Thanks to Worcester City Councilwoman @Kate Toomey for getting my dander up about a Worcester issue for the first time in 2010. This year Worcester has been nothing more than a place to lay my head and do my laundry. I've been apathetic to the Worcester scene the past year, as my priorities have taken a divergent point for the most part.
But yesterday Worcester City Councilor @KateToomey tweeted, "Thank you, CSX, for your gifts to Park Spirit of Worcester for the Concerts at Elm Park, and for the very generous..."
These plaudits from Ms. Toomey rand quite hollow to me because for the past three years my condo building has been an abutter to the CSX train tracks about half a mile from the Worcester Intermodal Terminal. For the three years I have lived here I have watched the trash pile up along the train tracks never being picked up once by CSX. Last summer they gathered up mounds of trash consisting of broken computers and vacuums, end tables, chairs and other debris but never picked them up, and let car tires, couches and mattresses multiply.
Judging by the looks of the train tracks outside of my backdoor we certainly wouldn't win a second glance from those passing from NYC to Boston. Our train tracks look like a modern day landfill to a businessman passing thru.
It seems to me that the Worcester City Council is either blind and overworked or and lazy. Maybe all of the above. If Ms. Toomey and her cohorts don't realize on their own that the looks of our train tracks reflect us as a city and don't comprehend how much trash is out there this city is in a sad state.
Kate responds on facebook by stating "According to them, they have spent over $100,000 in the past five years in cleanups. They are working with the WPD on a plan for surveilance."
ACCORDING TO THEM!!! Red flag #1. $100K in the last 5 years. Where?
Worcester proper?
Worcester County?
Massachusetts?
That is $54 a day... Probably 2 hours a day at the wage of one of their union workers. Hardly enough to cover the illegal dumping that the second largest city in New England sees on a daily basis. Kate mentions no solutions to trash that has been on the ground for over a year in some instances. She would just rather tout this $54 a day as acceptable and status quo. Seems like a weak answer and no solution to the trash that is on the ground and rotting in my neighborhood\
CXS Trash Pics on Flickr
CXS Trash on Twitter
Kate's Response
1 comment:
That trash really looks like crap. The "broken windows theory" is definitely in play. Tags (graffiti) attract more tags, trash attracts more trash, and either one suggests no one gives a damn about the property, so it's okay to leave more messes.
I bet a concerted effort by CSX and the city to work with interested citizens could get that cleaned up, while ensuring the safety of anyone who was near the tracks as they worked on the project.
Hide some Tripwire cameras (made in Australia) in problem areas, and bag the slobs in the act. Once they're convicted, they can be the next cleanup crew, while wearing orange jumpsuits from the Worcester County Jail.
Post a Comment