The Observation Deck

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I remember last spring when our street was littered with these orange plastic bags full of paper.

The bags were strewn all over yards and sidewalks. It was as if someone tried to hit every house on the street with a little garbage. Not everyone was hit. But about 7 of 10 houses had plastic bags and I wasn't sure why some weren't included.

Is there a "Do Not Litter" list that you can get on? Normally, I would assume that any product or service would require a request by the customer. You might say even a "sign up" or "subscribe" step involved.

But I can't imagine people wanting trash automatically delivered to their yard. It seems like the guilty party might be in violation of some litter laws but I don't know.

I called the Sun Papers and asked them to stop giving me their "weekend" paper that I don't even want. They put me on the list but I still get the paper.

Don't get me started... this drives me nuts! The doubles around here tend to collect about a dozen of these strewn about the yard before someone finally picks them up. I assume that both tenants believe these things to be for the other so no one touches them. Of course, they leave lots of other trash in their yards as well so perhaps that's not the whole story.

My plastic bag was in a puddle in my driveway about 2 feet from the sidewalk and 40 feet from my house. Maybe we should look into a better arm strength training workout for these paper throwing bandits.

Do they offer such a class at the Y?

Corey

Maybe what we should do is collect them all up for a month or two and then dump them right outside the Suns door.

Rick Uldricks wrote: I also worry that the accumulation of these periodicals might scream FREE COPPER PIPES! on the porch of a vacant home.

It does. We're having a problem with copper pipe thieves in Lakewood in vacant homes.

If this is the biggest problem in your life then you need to just chill a bit. I kinda like a free paper every now and then, especially the Plain Dealer. I read the Plain Dealer daily and if I can get it for free then score for me. Also I like to relax at the table and flip thru the pages of the Weekend just to see what is out there. The paper is always on my porch and if I don't see it for a few days - oh well.

If you have a problem with accumulation of papers at a residence then just pick them up and put them with recycling. It a "news" paper so it loses its utility after a few days so no one should complain if you clean up their yard/porch.

Also, think of the kids delivering the paper The days of the paper route cover a block or two that you can do before school or in the afternoon are long gone. So these kids are making a few bucks delivering a free paper. What ? You want them to just hang out at the park looking at a basketball court without rims instead ?

Its really a minor inconvience - like the Chinese restaurant delivering menus on the doorknob. You don't like it - oh well - some people must like it or they wouldn't spend the money on the printing and delivery

To me its more about the waste of resources (paper, plastic, etc) of printing and distributing something I would venture to say an overwhelming amount of people do not want and which in the end, are tossed in a landfill.

It is the environmental impact that bothers me which is exactly why I asked them, more than once, to stop giving them to me. Apparently the person that delivers it to my house is unable to follow the Sun's direction when they tell him not to deliver it.

A chinese menu ever couple of months is not the same as a weekly waste of paper and plastic.

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These were taken as I walked home last May sometime. In the yard, under the bush, on the sidewalk - the PD obviously didn't care where it landed.

In the past, I have grabbed them off the sidewalk and chucked them onto a porch just so our street didn't look littered.

I don't think there needs to be any laws to enforce this. But I would support any efforts to collect these and dump them on the PD's front yard. That is the best idea I have heard yet!

To David Scott:

I was a paper boy for 4 years. I get the Sun as it is. The Sun is walked up to my porch and put in the newspaper box. Same with the chinese menus. This may seem like a minor issue but we don't need ALLTEL sponsored garbage piling up around town and - "news" or not - this is a commercial business that would probably cite these mass deliveries in their "circulation" numbers to boost ad revenue.


I also agree that this is a waste issue. I enjoy reading the paper now and then as well. I will even walk to a newspaper box to pay for one. But this is clearly irresponsible and is bound to happen again and again as the big papers get more desperate.

I'm sorry but I still disagree and I think the environmnetal arguement is a crock

I don't like my neighbor using snow blowers and leaf blowers because of the noise pollution and the exhaust. I don't go over and tell him to stop

I don't eat meat or drink from bottled water because of the environmental issuess but I have the class not to bother you in a restaurant while your eating steak

I weekly receive a Sapells ad, Dominos ad and various other ads such as dry cleaners yet I don't order pizza out and I wouldn't go to a dry cleaner because of environmental issues but if they want to send them out - that is fine

I have received the Lakewood Observer on my porch and it goes staight to the recycling because I choose not to read it. I don't get all that upset.

To the person who stated that it was not a valid way to advertise, maybe you should take a job at the Sun or Plain Dealer since you know what works better then the professionals they have on staff

If we want to limit advertisment and move from Capitalism to Socialism I will be the right there in line joining the movement - yet I am told we are a free-market society and that I shouldn't push socialism on others.

If I can get a free paper and save the fity cents that I spend to buy the daily paper what is your problem ? Find other things to complain about I like to sit at my table with a paper and flip through it and read it. That shouldn't bother you. The paper is always on my porch, not in the yard I tend to think there are other issues here - the Plain Dealer comes free once about every four months so just chill out and find something else to complain about. I'm enjoying the day

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David,

I don't know where you live in Lakewood, but Rick and I live in the far south. Those papers add to our problems and as funny as "free copper pipes" is - it's true. Those bags just compound an already dicey feeling we're having and stepping onto the porch of a vacant home and taking their " free papers" is at best trespassing and maybe worse. I too asked the Sun to keep their newspaper and yes, I'm still receiving it. I don't like junk mail, I don't like spam and I sure don't like newspapers I didn't ask for. I don't need my neighborhood to be junked up by litter and that's what those papers end up being.

Suzanne

David Scott wrote:I'm sorry but I still disagree and I think the environmnetal arguement is a crock

Ok, so how is this unsolicited weekly paper encased in a plastic bag environmentally friendly? You must know something I don't.

I don't like my neighbor using snow blowers and leaf blowers because of the noise pollution and the exhaust. I don't go over and tell him to stop

I don't eat meat or drink from bottled water because of the environmental issuess but I have the class not to bother you in a restaurant while your eating steak

I think you're analogies are completely off base. I said I personally asked them to stop delivering it to me. If you want to continue to receive it, that's your choice. No where did I say I wanted to stop someone else from getting it.

I agree with Suzanne. Something that continues to be delivered to your mailbox, especially after specifically asking for them to stop, is junk and IMHO should illegal just like spam and unsolicited phone calls or faxes.

It's disappointing to me that the Sun Papers has such little respect for their prospective subscribers by not honoring their requests to cease receiving their "free" paper. Bad business and a waste of resources.