Macocael,
Many thanks for your detailed and quite informative reply. Very much appreciated.
Best Regards,
Keith
Many thanks for your detailed and quite informative reply. Very much appreciated.
Best Regards,
Keith
- Thread starter Keith R
- Start date
A Survey: Is Santo Domingo Any Cleaner?
I won't argue with those who have lived in the Capital longer than me. But, in my humble opinion, I have not seen any improvement in the past 4 years or so. It does not matter how many trucks we have or how often they come. The street sweepers in the yellow suits are nice but cannot be everywhere.
But the real problem lies in the fact that bags of trash are peeled open by the homeless people and dogs CONSTANTLY. Both are looking for food and "stuff" to use. Then the contents get dragged all over the street and nobody ever picks it up.
Also, if I had a peso for evey time I have seen people throw their trash out of their car windows or finish their sandwich and just drop the wrapper on the ground....I would be rich.
Basic education is the only hope. If you went into a barrio and cleaned it from top to bottom it would look better. But I guarantee that if you returned in a week it would be back to "normal".
Sad. It is something that I will never get used to.
Scandall
But the real problem lies in the fact that bags of trash are peeled open by the homeless people and dogs CONSTANTLY. Both are looking for food and "stuff" to use. Then the contents get dragged all over the street and nobody ever picks it up.
Also, if I had a peso for evey time I have seen people throw their trash out of their car windows or finish their sandwich and just drop the wrapper on the ground....I would be rich.
Basic education is the only hope. If you went into a barrio and cleaned it from top to bottom it would look better. But I guarantee that if you returned in a week it would be back to "normal".
Sad. It is something that I will never get used to.
Scandall
Thanks, JDJ! Does sound like you're spoiled! LOL Although I have to wonder with four colmados so close, if you don't frequently experience a sound pollution problem! I used to live two doors down from one, and it was not unusual for its clients to pull up late in the evening in a vehicle, get out for a half-hour, leaving it with doors open and bachata booming so loudly that our walls vibrated. Not particularly welcome when you have two little ones trying to sleep for elementary school the next day...
Hmmm, well, Randy, I can tell you that when visiting this past August I definitely noticed a difference from when I lived there in 1999. It's true that the littering habit will only change with steady educational efforts. But trash collection services that you can rely to appear at specific times and frequencies helps alot too. If you know that the trash will be picked up by noon on MWF, for example, you only put your trash on the curb on those mornings. Less for the dogs to pick at (there are also those raised metal receptacles many people in residential neighborhoods have that help avoid that).
Probably in the long run the answer is to do what La Vega and Puerto Plata have done (and Montevideo, Uruguay before them), and put lidded dumpsters on every block that are emptied every couple of days. In Montevideo these were created just the right height to prevent dogs from getting into the trash, but permitting the waste pickers to go through it without leaving a mess on the street. The dumpsters are also decent looking (for a dumpster, that is!) and not an eyesore.
Homeless people is something I didn't see so much of when I lived in SD, but noticed much more of this past August.
Probably in the long run the answer is to do what La Vega and Puerto Plata have done (and Montevideo, Uruguay before them), and put lidded dumpsters on every block that are emptied every couple of days. In Montevideo these were created just the right height to prevent dogs from getting into the trash, but permitting the waste pickers to go through it without leaving a mess on the street. The dumpsters are also decent looking (for a dumpster, that is!) and not an eyesore.
Homeless people is something I didn't see so much of when I lived in SD, but noticed much more of this past August.
For some of my photos of how SD is cleaner or not, check out the latest entry on the Green Team blog.
"So Called",Lided Dumpsters A HUGE FAILURE In Santo Domingo!!!
They arrived by the thousands about 4 years ago I believe.All over Santo Domingo.In "Rich" areas,as well as "Poor Barrios"! Not only the Shiny Aluminum Dumpsters wth their green plastic lids,but dozens of new truck to pick them high into the air and dump them into the trucks.The whole fiasco lasted about 6 months to a year. Six months before the dumpsters started to fall apart,a year before the whole program went into the "Dumpster"! You will not see any signs of anything now.
As was noted about 3 months ago on DR1,hundreds of these same dumpsters that had been sitting along the road from PP to Sosua for so long that they were completely overgrown with vegetation,have been placed around PP.We wondered what they were waiting for,perhaps new trucks?? In any event we hope your experiance on the North Shore is more pleasant than ours in Santo Domingo.
Of couse that is if you look at the positive affect on the environment as the measure of the success of the project.If you just look at the millions of dollars in "Commissions" paid to the "politicos":bandit: for the sales contracts,it was a HUGE SUCCESS!!
"What A Country!"
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They arrived by the thousands about 4 years ago I believe.All over Santo Domingo.In "Rich" areas,as well as "Poor Barrios"! Not only the Shiny Aluminum Dumpsters wth their green plastic lids,but dozens of new truck to pick them high into the air and dump them into the trucks.The whole fiasco lasted about 6 months to a year. Six months before the dumpsters started to fall apart,a year before the whole program went into the "Dumpster"! You will not see any signs of anything now.
As was noted about 3 months ago on DR1,hundreds of these same dumpsters that had been sitting along the road from PP to Sosua for so long that they were completely overgrown with vegetation,have been placed around PP.We wondered what they were waiting for,perhaps new trucks?? In any event we hope your experiance on the North Shore is more pleasant than ours in Santo Domingo.
Of couse that is if you look at the positive affect on the environment as the measure of the success of the project.If you just look at the millions of dollars in "Commissions" paid to the "politicos":bandit: for the sales contracts,it was a HUGE SUCCESS!!
"What A Country!"
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Criss Colon said:
Be careful, CC. Keith does not tolerate pessimism or sarcastic remarks in his forum. He deleted one of mine last week. I felt bad and even sent him an apology...and was never heard from.
Who knew environmentalists could be so cruel to other living creatures?
Ok. I'll go now.
Scandall
Gee Randy, didn't know you'd be so hurt that I did not PM back. LOL Didn't seem like you expected a reply PM anyway...Scandall said:Be careful, CC. Keith does not tolerate pessimism or sarcastic remarks in his forum. He deleted one of mine last week. I felt bad and even sent him an apology...and was never heard from.
Who knew environmentalists could be so cruel to other living creatures?
Ok. I'll go now.
Scandall
I deleted your posts and mine (you did notice mine was deleted too, as was the comment I had made that originally prompted your remarks? So I did not single you out) because they seemed like they just leading to a rather pointless back-and-forth that had nothing to do with the real topic of the thread, thus hijacking it. So I decided to nip it in the bud. Only deleted our sarcastic quips, though. Nothing substantive.
Regards,
Keith
Scandall said:Be careful, CC. Keith does not tolerate pessimism or sarcastic remarks in his forum. He deleted one of mine last week. I felt bad and even sent him an apology...and was never heard from.
Who knew environmentalists could be so cruel to other living creatures?
Ok. I'll go now.
Scandall
Well I am optimistic, I think with more education the population will learn to keep the environment clean.
Hell, do you think the US has always been environmentally friendly. Things had to get really bad before the US government and its people made the environment an issue. Some river in the heartland (I think the Saint Louis river) litterally caught of fire by a passing train sparks that fell in it. Imagine a river had to catch fire before the government moved in.
I am sorry that I am comparing the US, but since I live here plus is the most powerful country I think it is appropriate to use it as an example.
Keith R said:
Ok. I feel better now. What can I say? Underneath my sculpted, buff exterior...beats the heart of a sensitive, caring man. Or something like that.
Oh yeah. "Give a hoot...don't pollute!" (notice how I stayed on topic)
Scandall
Oh man! Woodsey Owl. How long has it been seen I saw one of those ads???? 30 yrs?Scandall said:
Keith R said:Oh man! Woodsey Owl. How long has it been seen I saw one of those ads???? 30 yrs?
Yeah, I think that was run right after the "smokey the bear comercial"...and right before the coca cola "I'd like to teach the world to sing" commercial.
The good old days. Boy I miss my pajama suit with the feet.
Larry
Larry said:
The crying indian was the best.
It enrages me when I see people throw trash out of their cars onto the streets. But in the DR it won't even get you a dirty look.
Scandall
In the last couple of year, I've noticed a trend in the (Northeast) US that more people seem to be throwing trash out of their cars. Recently, I even saw someone emptying the trash from their car on to a parking lot in an upscale mall; even though there was a trashcan nearby.Scandall said:
Coincidentally, I no longer seem to see the anti-litter ads on TV.
Has there ever been a public awareness anti-liter campaign in the DR?