Cleaning up Santo Domingo

AlterEgo

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TOWN HALL OF THE NATIONAL DISTRICT| 06 OCT 2017, 12:00 AM |WILDER PÁEZ

Beginning this Friday the cleaning of the city in 24 hours

SANTO DOMINGO. The Mayor of the National District, David Collado, announced today that he will begin an extensive cleaning operation on 24-hour days to intensify the garbage collection in the city, after the administration of the dump of Duquesa was assumed by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Public Health and the town hall of Santo Domingo Norte.

He said that throughout the weekend will be a massive operation of solid waste collection as a way to compensate for the days when the dump of Duquesa was paralyzed as a result of legal litigation with the company Lajun Corporation.

"The priority is that citizens can move a clean and friendly city, so we will not rest until the collection is standardized," said Collado, adding: "We will also involve the administrative staff of the City. WP

computer translated from: https://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/inicia-hoy-limpieza-de-la-ciudad-dia-y-noche-BD8317535
 

Kipling333

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Jan 12, 2010
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Together with CAASAD,this council is generally unbelievably bad . I cannot comment about the areas that I never go to but I can in the areas south of 27 de Febrero. These areas have been cleaned quite well recently even Villa Francisca . The main problem lies with the destruction of many roads by CAASAD,some more than 9 months ago.There are huge strips of road that have been dug up, repairs done then the road is just left with rocks and stones and no new surfacing : In my street ,all residents have complained and asked for the roads to be fixed up but nothing happens . I have not noticed any un usual build up of rubbish in Zona Colonial, San Carlos, Ciudad Nueva or Gazcue .or in the Piantini areas but maybe further north it is bad and of course in the areas of illegal dwellings along the Rio Ozama.
 

Garyexpat

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Sep 7, 2012
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Just another reason why I prefer Santiago over Santo Domingo (lived in S.D. 6 1/2 years) HANDS DOWN!
 

irishpaddy

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it is hard to keep anyplace clean ....if its own residents throw garbage out on the street
it never ceases to amaze me when you come upon a beautifull beach , mountain area or park and it is littered with all kinds of garbage
" I love my country ....but not enough to place garbage where it belongs"
 

TropicalPaul

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Sep 3, 2013
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I don't think that residents throwing stuff onto the street is unique to DR. Where I live in central London, there is a car park under my building where the street cleaning trucks have a section, and I am always amazed how much trash they pick off the street, literally tons every day. Dominicans are generally very clean, you very rarely meet a smelly person here, and even the poorest houses are usually spotlessly clean. Once they get used to having clean streets, I don't think litter will be big problem here.
 

ju10prd

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Just this afternoon saw David Collado on Av. Independencia near Buenos Aires where there is always an overflow of trash from the poor barrio there every morning, yet every evening the whole area is cleaned up. Demonstrating in person the need to lead from the front against the problems of all the country. The ancient politicians just sat behind their desks and led an inefficient public service which was fully exposed in last weeks report (reported by DR1 news - Global Competitive Index 28th September) about how inefficient the country has become.

I admire this guy and his youthful approach to tackling the horrendous bureaucracy in this country and all the problems that one of the most populous areas of the country has dealing with MOPC, CAASAD and all.

https://dominicantoday.com/dr/economy/2017/09/28/mayors-pot-capital-santo-domingo-cuts-red-tape/

It is about time the city at last got a decent mayor.

Every city has it's problems but the public service mill stone DR has is just a step too far. Needs fresh ideas from the top to shake out the inefficiencies.
 

wuarhat

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it is hard to keep anyplace clean ....if its own residents throw garbage out on the street
it never ceases to amaze me when you come upon a beautifull beach , mountain area or park and it is littered with all kinds of garbage
" I love my country ....but not enough to place garbage where it belongs"

They throw trash out in the street, but generally only in the established collection points. I know that people hold their trash for several days and then carry it more than a hundred meters the night before collection. In the morning a crew comes by and cleans the collection area with shovels and push brooms.
 

AlterEgo

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They throw trash out in the street, but generally only in the established collection points. I know that people hold their trash for several days and then carry it more than a hundred meters the night before collection. In the morning a crew comes by and cleans the collection area with shovels and push brooms.

