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A City plagued by trash
Walking around downtown early Saturday morning, I was impressed by the state of cleanliness in the sections I traversed. UML Professor and Centralville resident Bob Forrant had a far different experience on a lengthy weekend walk through several neighborhoods. Bob posted the following on “Innovative Cities: Lowell” Facebook page, which is more or less public, so I took the liberty of re-posting his piece here:
On my summertime walks across Lowell I’ve been highly complimentary of what I’ve seen. However, today’s ramble left me with a less than favorable impression: the city is getting very, very dirty. I walked for nearly two hours across Centralville, Pawtucketville, along Hamilton, up Dutton, across Broadway, over Mammoth Rd Bridge – so several dif. neighborhoods. What did I notice that was not there even a few days ago – trash everywhere. I was stunned by how much litter was on the sidewalks, in alleyways, around multifamily dumpsters. I expect a little – it is a city after all. But not like this. New graffiti on traffic signs and walls. Broken beer bottles on every bridge I walked over. Crushed plastic water bottles. Hundreds of discarded lottery tickets and hundreds of fast food wrappers/containers mostly from Dunkin and Mickey Ds. And, a lot of overgrown yards and vacant alleys, esp in neighborhoods around UMass Lowell’s South campus. My guess is this is all to do with absentee landlords who do not keep up properties with students in them. But, this is not fair to folks all around who do keep up yards. A modest proposal here: To MA Lottery Commission – you owe the city of Lowell a lot of money to pick up your discarded cards. To Dunkin and Mickey – encourage your customers to throw away properly and pay the city a trash tax for the mess your products make across Lowell. To the city – street sweepers in the neighborhoods, graffiti off all signs and buildings, empty city barrels regularly. To absentee landlords – be good neighbors or sell and leave. If the ‘broken windows’ theory has any truth to it, I think we’re seeing it! Danger.Danger
I live in the Highlands and it is disgusting the amount of tash everywhere. It blocks the drainage geared to the point where some cant let water drain. I disagree with putting the owness on the lottery, DD, or McD. They are not the issue.
Like the bottle bill. For every 25 non winner lottery tickets you bring in ,you get one ,two dollar ticket free.
I live in the Highlands and it is disgusting the amount of trash everywhere. It blocks the drainage grates to the point where some cant let water drain. the area smells from the dumpsters. I disagree with putting the owness on the lottery, DD, or McD. They are not the issue. The issue is with people with no pride in their city.
Maybe it’s the season but I walked over the Aiken St Bridge Saturday night for the Spinners game and the bridge was covered, covered, covered in spiders and spider webs.
I would love to see a 5 cent per cigarette tax imposed. This would provide extra money for the people who pick up cans and bottles.
I whole heartedly agree with professor forrant. I too see litter on our streets and absentee landlords not taking care of their properties. Weeds, litter, and dilapidated properties gives the impression Of a complete lack of concern on the part of property owners. We all need to do a better job, and get involved to make Lowell all it can be for its citizens.