining a responsible citizen for trash ending up in front of or on their property is not a smart move.

Irresponsible residents that are ecologically challenged or just too lazy and sloppy to secure their trash deserve to be fined for littering, period.

The sanitation department needs to be more responsible as well. As they load the trash truck with the items placed ever so carefully at the curb for their collection, they could be picking up the trash at their feet. Sometimes the trash at their feet comes from falling out of the overstuffed cans or ripped bags. But for some reason they just leave it on the ground.

Maybe some of the people choose not to buy decent containers because they know it will be destroyed by the collectors. They've already destroyed several of mine. My latest one cost $70.00. I cringed when I saw them throw it on to my lawn expecting a wheel to break off.
Blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is we all (maybe not all) know and see a lot of different problems in this extremely small town. We don't need to remind ourselves constantly about these issues, we need to find solutions to these problems. The only way to finally resolve any problem is to determine the cause. Picking up the trash over and over does absolutely nothing for the long term. Cleaning up the trash and sweeping the gutter in front of my house gives me satisfaction for a limited time. I stand back and look at my house afterwards, the pride lasts about 20 seconds because I suddenly realize I'll be back out here in three days to do it again. Shit.

If you see a problem, new or old, identify the cause and go after it. Pressure those that are responsible for resolving such issues. If they don't respond then make damn sure that everyone you know is aware that the person(s) responsible are now part of the cause of the problem.

[nemisis]

we need to get past the apathy,anger,frustration,that rules this town. the cleaning of the town should be the easiest issue to deal with and would make the biggest impression.

[njriverman]

I agree.

My street Risner avenue, fronts to the river but there is trash.

Part of it is from litter, part is from sloppy disposal via bags or cans with no lids.

Along my farm on quillytown road there are always cans (mostly beer), bottles etc.

It is a real shame there isn't more municpal pride.

Perhaps there should be a "clean up the town" day in the spring? Get the schools involved too.

Show the kids there is a consequence to litter.

[nemisis]

it's like bleh said, add to that the fact that most of the same people that cause it aren't used to anything better and flat don't give a damn. when our leadership shows the mentality that they don't give a damn either there will never be an improvement. if our leaders would get it that the title of elected official isn't whats important ,but, its the job they've been entrusted with being done well that would give them credibility, things might change. as long as its , look at my hat, i'm the mayor and i'm important, we'll continue to fall behind. and it's saying something when in 2008 cleanliness is an issue. that is solid proof that every resident and visitor can point to and say, this is a dead or dying town.

[Pineygirl]

Bleh is definitely correct.
Like him or not, one key to Giuliani's success in NYC was getting tough on the "small stuff." The littering, jaywalking, window-washers, etc.
It's been proven time and again that if you let people slide on the little things, it progresses to the big things like purse snatching, rape, and murder.
People won't like being hammered for tossing a piece of paper or bagging their trash incorrectly. But when they start to see the difference it makes to their town and property values, they might see things differently.

[bleh]

Over on the "other" forum, fellow poster ponderings tells how he/she is embarrassed to tell anyone where they live. I do the exact same thing when asked where I live, sad.

pville63 and njriverman mentioned a cleanup day. This has been suggested a few times, not a bad idea but let's see how it plays out in my head.

Scene one.

The air is fresh and the sun is shining. This will be a day to remember. An exited crowd has gathered. They are filled with enough spirit to take on the world and make it a better place.

In the crowd you see a group of scouts in a proud formation awaiting their leader's command to conquer. There are bikers with brooms, church groups with their faith and trash bags and individual citizens with shovels and determination. There are a number of other organizations present to offer their support for the effort. All are determined to obliterate this hideous monster, called trashzilla, which will not leave our tiny village.

Over on the hastily assembled stage, overly decorated in red, white and blue, through a P.A. system projecting pops, buzzes and feedback, the politicians proclaim, "A day of change is upon us, o good people of Penns Grove". The local school band playing their rendition of “Happy Days Are Here Again” drowns the rest of the speech out.
Damn near reminiscent of the days when John Phillip Sousa entertained the friendly town of Penns Grove a century earlier.

At the shot of a starter's pistol, balloons are released into the air, and the crowd, armed with plastics trash bags, brooms and those sticks with the nail sticking out of the end, charge into the streets to take back the pride of days gone by.

Scene two.

The crowd, reassembled and exhausted watch a convoy of trucks, each with a forty-yard container filled to capacity, carry off the carcass of the beast. The streets are spotless; graffiti wiped out, landscapes newly dressed and the sun begins to set.

Pride has returned to our little community. The crowd shrinks as people return to their homes with a real sense of accomplishment. Our work is done.


Scene three.

It's only been a week but most people have already forgotten what was achieved on that special day. It's almost mind-boggling how fast the beast was regenerated. Those who remember the day stand amongst the trash in utter disbelief. Then it occurs to us, we didn't killed the beast, we only removed its offspring. Welcome back to reality.

the End.


If I was a political figure in this town and I saw the people having to take charge of things to make a difference, I would be completely embarrassed.

While I really do believe a clean up day sponsored by anyone is a noble gesture, I can't imagine how the powers-that-be can sleep at night knowing that they failed to analyze the problem and come up with a solution. The taxpayers, having to reach such a point of disgust with none performance, deciding to do it themselves is incredibly sad. The sickening part of this picture is when opportunist politician grandstands and tries to take credit for the blitz cleanup effort.

If any one day, temporary cleanup event is scheduled by my neighbors, sure, I'll be there to help, but I won't be happy and it should never be considered a good day when we have to take matters into our own taxpaying hands.

Obviously such an occasion will not be the festival as I painted it. Just thought I'd share what popped into my head when I read about having a cleanup day in Penns grove.

[nemisis]

sad but true. one council person had such a day on penn street. i saw her and a few folks and young people actually doing the work. i didn't see the mayor or other council members. the only council person that didn't hype herself over the day was the one picking up trash. if this one council person can get people on penn street out doing things like this imagine what could happen if the others didn't have a problem getting a little actual dirt on their hands. if the others actually cared enough to put forth the effort. i agree with bleh, it shouldn't have to come from the people, it should come from responsible leadership and their having this pride thing about their town that they do so little to promote.

[PennJersey]

We could just organize a trash clean up day on here and invite the sunbeam to publish when/where it will be.

Henry

[njriverman]

Originally Posted by PennJersey

We could just organize a trash clean up day on here and invite the sunbeam to publish when/where it will be.

Henry

Good idea!

Penn Jersey Forums could just do it, and invite the schools to participate as well.