Very true. Rarely is a dumpster provided at those points, and even if there is one, it's overflowing and trash littered around it.
 

irishpaddy

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sorry if I was picked up wrong ....I was not talking about people throwing garbage out from their houses.....I was talking about people discarding garbage from their cars and as they walk along ....one night in the colonial zone I saw a well dressed woman get out of her new escalade and dump a bag of garbage on the sidewalk or people sitting on the malecon admiring the view and eating lunch and then getting up and leaving their garbage behind them
 

Garyexpat

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I think I mentioned this before but anyway, I was living on the beach in El Pueblito in Puerto Plata. It was normally very quiet. The guard at the gate told me that on Sundays they had busses coming up from Santiago. The first Sunday I was waiting with the same anticipation as a kid at Christmas time anticipating hot bikini clad beauties from Santiago. First of all there were very few of the beauties I was waiting for and the few that came were mostly with boy friends but the worst part of my disappointment was made apparent Monday morning. The beach was was almost perfectly clean Sunday morning looked like a city dump. I watched the activities the following Sunday. Whatever people ate or drank, or at least the containers, paper plates bags bottles etc. were left right where they were on the beach when they left.
I believe that the only way this will change has to start with educating the children as the older people just don't seem to care or see a problem with leaving garbage wherever they desire.
 

Kipling333

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Unfortunately , cleanliness is not one of the strong points about Dominicans. There are some mitigating circumstances I think. Firstly many houses do not have a daily water supply and the tinacos empty out quickly so there just is not always water to shower under twice a day.only a small percentage of homes have hot water. I sometimes think my cook and cleaner only come to me with hardly a sick day just to have a good hot shower. As far as throwing things on the ground instead of putting them in a rubbish container , there are very few rubbish tins around .They are not at hand next to park benches as they are overseas . Also there are no large containers at the end of many streets for those new large garbage trucks to pick up and empty the contents into the truck.For this reason you see plastic bags laden with scraps in many places .
I do not know if Dominicans will ever be clean like most Thai people are .. talking loudly and shouting and barging into queues is just part of their character that one must accept .
The cleaning up of Santo Domingo is yet another problem of services trying to catch up with ever increasing population ..now ,if we had sacred cows like they do in India grazing in the streets we would have much less garbage and more garden manure
 

ju10prd

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I think many who actually live within various communities around the country would argue that Dominicans are very clean people when it comes to personal hygiene and their own property. With sporadic water supply they charge barrels of water when the supply is on, keep barrels in the bathroom full, bathe regularly and wash down the floors of their houses and immediately outside their properties daily. On the whole they are far from dirty people and quite the opposite in most cases and make some westerners look dirty in comparison at a personal level. They maintain their own garbage drums out side their homes and are reliant upon the local council to collect the rubbish at least weekly.

However there is a disconnect when it comes to respect for cleanliness in their surroundings beyond their property and especially public places and the country side. This annoys us all.

The current issue in Santo Domingo has arisen through the problems with the owners and operation of the landfill dump and changes now taking place.

Anyhow garbage was collected this week in my barrio after several days without collection. And now the mayor is out there with a determination to tackle the garbage issues in the DN which have plagued the city for multiple years.

http://eldia.com.do/david-collado-sobre-operativo-le-hemos-declarado-la-guerra-a-la-basura/

https://listindiario.com/la-republi...dn-realizan-jornada-de-limpieza-en-la-capital

As he rightly points out, he can't keep the city clean without the participation of the citizens too.

I wish him well....at least he is trying to shake things up in the city and is very much looked up to by the younger generation.
 

2dlight

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Many of the establishments along Calle El Conde, at the end of the day, have their employees carry or drag the trash they've generated, to the nearest intersecting street and pile it up on the sidewalk. This practice provides a smorgasbord for the resident packs of dogs, cats, rats and at sunrise, the flocks of pigeons. It also makes it impossible to walk those sidewalks and one is forced to step onto the narrow streets and brave the hoardes of ignorant and entitled drivers that populate this city. I offer no solutions to this problem but as others have already stated, it starts and ends with education with perhaps a large dose of civility and personal responsibility. Are the owners of those businesses unaware of the trickle-down effect? Maybe they should set the example. 
 

wuarhat

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sorry if I was picked up wrong ....I was not talking about people throwing garbage out from their houses.....I was talking about people discarding garbage from their cars and as they walk along ....one night in the colonial zone I saw a well dressed woman get out of her new escalade and dump a bag of garbage on the sidewalk or people sitting on the malecon admiring the view and eating lunch and then getting up and leaving their garbage behind them

