We went to the playscape near Lake Park for the first time this past weekend and noticed two things:
(1) It was littered with lots of food, candy wrappers, drink boxes, etc.
(2) There were no trash cans inside the playscape area, and only one (that was completely full) outside the playscape area.
I saw one helpful dad walking around picking up some of the trash and we did a little of the same, and my kid really seemed to enjoy playing with it...but, frankly, I'd rather it weren't there.
It made me think that maybe more trash cans would encourage people not to leave their trash on the ground?
Does anyone know why there aren't trashcans inside the playscape and why there aren't more trashcans/recycling bins in general? Who should we talk to to advocate for some?
(I hope this topic hasn't been beaten to death already somewhere else. If so, please point me in the right direction.)
Hi Leila,
Great post. I suspect trash cans aren't inside of the play area because sitting trash tends to attract bugs and bees. It might also make trash collection more difficult. But why more cans aren't around the play area, and around the picnic tables especially, is a question I have every time I take a weekend walk around the pond. I'm sure it was a matter of funding early on, before we knew if those areas would be busy. And that delay makes sense to me; but it looks like we're past that phase now. I think it's safe to say that the public areas will stay busy for the foreseeable future. So I'm with you, I'd love to see more trash cans. Maybe our HOA can gift a couple more cans to the park? Not for me to decide though. Thanks for bringing up this issue!
And, if you noticed on Monday morning, there was trash all over the place because of the wind. Since the trash wouldn't fit in the cans, the wind picked it up and blew it toward 52st street, where it got caught in the brush. Then the crews (whom WE pay) had to come and pick it up from over there. We've been asking for more cans for more than a year now - this is an ongoing problem.
I pick up trash every time I go to our parks. I also check the water fountains, which are still broken. maybe we should get some signs to fix the water fountains, too.
To Leila- I think there are a number of things we can do to improve the situation. 1) I think as neighbors we could all help the parks by picking up trash when we see it. 2) We could use some more cans 3) We should have the cans emptied more often. What I mostly see is full cans- which means people are trying to do the right thing. Let's encourage them by making space for trash in the right place.
