The Public Costs: 1. Cleanups, and 2. Sidewalk Sales in Lincoln Heights and Block Parties Elsewhere

1. Dumping trash leads to a need for "community cleanups" as a public expense.
2. Lincoln Heights activity, the Sidewalk Sale coming up at the end of August was an approved expense.

Getting to the second item first: Yesterday, Wedesday, 8-12-09, was a busy day in city council for fee waivers. There were only 10 Council Members present yesteday.

ITEM NO. (67) (a., b., c. was Passed with 10 "ayes", another unanimous vote, one public comment, no council comment or further discussion.) included these parts below:

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a. MOTION (REYES - PERRY) relative to declaring the
Sidewalk Sale in Lincoln Heights on August 28-30, 2009 a Special Event (fees and
costs absorbed by the City = $4,500).

But it's not only Lincoln Heights getting the benefit of city money- here's more spent on parties, literally so, at $2,200.00 apiece.

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b. MOTION (ALARCON - KORETZ) relative to
declaring the Lakeview Terrace Eagles Neighborhood Watch Block Party on August
22, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $2,200).

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c. MOTION (ALARCON - KORETZ)
relative to declaring the FERP Neighborhood Watch Block Party and Carnival on
August 29, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $2,200).

2. THE NEED FOR COMMUNITY CLEANUPS needs to be reduced.
Just for your information so that you can see that there's really not anything happening that is "Free" in the city and that somebody is paying for it. The questions then become, "Is there a benefit to the public for the activity? and then, Is this benefit worth the expense, considering the economic situation and the impact achieved?

Something to think about, like the neighborhood clean ups- we wouldn't need so many if people would stop throwing their crap out of car windows while driving or dumping trash from cars when they open the doors. The curbside gutter is not a trash container and makes for more expense as the "gutters" are serving only as "storm drains" to run out to the sea so there's no flooding whenever it actually rains in L.A. Dumping pollutants makes that condition worse.

There are alternatives for disposing of most things to preserve the environment in the long run, and in the short run, to keep things clean.

That trash dumping also happens when storekeepers sweep off sidewalk trash into the street. And the wasteful practice is watering off sidewalks to do the samething, and it is now illegal to hose off sidewalks in the City. One thing I think that goes on as a problem is the overflowing with trash of city trash containers on the sidewalk. When the trash gets back on the ground it becomes that problem mentioned above. And you know some storekeepers use that public trash as their own dumping method, and they don't bother to make arrangements to use private collection like other commercial establishments do to get a dumpster- and then dumpsters get loaded by anonymous cheapskates when left unlocked. It's an odd sort of chain-reaction.

Such a lot of trouble for what should be simple trash disposal task. But the NEED for cleanups would be reduced if people simply would not use the streets and instead throw trash at home into containers or take them to trash containers as they shop or go into buildings. Just another level of small responsibility that collectively could improve life.