Hamilton Boulevard roadside is a magnet for lightweight trash flying out of trucks that haul trash in and out of the Waste Management facility in Mobile, AL. We have technology to send people to the moon but no one has figured out how to haul trash without spilling it all over the roadsides.
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40 Years ago the Clean Water Act was put in place to protect our waters in America. Today, even though expensive reports indicate degradation of our waterways from urban storm water runoff, what do we have in Mobile? We have a Clean Water Act that is being ignored.
The City recently said in the news that their ADEM permit does not make them responsible to do anything about "floatable" garbage entering City waterways. ADEM says that accumulations of litter does not constitute an illegal garbage dump. The US EPA says ADEM is responsible for administering the Clean Water Act in Alabama. You can see how much the City, ADEM, and the EPA care about the environment in the above photo. There are inlet cages that trap litter upstream and waterway litter traps that capture litter downstream available in the market place. Mobile uses no litter control devices nor do they require such devices be used. Mobile ignores the public garbage being flushed into the local waterways. Rather than trap this trash or employ people to remove this garbage from the water, the City, County, State, and Federal authorities, and even environmental groups ignore this VISIBLE pollution. Yikes! What about invisible pollutants? There are storm water inlets available in the marketplace that filter the first flush rain from parking lots and streets resulting in cleaner waterways. Mobile does not require inlets that filter street and parking lot chemicals to be used and instead allow cheap non-filter inlets to continue to be installed resulting in polluted storm water runoff being sent into area Rivers and Mobile Bay. Leaders ignore this pollution because communities as a whole let them. That is stupid. The most ironic thing is the US Government has spent about 4 trillion dollars this past decade occupying middle east countries fighting a war they say must be won to make sure the enemy doesn't kill another 3,000 people innocent people (approx number killed in the 9-11 event). You don't have to worry about Al Qaeda or the Taliban coming to America to kill innocent people by poisoning water supplies. Americans are poisoning their own water. Over 1,600,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with Cancer this year. What is in your water? Your garbage and raw sewage. Enjoy your swim. Over the past year there has been plenty of documentation of streams of garbage entering Eslava Creek severely polluting Dog River downstream. Where does it all come from? Here is one example: The vacant lot across from Wal-mart that a development company is holding onto, is littered with trash. City of Mobile Parcel Number: R022806244000002.003 Owner: Delaney Development, Inc Mobile Municipal Tax Paid: $2,150.12 Walmart has money. The City has money. The property owner is responsible by city code to keep their right of way free of litter. Yet here is all this garbage, some of it already poised to go down into a drainage inlet that leads to Eslava Creek a few hundred feet away. Solution: Shut down the road in front of this property until the garbage is removed. If Wal-mart wants to stay in business, they will have an employee out there removing their Wal-mart trash to get the road opened quickly. Use video cameras to document where the litter is coming from and then hold the guilty party accountable to keep the property clean for the next year. I stayed overnight at the Western Motel in Prentiss, Mississippi. The India monopoly on Motels doesn't leave one much choice where to stay when they are all owned by foreigners. The bathroom ceiling was peeling off, there were ugly patches on all the walls, daylight was coming through cracks in the door, there was no pencil or pad to write on, no clock, an old old CRT television set, 1 tiny tiny garbage can, a toilet that used one heck of a lot of water, and shampoo was in a small packet about the size of ketchup packets. Trim work was installed upside down. The room was in deplorable condition.
The usual sources of garbage in most of the little towns, like Prentiss, Bassfield, Carson, Sumrall, was evident. Convenience Stores, Overflowing Dumpsters, Roadside Litter and Dollar General stores. What is up with Dollar General store properties always being littered with trash? Hmm, so I did some digging. Why am I being so hard on Dollar General? If only one store had litter problems, that would be a store problem. When almost all the store properties are littered with trash, it is a corporate problem. Dollar General went private in 2007 and the majority owner is now a global investment firm called, KKR & Co. L.P. With over 10,000 Dollar General stores in 39 states and the profits rolling in, what do the private shareholders care about local environmental pollution? KKR says one of its key values is integrity. One look around the properties of most Dollar General stores and you will see there are low morals and expectations. Profit is more important than care for the environment. Goldman, Sachs & Co. is the next largest share owner in Dollar General. Who cares if the public's litter at Dollar General litter ends up in the Gulf of Mexico and on the beaches? Certainly not Goldman, Sachs & Company whose name has been plastered all over the news with regards to banking and financial corruption. Why, it would cost money to keep cleaning up the public's litter and that would cut into profits. The City of Mobile thinks it is exempt from the Clean Water Act. Mobile's urban creek beds are full of trash. Mobile shorelines are full of trash. Local environmental groups ignore the water pollution. Coastal Cleanup Events NEVER clean up the shorelines in the Bottom of Mobile. What is in your water? Your Garbage. Drink up! Click on any photo to see larger view and photo captions.It is a sad thing to know homeless people are living in the swamps while abandoned homes that neither the owners or neighbors care about deteriorate. Neither the property owner nor the City of Mobile waiting on their back taxes seem to care. Decay in America is on the rise and it is making the United States look like a 3rd World Country.
The City of Mobile Parks Department provides trash cans for the public to use. Unfortunately, idiots hunting valuables turn over the garbage cans, pick out what they want, and leave the trash on the ground. The last two photos show the result of this madness. The solution to this problem is to put up video cameras to document the litter crimes or just remove the trash cans which is the cheapest option. It is a shame that a few scum of the earth people ruin a good thing for the rest of us. The French people known for urinating on public buildings ought feel right at home here in Mobile where City homes rot and City parks are filled with trash. The new French airplane manufacturing facility Airbus will fit in well in Mobile. |
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