Update 2022-11-30: Parking lot litter Click ‘n’ Fix closed without cleanup 2022-11-21.

This happened at the bottom of the parking lot on St. Augustine Road next to Hightower Creek. The same parking lot we previously reported as a good example, upstream from Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

Yet they never put out trash cans, and this is what results.

Litter, litterers

Bobby Mckenzie sent these pictures August 30, 2022, with this explanation:

Obviously there is no excuse for this woman’s actions. But she walk to look for a trash can and didn’t find one. Then she threw it in the mess that was already there.

Initially the litter bug looked for a trash can.

Just as guilty of allowing this to happen are the business/property owners, the Public Works Director, Assistant City Manager and City Marshalls for failing to do their part.

The business not complying with the existing City Ordinance, the City Marshalls REFUSING to enforce that very City Ordinance

Plus the Businesses failure to clean up the litter on their…ALSO per Valdosta’s existing City Ordinances…the businesses not maintaining their property is connected to the City Marshalls not enforcing the ordinance.

The parking lot trash can ordinance violation has been reported and has gone 6 MONTHS!!! Totally ignored by the City Marshalls..

Valdosta Code of Ordinances, Chapter 82 – SOLID WASTE, Sec. 82-1. – Littering.(b)(9) “Commercial sites with on-site parking shall, at a minimum, have its parking area cleaned or swept as needed to prevent an accumulation of litter and to maintain a neat and orderly appearance. Furthermore, said sites shall provide and maintain litter receptacles that are strategically placed throughout the parking lot for individuals using same to properly deposit litter and other refuse.”

The Public Works and Assistant City Manager is fully aware and has a responsibility…per City Ordinance trash cans are.

Sec. 82-1(b)(7) “…The size, type and number shall be as specified by the director of public works to be reasonably required to hold litter generated by operation of the business….”

Sec. 82-1(b)(5) “The owner, occupant and lessee of all property, including, but not limited to, parking lots, not otherwise described herein, jointly and severally are required to remove all litter from any source, from their property and to place same in appropriate containers. Vacant lots, borders, embankments, fences, walls, driveways and sidewalks shall be kept free of litter.”

Sec. 82-1(b)(6) “Persons owning or occupying places of business within the city shall keep the sidewalk adjacent to their business, all off-street parking areas, all loading and unloading areas, and all landscaped areas associated with their business premises free of litter.”

For those who jump to it’s all the fault of the indiduals who litter, let me remind you that the Crying Indian was Italian, and Keep America Beautiful, Inc. is part of a many-decades campaign by the companies who produce all that single-use packaging to shift the blame onto everybody else.

A Keep America Beautiful advertisement by the Ad Council, which was launched in 1971. (Ad Council) – Original Credit: (HANDOUT)
See Finis Dunaway, Chicago Tribune, 21 November 2017, The ‘Crying Indian’ ad that fooled the environmental movement.

In between getting the trash producers to clean up their acts and blaming the individual litterers, there’s getting fast food companies and parking lot owners to do what existing ordinances say they should. I look forward to the City of Valdosta doing that.

Since Bobby’s August report, there has been an update on Click ‘n’ Fix. But not a resolution of the problem. A later post will discuss that.

For more about the trash problem, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/trash

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

Short Link: