There was little Taylor Swift-related trash left Sunday on the North Shore despite record-setting attendance (Pittsburgh: middle-class, appointed)

[anthony_c55]

This is great news. Of course there was trash, but relatively speaking, a lot less than other concerts (or games) and amazing considering 140,000 people were there over the two days. Actually that number was for ticket holders and many more came to be near the event.

There was little Taylor Swift-related trash left Sunday on the North Shore despite record-setting attendance

[SteelCityRising]

Good! I have to say as a frequent litter-picker on the North Side I was disappointed that the offramp system from 65 NB to Marshall/California was worse after the concert weekend than it has been in a long time, but that can mostly be attributed to PennDOT employees again running over litter with their massive equipment as they mow grass and having that plastic confetti blow all over the place because this has been a very windy year so far.

Pittsburgh is just a very filthy city. The amount of cigarette butts I pick up daily is staggering.

[PghYinzer]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Good! I have to say as a frequent litter-picker on the North Side I was disappointed that the offramp system from 65 NB to Marshall/California was worse after the concert weekend than it has been in a long time, but that can mostly be attributed to PennDOT employees again running over litter with their massive equipment as they mow grass and having that plastic confetti blow all over the place because this has been a very windy year so far.

Pittsburgh is just a very filthy city. The amount of cigarette butts I pick up daily is staggering.

Funny you say that....Virginia Montanez is all fired up about the current state of litter in the city. She has been meeting with City Council, and the one area the city seems to not want to push hard on is construction debris from PennDot and also the off ramps and highways....they are an absolute disaster with old detour signs, car parts, and broken sandbags....

[Reggiezz]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Good! I have to say as a frequent litter-picker on the North Side I was disappointed that the offramp system from 65 NB to Marshall/California was worse after the concert weekend than it has been in a long time, but that can mostly be attributed to PennDOT employees again running over litter with their massive equipment as they mow grass and having that plastic confetti blow all over the place because this has been a very windy year so far.

Pittsburgh is just a very filthy city. The amount of cigarette butts I pick up daily is staggering.

I walk around my neighborhood and don't see trash, even cigarette butts. The big roads have trash, but people here take care of their property. It's why no one wants to live around renters. Plus the more people traverse a neighborhood, by car or on foot, the more pollution of all sorts there will be. It's why there are gated communities in many parts of the country.

Living near a big sports and concert venue is pretty much asking for trash.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

Funny you say that....Virginia Montanez is all fired up about the current state of litter in the city. She has been meeting with City Council, and the one area the city seems to not want to push hard on is construction debris from PennDot and also the off ramps and highways....they are an absolute disaster with old detour signs, car parts, and broken sandbags....

In early May PennDOT used their equipment to mow the 65 NB offramp system to Marshall/California for the first time this season. Instead of taking three minutes to remove all of the illegally-placed political campaign signage for the primary on the ramp system they ran them all over, which took me over an extra hour additional to clean up all of that plastic confetti within the left-behind grass clippings. I bashed PennDOT extensively on Facebook for this and tagged both the agency's official account and the official account for the local chapter. I don't expect them to pick up small litter, but those campaign signs would have taken minimal time/effort on their end to save me a LOT of time on my end to clean it up after they were destroyed.

The offramp/onramp systems to and from 65 around Marshall-Shadeland and California-Kirkbride are deplorably-overrun with construction debris, construction signs that blew around, vehicle crash debris, etc. It makes outsiders think the city is in decline and is absolutely embarrassing. Pittsburgh Magazine also recently did an article shaming the city for its litter issues.

Originally Posted by Reggiezz

I walk around my neighborhood and don't see trash, even cigarette butts. The big roads have trash, but people here take care of their property. It's why no one wants to live around renters. Plus the more people traverse a neighborhood, by car or on foot, the more pollution of all sorts there will be. It's why there are gated communities in many parts of the country.

Living near a big sports and concert venue is pretty much asking for trash.

Good for you for being affluent and living in an area without poor renters who litter because they blame others for their poor life choices and want others to clean up after them to "feel their pain".

Some of us aren't quite as fortunate to self-segregate along socioeconomic lines and are working hard to make lemonade out of lemons. Some of us are cleaning litter and illegal dumping daily since PennDOT and the city DPW both refuse to help out because the city and state won't raise taxes to offer pay increases to government workers to entice more people to apply for the many, many public -sector vacancies that currently exist that has been leading to the breakdown in municipal and state services the city has been experiencing since the pandemic started. I mean we are also at 795 out of 900 budgeted city police officers with many more set to retire in the next two months with no solution offered by the mayor, public safety director, or police chief. My city office has been at 2/3 staffing for a couple of years now with no solution in sight, and a few more of us have begun to apply/interview elsewhere as a result, which will only exacerbate the issue for those who remain.

[Reggiezz]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Good for you for being affluent and living in an area without poor renters who litter because they blame others for their poor life choices and want others to clean up after them to "feel their pain".

Some of us aren't quite as fortunate to self-segregate along socioeconomic lines and are working hard to make lemonade out of lemons. Some of us are cleaning litter and illegal dumping daily since PennDOT and the city DPW both refuse to help out because the city and state won't raise taxes to offer pay increases to government workers to entice more people to apply for the many, many public -sector vacancies that currently exist that has been leading to the breakdown in municipal and state services the city has been experiencing since the pandemic started. I mean we are also at 795 out of 900 budgeted city police officers with many more set to retire in the next two months with no solution offered by the mayor, public safety director, or police chief. My city office has been at 2/3 staffing for a couple of years now with no solution in sight, and a few more of us have begun to apply/interview elsewhere as a result, which will only exacerbate the issue for those who remain.

Voters chose this. I stopped caring. Consequences are a b#tch.

It wont get better next year either. The only good choice is to move beyond the city's boundaries, leaving those who voted for this to their fate.

[gmagoo]

People outside of the city`s boundaries aren`t any better and in some cases, worse. Get away from the lit streets and out the window goes the trash from McWendyKings and anything else that they don`t want. My Frazer Twp. highway department for years had only one employee and his German Shepherd. I think the dog has retired and he`s collecting his pension and SS.

[svband76]

I'd venture to bet that most litterers are lower income. Not sure why. You don't have to be wealthy to know that littering is wrong. We at least know the homeless druggies are responsible for immense amounts of filthy trash along the rivers. It's mind-boggling how the city let's them get away with this day after day, month after month.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Reggiezz

Voters chose this. I stopped caring. Consequences are a b#tch.

It wont get better next year either. The only good choice is to move beyond the city's boundaries, leaving those who voted for this to their fate.

To be fair Republicans litter too.

Originally Posted by gmagoo

People outside of the city`s boundaries aren`t any better and in some cases, worse. Get away from the lit streets and out the window goes the trash from McWendyKings and anything else that they don`t want. My Frazer Twp. highway department for years had only one employee and his German Shepherd. I think the dog has retired and he`s collecting his pension and SS.

You're not wrong. One of those who inspired me to start collecting litter is a man named Frank who lives in Penn Hills. His Facebook posts show that Penn Hills---like Marshall-Shadeland---is absolutely overrun with litter. So, yes, the suburbs can be filthy too.

Originally Posted by svband76

I'd venture to bet that most litterers are lower income. Not sure why. You don't have to be wealthy to know that littering is wrong. We at least know the homeless druggies are responsible for immense amounts of filthy trash along the rivers. It's mind-boggling how the city let's them get away with this day after day, month after month.

There's a certain segment of the city population (generally upper-middle-class and educated whites in the East End) who justify letting the poorer classes and/or minorities litter because it's letting them "express themselves" on how "society has failed them". There was even a recent article I read circulating on Facebook that said we should blame ourselves for others littering because others litter because we failed them.

I can have middle-class cisgender white guy guilt on SOME issues. Littering? Nope.

[Moby Hick]

I walk a lot around Squirrel Hill and Greenfield and nearby. I think most of the litter in residential areas comes from people who put their trash out as if the wind didn't exist and wild animals ate with silverware. It's about 1 of every 10 houses that just piles trash in boxes or cans without lids.