Monday, March 10, 2008

Malden Mondays: Trash

I know I didn't post a Malden Monday last week. Sorry John!

This week's MM is going to be a gripe. It's about trash. Like the fact that my street is covered in it. I guess my household is the only one on the street that puts their trash in trashbags. All of the others may as well heap it on the sidewalk in the hopes that the trash collectors will come along with shovels to scoop it up. At what point can the city come in and make people take care of 1) the trash they put out for the collectors and 2) the trash that gets blown around and lodges in their fence/bushes/gravel square passing as a front yard?

The city in general has a lax take on trash. Or at least here on the "East" side of Malden (considered by some to be the wrong side of the tracks--literally. The T cuts the city in half). When I walk home from Malden Center, I take Salem Street. This is a very busy street--the High School and library are on it, and it leads to Maplewood Square and Route 1. There is not a single trash barrel on this stretch. Now, if I buy a coffe at Dunkin' Donuts in Malden Center and finish it on my way home, I hold onto it and toss it in the trash at my house. But it is clear that the hundreds of other pedestrians and high school students don't. There's trash everywhere. The people who live along this stretch of Salem Street have clearly given up--they don't bother planting anything in their yards, or even cleaning out the trash that gets thrown in there. I'm not sure what to do about this--there are only so many battles I have time to spearhead!!!

6 comments:

Mike & JB said...

Stacey,

I stumbled on your blog this morning. I am also a Malden resident though I live in South Malden (not sure what side of the tracks that is.)

I have to agree that the trash can build up on the street, particularly on trash days. I forwarded your post to the City Council president Gary Christenson. He is very proactive and always seems interested in feedback on the city. I encourage you to reach out to him about these types of issues in the future as well as your ward councilman (whoever that is.)

Gina Mosca said...

Hi, I'm a fellow 20-something and newish Malden-dweller (bought our house in '05). I live in Edgeworth and TOTALLY share this gripe. I've thought a lot about the root causes.

Part of the problem is that people put trash out in bags instead of sturdy bins (as required by law, which I have begged the city to enforce). So racoons, etc rip those open. Great. This is why my dog picks up bones off the sidewalk in Malden about once a week, but hardly ever in Medford.

Another component of the trash problem is the Malden DPW themselves. Have you ever watched them empty the blue bins? They sometimes dump half of the contents in the street and just don't care.

Finally, I think there is a major component of litter from cars. A lot of commuters use my street (Quincy) as a shortcut and we are fortunate enough be on the driver's side so our yard gets a lot of Dunkin' Donuts cups and lottery tickets.

Okay, I'm spent, just had to rant it up as well. Thanks.

Sometimes I really want to move back to Somerville.

Stacey said...

I'm sure many people share this gripe, and not just in Malden. It's one thing when a neighbor doesn't take care of their yard--to each his own, I guess. But I have neighbors who never swept up the leaves on their sidewalk last fall. Now there are rotting brown piles on the sidewalks, with trash all tangled in. I've really considered just sweeping the sidewalk the whole length of the street I walk daily. It would make my commute so much more enjoyable.

Anonymous said...

Now in October we pay for our MALDEN APPROVED trashbags ( at $2.00 a bag mind you ) an trash pick up , there will be even more all over the streets...INCLUDEING THE UNWANTED THAT ARE ALL OVER LOOKIN FOR CANS AND SCRAPMETAL...

Stacey said...

I plan to do a post on the pay-as-you-throw plan sometime soon.

Anonymous said...

Come to www.maldentax.com and red our blog entriea about the tax.