Why The Litter? (Pittsburgh, Lebanon, Washington: house, neighborhoods, tax)

[madmj]

I need to start this off by saying that both the Mrs. & I thoroughly enjoyed our recent trip to Pittsburgh. I don't think I have ever visited a place & met friendlier people. We loved lots & lots about your great city.

With that said, we both came away almost astounded at the amount of litter along the roadside all throughout the outside towns & neighborhoods of downtown. We rented a car and drove through Bridgeville, Dormont, Mt. Lebanon, Mt. Washington, Regent Square, Lawrenecville, and a few more places in and around the city. Downtown was very clean but I don't undestand why there was the amount of trash piled up in most of the other places.

For example, when we started to come in from the airport we both noticed that there was various kinds of garbage along the side of the hills as we drove. When we got off on an exit there was so many cigarette butts & other litter along the road that you could probably take a snow shovel and fill up dozens of trash cans.

The only other place that I can remember like this was when I lived in L.A. They have a major issue w/ people littering & the city/county couldn't care less & just ignore the problem. In NY the litter is generally taken care of by city/county employees. What's left tends to be picked up by volunteers and such. In Florida litter is picked up along the roadside by the prisoners. I can't believe that a place populated by so many people who have an abundance of pride for their city could be filled w/ litter the way it is.

Why do you think this is? I am not meaning to offend anybody at all. We are considering a possible relocation and I'm just curious as to opinions regarding the root of the problem.

[Johnny C]

I travel all over the country and I can tell you this is not just a Pittsburgh thing.The northern cities seem to be much worse this time of year because of the spring thaw. It is nearly impossible to pick up litter that is buried under plowed snow banks, so the winter litter builds up. Come spring, there is a larger stockpile of the litter than normal until crews can pick it up.

[madmj]

Originally Posted by Johnny C

I travel all over the country and I can tell you this is not just a Pittsburgh thing.The northern cities seem to be much worse this time of year because of the spring thaw. It is nearly impossible to pick up litter that is buried under plowed snow banks, so the winter litter builds up. Come spring, there is a larger stockpile of the litter than normal until crews can pick it up.

I was actually wondering if that was a potential reason. I know that spring has just started and snow tends to cover up some things until it thaws.

[Johnny C]

Don't get me wrong - its definitely a problem here. I just think its also a problem in a lot of other places as well. People are pigs and the world is their trash can.

[madmj]

I understand your point and I agree w/ your overall assessment of human behavior. It just really jumped out as being excessive. I've visited/lived in quite a few places and the only other place that I could compare it to was L.A. - which I shudder at the thought of even doing. It seems like such an easy thing to crack down on.

[greg42]

I think it's a problem other places as well. But it comes up often enough here that I'm willing to believe it's perhaps worse than baseline. I have to say it that way, though, because I've been a lot of places and I haven't found them to be better or Pittsburgh to be worse. It's quite possible that I'm not observant of that here (although I did notice a nasty mess on the 6th Street/Clemente Bridge this morning, no doubt left over from it being open only to pedestrians during the baseball games over the weekend) and also not too observant of it elsewhere. I do admit it's not high on my things to look for when I visit other cities.

I very much despise watching people throw cig butts everywhere, in most cases people who would never dream of littering something larger, as if somehow the butt is not just as much littering as other stuff. There are cities I know where that doesn't happen so much with the cigs. But I'm sure the trash you saw is more than just cig butts.

Yeah, I could see how the winter creates a bigger problem at this time of year in some spots. The other thing you find are places like wooded hillsides where trash gets snagged in underbrush and such. This would also be more visible now until it greens up a bit more and is difficult to remove by normal means. Because of the terrain we have a lot more spots like that in Pittsburgh than many other cities.

It's also quite possible that not as much workforce is dedicated to this kind of cleanup here vs some other places. Other than getting people out there to clean it, though, I'm not sure it's an easy thing to crack down on. The trash gets strewn about any number of ways and blows around and stuff. And there's not always going to be someone around to enforce the law.

[madmj]

Originally Posted by greg42

I think it's a problem other places as well. But it comes up often enough here that I'm willing to believe it's perhaps worse than baseline. I have to say it that way, though, because I've been a lot of places and I haven't found them to be better or Pittsburgh to be worse. It's quite possible that I'm not observant of that here (although I did notice a nasty mess on the 6th Street/Clemente Bridge this morning, no doubt left over from it being open only to pedestrians during the baseball games over the weekend) and also not too observant of it elsewhere. I do admit it's not high on my things to look for when I visit other cities.

I very much despise watching people throw cig butts everywhere, in most cases people who would never dream of littering something larger, as if somehow the butt is not just as much littering as other stuff. There are cities I know where that doesn't happen so much with the cigs. But I'm sure the trash you saw is more than just cig butts.

Yeah, I could see how the winter creates a bigger problem at this time of year in some spots. The other thing you find are places like wooded hillsides where trash gets snagged in underbrush and such. This would also be more visible now until it greens up a bit more and is difficult to remove by normal means. Because of the terrain we have a lot more spots like that in Pittsburgh than many other cities.

It's also quite possible that not as much workforce is dedicated to this kind of cleanup here vs some other places. Other than getting people out there to clean it, though, I'm not sure it's an easy thing to crack down on. The trash gets strewn about any number of ways and blows around and stuff. And there's not always going to be someone around to enforce the law.

A friend of mine suggested that the lack of clean-up by prisoners/community service requirements, might have something to do with the unions. He said that it's possible the unions might not allow that to happen as it could be seen as taking away some of their work. I have absolutely no idea if there is any truth to that, but I thought I'd throw it out there to see if that is at all possible.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by madmj

A friend of mine suggested that the lack of clean-up by prisoners/community service requirements, might have something to do with the unions. He said that it's possible the unions might not allow that to happen as it could be seen as taking away some of their work. I have absolutely no idea if there is any truth to that, but I thought I'd throw it out there to see if that is at all possible.

If that's true, then it's not like the unions are doing much work themselves. (Go figure.)

I bet that half the litter in the area is from people who think that Pittsburgh is Hell on earth, and take no pride in the place whatsoever, so they throw their **** out the window as they please.

[SteelCityRising]

The litter epidemic here is something that we need to be cognizant of and take responsibility for; however, even with how deplorably dirty/trashy this area is overall I believe the quality-of-life is outstanding. I'm off work this Saturday and am considering pitching in myself to help clean up litter in Schenley Heights with the city. The Polish Hill Civic Association hosted a clean-up here this past weekend (which I regrettably had to miss due to work). As was already noted I'm certain the litter (and pothole) issue here is worst in early-Spring.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

You know... I never even noticed how dirty it was here till I started posting on City Data. I guess I'm just used to our city looking like Mumbai.

I actually got a letter from the city saying they're organizing a clean up near my house and they wanted me as a volunteer. Guess our tax dollars aren't enough to keep the streets clean. Lovely.