Letter: Mayor, address dirty problem

On the BRGOV website there’s a section about litter and debris stating the following:

“In January of 2009, the Mayor’s listening tours revealed widespread citizen concerns for illegal signs, trash, and debris and code violations. As a result, Baton Rouge has started a bold campaign against blight with its new Litter court program.” It goes on to say toward the end of the page, “This effort was started to encourage citizens to take responsibility for their property, have a cleaner looking city, and decrease blight. Statistics show that blight is related to crime. When we fight blight, we fight crime, increase property values, and make our city a better place to live, work, and play.”

I’d like for the litter court to know that probably the largest single contributor to trash gathering up along the road is none other than the city’s contracted garbage disposal services. I went out to retrieve our newspaper early one morning this week and along with picking up the newspaper, I walked along the front yard picking up other garbage blowing around. This is not an unusual routine for me and others living around us. It’s at least once a week, if not more, but I drove out our driveway less than 20 minutes later and there was a new batch of garbage blowing in the yard and I’m not talking about just a few pieces — quite a bit! I’ve seen numerous times the trucks that empty the large Dumpsters, having garbage left on the roof which ends up blowing off and onto the road and curbside. Should they be allowed a certain percentage of garbage to not make it into the truck? If so, how much? Now I ask you, are trucks hauling hazardous material allowed a certain amount of their load to escape without consequences? No, and what’s in the garbage isn’t always just trash paper and plastic bags. We’ve found actual bags of used needles spread roadside in the past also.

I pay a garbage disposal fee involuntarily, and then I constantly have to go and pick up someone else’s garbage on our lawn. Is this acceptable? I hope the mayor isn’t in need of a “listening tour” to realize this is a real problem that needs to be fixed.

Warren Pratt III

draftsman

Baton Rouge