Ever watch the series
Hoarders: Buried Alive? I love that show! What I love even more is knowing
that I never want to live like those dysfunctional people who just can’t get
rid of the crap they have piling up in their home.
Ugh! The filth…The trash…The
disgusting odors…
Wait…You don’t have to watch
Hoarders to experience what it’s like to live among trash and unwanted
debris that’s been deposited in a clean, open space for no reason! A few weeks
ago, Canarsie could be compared to a hoarder’s dumping grounds – with household
refuse and pedestrian trash piled up on corners and on the sidewalks. Overgrown
weeds sure seem like a dandy place to hide all those cups, food containers and
toilet seat (yeah, when I saw the photo of the toilet seat, the word “dumped
on” really came into focus!).
Who’s doing all of this
dumping? Are these culprits Canarsie residents who simply can’t wait ‘til trash
is picked up on their block? Are they residents whose homes look like trash, so
they have to make our community look like trash too? One of the obvious answers
is that they have no respect and no pride in their neighborhood. Forget about
being caught and facing a hefty fine – if someone stops their car and throws
crap out of their window and into overgrown brush, who’s to catch the culprits?
Then, you have empty lots
and abandoned properties where people dump huge debris like mattresses and
computers…not such easy items to toss out of a car window. Canarsie doesn’t
have a garbage landfill – but imagine if we did!
Let’s get real! Most of the
places you see piles of garbage is in front of closed businesses or among grass
and weeds that look like an Amazon jungle. Let’s say you’re a homeowner and
decide to take refuse from your house and dump it in an empty spot on the
street. If you’re caught dumping, you should be punished by having to keep the
smelly and decaying trash on your front lawn instead! You’re a pig – and pigs
fair best when they’re rolling around in their own slop!
You might think that one
cardboard box…one empty coffee cup…one plastic bag won’t be noticeable if you
throw it into the weeds in just the right way. Well, if 20…30…40…50 more people
thought the same thing – and then buried their trash in the pile – they’re all
ignorantly making this community look like a garbage tornado tore through the
streets.
What provokes the public to
empty their garbage on our streets? I contend that it’s mostly Canarsie
residents who are doing the dumping. Our residents know where the abandoned
spots are – and what properties have been left vacant over the years. Those who
live on a block where there’s an abandoned house KNOW that no one’s going to
come outside and yell at them for tossing a sandwich wrapper in an unkempt
area.
Those who don’t live here
might already be thinking, “What if a property owner or passerby catches me?”
Secondly, out-of-towners probably pass our streets, see the random dumping that
has taken place and say “How disgusting!!!” Canarsie has always dealt with
overloaded trash receptacles in shopping areas. There’s always been overgrown
weeds at various corners where property owners are too lazy to clean or prune
grass. Our community is no stranger to vacant lots – just waiting for a
developer to build something we don’t want in that space anyway!
It still doesn’t give anyone
the right to make our community a wasteland! God bless all of the youths who
dedicate their time in cleaning up our streets and show dumpers that their crap
does NOT belong on a quiet and serene block.
Whoever’s treating our
streets like it’s their personal garbage disposal, I hope someone mistakes YOUR
home for a dumpster – those who trash should be treated like trash!
Originally published in Canarsie Courier newspaper
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