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| By G. Michael Dobbs Managing Editor HOLYOKE Mayor Michael Sullivan talked trash during the downtown revitalization meeting last week. Sullivan spent much of the monthly meeting with downtown merchants and city officials on Thursday on the progress in combating litter and the problems that still face the city. He noted that on Sept. 16 there had been an "all-out assault" on four trashcans in the downtown area. He said the cans were literally ripped out of the sidewalk resulting in "a large cost to the city." He also said that earlier on the morning of the meeting, someone had taken newspapers and stuffed them into a former fountain that is now a flower planter near City Hall destroying the flowers planted there. He said the city is "spending incredible amount of dollars" in fighting vandalism and trash. "We're trying to do positive things and we need help," he told the group of about 20 people. Sullivan said currently the city maintains a weekly schedule of trash pick-ups, street vacuuming and the use of programs offered by the Hampden City Sheriff's Department to address the problem. Sullivan, however, want to challenge the traditional views of trash control. He said that municipal trash containers on city streets are designed to address litter from passersby. The problem is that downtown residents use the containers from bags of their household waste. People searching for returnable cans then tear open the bags that spill trash onto the street. These barrels are emptied three times a week and Sullivan said a container emptied by 8:30 a.m. is filled again by noon. Sullivan reported that one experiment in removing a municipal trash can resulted in an area that was as clean or cleaner with the trash can in place. He called upon the merchants in the downtown area to put a trash container in front of their stores during the day for litter and bring it in at night. He noted through a slide presentation a number of area businesses that have consistently kept their storefronts and sidewalks clean. Many of these merchants have clearly inspired their neighbors to do the same, Sullivan added. Trash concerns in the Lyman Terrace housing development also continue. Sullivan said if residents don't place their trash on the correct side of a fence bordering their yards, it doesn't get picked up. He said the city was at as much fault as the residents as Department of Public Works workers should pick up the trash bags they see. Sullivan said the city will continue its efforts of pick-up and enforce, but he urged everyone to be "thinking outside the barrel." |