brewster wrote:
A friend who lived across the street from a park in Washington Heights would tell this story. The immigrant community there clearly LOVED their park, and filled it every weekend with ball games and BBQ's. And left it a shithole every time. They had no sense of 'the commons", that this park was theirs.

81905 wrote:
This is from the May 7, 2011 Jersey City Independent. I can't help but wonder where all this 257K will go.

"Jersey City is set to receive $297,748 in funding from the Clean Communities grant program, a state initiative that taxes wasteful manufacturers to help pay for litter clean up and to beautify communities and roadsides. Jersey City received the second largest grant in the state out of $16 million in total grant money given.

brewster wrote:
A friend who lived across the street from a park in Washington Heights would tell this story. The immigrant community there clearly LOVED their park, and filled it every weekend with ball games and BBQ's. And left it a shithole every time. They had no sense of 'the commons", that this park was theirs.

Jcpaddy wrote:
This query is in reference to the removal of the traditional garbage cans from nearly every corner of Jersey City Heights.

Their replacement by the solar cans has been an absolute failure of epic proportions. The majority of people are indifferent towards them, and dare I say, some people are even afraid of them. They have not and never will work.

City garbage cans are about QUANTITY. Not quality. Placing one solar can every 3 or 4 blocks to replace 6 to 8 traditional cans is foolish. People walking from one corner to the next need a place to put their garbage. No one is walking back to a solar can to dispose of their garbage. It is just being dumped on the street.

As a 25 years resident of the Heights I have never seen this city, especially the Heights, so filthy. Walk down Palisades Ave., New York Ave., Webster Ave., and Ferry St. and you will be appalled. The streets are enveloped with liter and the cause of all this began with the removal of the traditional cans. People are just dumping there garbage on the street because there is no where to put it.

Question: Who?s idea was it to remove them in the first place?
At what point does the JCIA see that the experiment with solar cans is not working? All you have to do is walk the streets to see evidence. The fact that the solar cans hold more is irrelevant if there are not enough of them. Who makes this determination and who do I lobby to bring back the traditional cans?

In contrast, all you have to do is drive another mile down the road to Union City and see the difference. Mayor Stack and his administration have garbage cans on EVERY corner of Union City and in most cases on BOTH sides of the street. The street in Union City are so clean, you could eat off them. There is not a day I drive through that city that some kind of street cleaning is not being entertained.
As per my conversation with Mayor Stack, he stated that he hires part-time workers to clean his city. Why is this option not being looked at for Jersey City?
Our streets are a disgrace.

I have never seen quality of life issues so ignored in my 25 years of living in the Heights. Does the mayor ever look at the streets and see the filth that they?ve become?
I am a taxpayer who now rises every Saturday morning and cleans a 4 block radius around his house (filling 2 big black garbage bags and painting over graffiti), because I?m sick of looking at it and nothing being done. As a father with 2 daughters, I do not need my family to wade through this filth every day.
I am a big proponent of the city and proud homeowner who sends his kids to local city schools.
Is it asking too much to clean this place up a little?

Vigilante wrote:
Good points but litter doesn't drop itself on the ground. If people are too lazy to carry an empty coffee cup/soda bottle a couple extra blocks then it says more about them than it does about anything else.