The Observation Deck

So I get ready for work walk out the door and what do I see little green bags on the edge of my driveway and all my neighbors driveways and some in the street containg a free copy of The Plain Dealer. I can not tell you HORRIBLE this looks. In the PD's efforts to gain customers they have converted a nice residential suburb street into the ghetto with their mass littering program. This is not the first time this has happened, however I hope that it is the last. I will not be starting a subscription to the PD as a result of the less than effective marketing idea, makes you wonder whos bright idea this was.

I concur. It was dark out when I left this morning and you could still see the trash sparkling out of peoples driveways. I don't understand how it would be a very effective marketing campaign. Everybody knows the PD. They are every ware flashing the front page to everyone who walks buy. You can go to any restraint or coffee shop and pick one up. If you want a subscription you already have one. I can not see to many people picking the trash off their apron to say "You know what I do want to subscribe to this!!"

Looks like this is now a regular occurance....

http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... 90&start=0


I posted on this topic a little over a year ago, when the plain dealer did the same thing (but with yellow baggies) in the middle of a snow emergency, in most cases, the papers didn't even make it to a driveway, most ended up half burried in plowed snow in the street. I called and e-mailed the Plain Dealer, and did receive an appology along with the promise that it would be corrected.

well, this is not an isolated occurance. To me, this represents a wanton disregard for the rules of our neighborhood, as there is an ordinance against this type of distribution and littering.

Can someone on the streets affected please go out and document with pictures, and then contact the city's legal team. I believe we would now have enough evidence to press charges and fine the PD for this.

I still have the pictures from last year saved somewhere.

This has been discussed before.

Pictures of the litter...

http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5942

The PD must be getting ready for curbside pick up.

The PD is trash.

And they have put it in the correct spot.

Just a couple months early.

As a member of the Cleveland Firefighters MEmorial Pipes and Drums, a story was to be run about a young man named Jack who is going to be out in front of our band for the parade along with MDA. Instead, Mike McIntyre changed everything around to become a story about John Coleman, the drum major who resigned in a hail of controversy follwoing the Inaugural Parade. Here is a group doing something good for the community for years upon years, and the PD whores it out to sell an extra copy or two.

Thats classy PD. Good for you.

Here is the totally ironic thing--------

Yesterday I went downtown for a moment to take advantage of the weather. Parked on W.9 and just strolled down to Lakeside, back up W. 6 and went home. I saw two (2) street sweepers with broom and wheeled trash buggies picking up papers. cigarette butts, you name it, but the streets I just mentioned were immaculate. They had on jersey's that indicated they were paid by the private downtown organization.

Now, as has been stated, the PD has assaulted Lakewood! Can you imagine the Police response if a call went out that kids were throwing newspapers all over the streets? That in effect is what has happened.

Now, apparently, the contractors who distribute the PD in Lakewood were given a payment to do this extra "promotion" just like last year. These folks work hard and shouldn't be charged with any crime. But--an investigation of who conspired to trash Lakewood at the regional distribution center or at the downtown headquarters should be undertaken by the Lakewood Police Department.

I just heard our cops respond in force to a robbery on Ridgewood and Madison. They caught the punk.

Let's catch the punk who ordered this trashing of Lakewood!

Stan Austin

These folks work hard and shouldn't be charged with any crime.

I respectfully disagree. You said it yourself, if it were just some kids throwing trash all over Lakewood, I would want the police to do something, and likewise here. They are not "Working Hard" when they just chuck the papers from a slowly moving car. They are paid by the Plain Dealer to deliver papers in accodence with the local laws. Not to just dump them anywhere.

This is first and foremost a problem with the individual delivery person. But now that it seems to be happening over and over, I would say that it's also a problem with the Plain Dealer staff who is supposed to monitor and maintain this workforce.

Regardless, the papers should be picked up, and the city should not have to eat the cost.