That is also true, but as TropicalPaul says not unique to DR. I see a lot of evidence of it in Texas, although I do think it's a lot more prevalent in Santo Domingo. I think the first step for this problem is what the mayor is doing. People will keep nonchalantly leaving their trash behind if they don't hear people telling them it's not appropriate behavior.
 

cbmitch9

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I have seen zinc houses in the DR that are cleaner than some rather expensive homes in the US. That said, if you don't take pride in your surrounding, then you get the trash situation you have in some of the barrios and cities in the DR. It starts as a group effort with the Ayuntamento enforcing things as they do in Bani which is relatively clean as compared to some other sections in the DR. I have seen workers sweeping the parks as late as 9 or 10 PM and then early in the AM in Bani. Streets are cleaned on a daily basis with garbage bins on almost every few blocks . The more garbage bins you have, the less likely it is that individuals will litter. The more frequent and regularly scheduled that garbage pick up are done, the less likely the community will be inundated with trash.
 

Caonabo

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Many of the establishments along Calle El Conde, at the end of the day, have their employees carry or drag the trash they've generated, to the nearest intersecting street and pile it up on the sidewalk. This practice provides a smorgasbord for the resident packs of dogs, cats, rats and at sunrise, the flocks of pigeons. It also makes it impossible to walk those sidewalks and one is forced to step onto the narrow streets and brave the hoardes of ignorant and entitled drivers that populate this city. I offer no solutions to this problem but as others have already stated, it starts and ends with education with perhaps a large dose of civility and personal responsibility. Are the owners of those businesses unaware of the trickle-down effect? Maybe they should set the example. 

Most major cities throughout the world with restaurant zones are as such in the late evening or during the overnight prior to trash removal, but it is rare that the paying customer witnesses such, and those companies with the task of removing the waste are held to task in performing their duties.
 

ju10prd

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Many of the establishments along Calle El Conde, at the end of the day, have their employees carry or drag the trash they've generated, to the nearest intersecting street and pile it up on the sidewalk. This practice provides a smorgasbord for the resident packs of dogs, cats, rats and at sunrise, the flocks of pigeons. It also makes it impossible to walk those sidewalks and one is forced to step onto the narrow streets and brave the hoardes of ignorant and entitled drivers that populate this city. I offer no solutions to this problem but as others have already stated, it starts and ends with education with perhaps a large dose of civility and personal responsibility. Are the owners of those businesses unaware of the trickle-down effect? Maybe they should set the example. 

As the article in Listin Diario I posted yesterday, it requires community cooperation to coordinate discharge of garbage and collection.

Collado consideró que para mantener la ciudad limpia se necesita la participación de toda la ciudadana,  y que colabore respectando los horarios de sacar la basura cuando el camión vaya a pasar.

Con el objetivo de evitar que las personas saquen la basura después de que las unidades del cabildo crucen las diferentes zonas de la capital, anunció que  crearán una campaña de orientación ciudadana con los horarios establecidos para hacerlo. El operativo se extenderá durante todo el fin de semana.


Wouldn't it be so much better if there were dumpsters located in these known locations.

Just like recycling and dump waste management it needs leadership and for so many years the town hall politicians in SD have done nothing when waste management and cleaning take up so much of the town hall budget. Cronyism has been at play.
 

wuarhat

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Wouldn't it be so much better if there were dumpsters located in these known locations.

Many entrepreneurs here don't pay their employees enough to live on now. I'd hate to see what it'd be like if they had to pay for dumpster service.
 

mountainannie

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I've been gone for a year now - but it is great to read the news of a new Mayor and the effort being made. It is true that the issue is not that the folks are themselves dirty - but rather the fault of the State - which not only does not repair the sidewalks - it does not provide the minimum of services for trash pickup

where i lived - in Gazcue - right across from the purple PLD HQ - Our condo bought 3 big barrels - and the trash men - themselves - stole the barrels more than once - our concierge saw them do it.,,,.

now those condos are owned by old time politicos - or old time Dominicans - rents are in the 12,000 peso range - so they themselves are not going to keep buying barrels only to have them STOLEN by state employees.

The pile of garbage that was left on the street every night on the side street behind the Episcopal Cathedral was a national disgrace.

The pot holes on the sidewalks went right down to the sewers -

NONE of that was the fault of the residents.

It was the fault of the State.

Even when I went over to rant a bit Chez Danilo
they just said - well that is the City

I am just lucky that I did not break my neck walking home one night by falling into one of the holes which would hold a goat.