Friday, December 30, 2005
Cigarette butts
Butt it's no joke!
What a fine idea to impose a fifty quid penalty on those who litter our streets with cigarette ends, we'd like to reclaim our pavements and pathways, we'd like to walk in peace without dodging the detitus of humankind. I wonder how much money could be raised by this scheme? Who will police it? Will the the local constabulary be encouraged to make arrests for those who willfully litter our lanes?
I wonder where all of this collected money will go to?
Perhaps it may end up in the coffers of the Neighbourhood Services Department, it might help with the Blitz It campaign, better still it might enable them to purchase more state of the art pressure washers to attack the streets neighbouring our schools!
If there is one facet of bad mannered and slovenly looking behaviour that I detest more than the stubbing out of a cigarette on the ground, it is the site of a shirt tail waving, gum chewing gang of teenagers congregating outside of a shop at lunchtime! Most shopkeepers within walking distance of a school are obviously just as concerned as I at the lack of good behaviour from our students at lunchtime, the majority display signs prohibiting the entry of more than two schoolchildren at a time into their premises. They SHOUT, rather than talk, they crowd and bustle within small shops, and create an intimidating atmosphere for both the shopkeepers and their customers. Some pilfer, and most chew gum!
When they are done with chewing gum, do they deposit it's sticky residue in the bins provided just yards from the shop entrance? No, the vast majority of them spit it out onto the pavement, and create the most ugly patterns that attract even more dirt. Worst still, unlike cigarette butts it ends up on your shoes for you to wipe onto your carpet when you get home!
Cigarette butts are easily dealt with by those who sweep our streets, but chewing gum is a whole new ball game, it's remains are there to be seen for months and years into the future. Just take a walk along Mortimer Road or Stanhope Road for good examples. Even using a high powered pressure washer and industrial scrapers, it is still a hard job to remove.
If there are to be powers to impose a financial penalty on those who drop litter, they should be equally applied to all, not just the errant smokers!
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Curly Born in 1956
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