The Mayor of Santo Domingo, Johnny Ventura, accepted the judgment of President Hipolito Mejia that the collection of garbage in Santo Domingo is City Hall’s responsibility. However, said Ventura, "if the people would only pay their garbage collection bill, I wouldn’t have to go begging from the [national] government." Mejia responded brusquely to a reporter who asked what his government was planning to do to clean up Santo Domingo. "I just paid DR$121 million and this month another DR$38 million. That’s it! I’m not doing anything more," said the President adding "that’s what City Hall is for." Ventura told reporters that he is "doing the job and not trying to elude it." The Mayor said that he is also achieving success in his attempts to make the public more conscientious about throwing garbage in the streets. However, he added that he would need to get tough with violators. He is working on a plan of "sweet repression," he said, together with the National Police, against who violate littering laws. "Since I became Mayor," said Ventura, "I’ve been handing out lollipops. However, lollipops don’t work. We need to apply the law."
