When I heard about a complaint made to City Hall about litter in the College Drive area above VIU, it burrowed into my head and became one of those Things That You Notice. And now, wherever I go, I see litter. The photo here was taken at VIU, 12:50 pm on Monday, January 12, in room 106 of bldg 345. As the previous class vacated (ENGL 115, I think) I approached my seat and found… litter. This is 16 feet from a garbage can. That’s placed by an exit. I mean, C’MON!
It boggles the mind that there are people who think this is okay. I’ve got some pretty strong opinions here, so watch the pages of The Navigator Newspaper for an editorial. In the meantime, I wrote this feature article. Unfortunately, the original letter of complaint didn’t make it into the spread, but you can read it below. Pretty strong stuff.
*****
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2014 6:23 PM
To: Mayor&Council
Subject: garbage on College Drive
Greetings to the new mayor & city councillors.
I would like to once again address the garbage/litter problem on College Dr. We seem to have (at least for now) reduced the problem of certain individuals using the area off the road to dispose of larger items like couches & chairs etc. However, the amount of litter on the sides of the road is unbelievable. The VIU students park on the sides of the road during the week, & so I assume that they are the ones leaving their garbage behind. Every few feet there is a disposable coffee cup, beer/pop cans, plastic containers, etc. It goes all the way down the road and across the Parkway. It’s an eyesore & an irritation. I realize it’s a difficult problem to monitor & enforce. Perhaps a total ban of parking on the sides of the road would help. I don’t really mind the cars parked on the sides of the road during the week, but I find it very annoying to see, every time I drive up or down the hill to where I live on [redacted], such an incredible amount of garbage. It shows such a disrespect to the neighbourhood and the environment in general. It’s a sad state of affairs when young people who are attending university for ‘higher learning’ can be so irresponsible.
I hope that somehow this problem can be addressed.
Sincerely,
[redacted]