Litter at Walmart, 8:00 AM, 2-16-15
It is sometimes said that enforcing city codes “provides a level
playing field” for businesses. What does
this mean?
A playing field with goal posts has to be level from end to end or
one team would be running uphill to score, while the other would be running
downhill and would have a built-in advantage.
So it is when property nuisance codes are not enforced. One business spends the time and money it
takes to keep its property clean and orderly, while another doesn’t spend it,
and can price its products or services a little cheaper and attract more
customers.
You might think that customers would be offended by litter and
weeds. That might be the case with
businesses selling luxuries like hot tubs.
But customers of big-box and convenience stores are not so offended that
they don’t shop. Big box stores aim
their advertising at people more concerned with price than orderly appearances,
and convenience store customers care most about convenience; they won’t drive
around, looking for a neater, safer-looking store. Bars serve customers who are generally more
disorderly and create more litter; butts scattered around the entrance don’t
deter them.
As our city has become more weedy and littered, many of us have
become used to it, stopped seeing it, and cleanliness has lost its value as
advertising. Visitors who come from cleaner
places usually don’t say anything, but they also don’t come back. Industries thinking about moving here think
again, because we don’t look industrious.
But litter and weeds look good to call centers that depend on people
desperate for any work they can get.
Walmart, front of store, 2-16-15
We have two big box grocery stores next to each other, with
another soon to move in nearby. The
first one, Fred Meyer, was fairly neat, having regular employees picking up
litter during the day. Walmart has a
crew come in every two weeks to clean up litter, apparently at night when it is
harder to see but there are few cars in the way. Between visits, it gets quite littered. When asked why, they said that they have too
much business to keep up.
Fred Meyer, next to the bottle return
Fred Meyer started slacking off on its cleaning in the last year
and is now nearly as littered as Walmart. Our
new big-box home improvement store, Home Depot, has been rather littered since
it opened, and is littered even inside their store. It is surrounded by weeds, though they sell landscape
maintenance equipment. Winco is coming;
will they copy Walmart too?
Old litter in shrubs at Home Depot, 2-16-15
Litter inside Home Depot
Litter in the weeds surrounding Home Depot's parking lot, 2-16-15
Big corporations do nothing that local police don’t make them do
when it comes to maintaining cleanliness and order. They set the tone for landscape maintenance
in our city by default. Ask our police
to enforce our standard, and provide the clean, level playing field that we
need for all businesses.
Grants
Pass Property Nuisance Codes:
5.12.050 Weed, Grass, Snow and Ice
Removal.
1.
No owner or person in charge of property, improved or unimproved, abutting on a
public sidewalk or right of way adjacent to a public sidewalk may permit:
A. Snow to remain on
the sidewalk for a period longer than the first two hours of daylight after the
snow has fallen.
B. Ice to cover or
remain on the sidewalk, after the first two hours of daylight after the ice has
formed. Such person shall remove ice accumulating on the sidewalk or cover the
ice with sand, ashes, or other suitable material to assure safe travel. (Ord.
2901 §9, 1960)
C. Weeds or grass from growing or remaining on the sidewalk for a period
longer than two weeks or consisting of a length greater than 6 inches.
2.
Property owners and persons in charge of property, improved or unimproved,
abutting on right of way adjacent to a public sidewalk shall be responsible for
the maintenance of said right of way, including but not limited to: keeping it free from weeds; watering and
caring for any plants and trees planted herein; maintaining any groundcover
placed by the City; maintaining any groundcover as required by other sections of the Municipal Code or the
Grants Pass Development Code. (Ord. 5380 § 18, 2006)
5.12.060 Weeds and Noxious Growth.
No
owner or person in charge of property may permit weeds or other noxious vegetation to grow upon his property. It is
the duty of an owner or person in charge of property to cut down or to destroy
weeds or other noxious vegetation from becoming
unsightly, or from becoming a fire hazard, or from maturing or going to seed. (Ord. 2901 §10, 1960)
5.12.070 Scattering Rubbish.
No
person may throw, dump, or deposit upon public or private property, and no person may keep on private property,
any injurious or offensive substance or any
kind of rubbish, (including but not limited to garbage, trash, waste, refuse,
and junk), appliances, motor vehicles or parts thereof, building materials,
machinery, or any other substance which would mar the appearance, create a stench, or detract from the cleanliness or safety of such property, or would
be likely to injure any animal, vehicle, or person traveling upon any public
way. (Ord. 2901 §11, 1960; Ord. 4397 §1, 1981) (Ord. 5379 § 18, 2006)
Special February protest
issue, sold at the Mail Center, 305 NE 6th
Pass this
leaflet to the City Grants Pass, or call.
Write a letter to really impress them.
Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener 541-955-9040 rycke@gardener.com