Maybe we should take all of those back issues of the Lakewood Observer and dump them in the driveways of the Plain Dealer Executives. When they complain, we could just say... "oops, well, it wasn't us, it must have been the delivery person we hired. oh well, but don't you appreciate getting all those free copies? Anyway, we're pretty sure that while we'll take no real action to correct this behaviour, it probably won't happen again."

The PD does this every few months. Last time they littered my lawn we called the PD and told them to come pick up the litter. They did. It was that easy.

What baffles me is the people who never pick it up off their lawns.

Bret Callentine wrote:They are paid by the Plain Dealer to deliver papers in accodence with the local laws.

... and who enforces the local laws?

Why is this even posted on a local forum where the same 5 or 6 people post and 100 residents happen to see it. The bigger question is why doesn't the city be proactive and do something about it?

Why does the city allow the PD to blatantly litter? Garbage in the streets is already out of control. Look around. Look at the garbage can at Taft. Look at Taft's parking lot.

The police regularly park in that lot. They can't report it to someone in the city?

Don't lkwd council people drive around and see garbage cans at the corners overflowing? Don't they get these green and yellow litter bags thrown on their lawns? Doesn't the Mayor drive down Clifton and see week after week tree lawns full of garbage just sitting for days?

Garbage is supposed to be put out no sooner than 6 pm the night before pickup.

Do city leaders see these things?

Clean? Safe? Fun? There's at least two strikes there.

wow, I never thought the newspaper giving out free copies as a promotional attempt would be viewed as "assault" or "littering."

Look, if you don't like the PD, then pick it up out of your driveway and toss it away. But please .... this is verging on hysteria. What next, barricades across your driveway, and building a fortified pillbox on your porch where you can hide, heavily-armed, to prevent such a horrifying atrocity from ever happening again??

I think in the grand scheme of things, the local paper tossing a free copy into your driveway does pale a bit when compared to various genocides happening across the world, the war in Iraq, the faltering economy and staggering job losses, etc.

But then again, perhaps I'm wrong. Judging by the postings here, it does seem like this is an absolutely earth-shattering event that only future generations will be able to fully appreciate the sheer horror.

Hell, if all I got in my driveway was a newspaper, I'd be happy. But no, I get all sorts of pop cans, bottles, beer bottles, cigarettes, fast-food wrappers, etc. But I guess those are nothing compared to a rolled-up newspaper.

wow, I never thought the newspaper giving out free copies as a promotional attempt would be viewed as "assault" or "littering."

well then maybe you should walk down one of the streets after such an event has taken place. We're not talking about newspapers in the driveway. Hey, if they made it to the driveway, that would at least be something to work with. But at least when they did my street last year, we ARE talking about littering. There were dozens of papers that didn't even make it out of the street, mostly they were in the gutter, tree lawns and THEN a few were on sidewalks and driveways. This isn't just a case of the delivery person having bad aim. This is a case of them NOT CARING AT ALL WHETHER OR NOT THEY MADE IT ANYWHERE OTHER THAN OUT OF THE VEHICLE.

This isn't an international war, it's just a small corner of the world I like to call HOME. And I don't want people trashing the place, just because they're too damn lazy to do the job correctly.

When it happens once, it's an accident. Twice, an inconvenience. But when it starts happening with the regularity we've seen documented here, then there is a definite problem that must be addressed.

I don't know about you, but when I see people littering in my community I DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT whether it's just a can of pop, OR HUNDREDS OF NEWSPAPERS.

If you want "Clean, Safe, Fun", then you have to fight for it, every step of the way.

So if you want the PD to stop doing that, bombard their inboxes and voicemails with bitter complaints about it.

It certainly seems somewhat hypocritical to get so worked up over a newspaper distributing for free. The Observer distributes for free, they just happen to be more coordinated.

This hasn't happened on my street, and there is so much garbage on a daily basis it would make Al Gore sad, but no one says boo about it.

Don't confuse animosity for the PD with litter, since the latter is the bigger yet much more ignored problem.