Individual Property Owners' Responsibility!

The photo on the right is that of a vacant house in the Highlawn neighborhood. It is only one of many vacant houses in the city of Huntington that are being sorely neglected by owners who refuse to properly maintain their property.

Homeowners around this property, which is located on Elmwood Avenue, are distraught over the owner's failure to rectify the obvious problems that exist in and around this property. Their concern is understandable in that some homes in the neighborhood are on the market for sale, and the condition of this property is affecting the timely sale of one seller who has a nice home that is well-maintained, but unsold because of severely reduced price offers. Other homeowners are aware of the danger of dramatically reduced values - and their fear is well-founded, because poorly maintained properties negatively affect the property value of all other properties.

Surely, the owner should have the decency to, at least, have the grass cut and the lawn cleaned up. Maybe they need more time to make necessary repairs to the house itself. But it just isn't fair to the folks living around you, when you decide not to take personal responsibility for your own property. You own it! Keep it up to code and don't let it deteriorate into a public nuisance!
Enforcement is the only answer. The ordinances covering this issue are in place. If the City of Huntington continues with its current policy of not holding individual property owners responsible for the violations that exist on their properties, our neighborhoods will continue to deteriorate. As they do, the investments made in all homes will be dramatically reduced in value. Is anyone listening with our city government?

(If you have an opinion, or have a similar situation on your block, click on "Post Comments" at the end of this post. Then, you can click the button beside "Anonymous" and have your say. Your identity will not be known - so speak up!)

Citizens Respond To Anti-Litter Mission!

The following citizens in Fairfield West have taken the Adopt YOUR Block - Be a Litter-Gitter pledge: Courtney Bell, Damon Core, Rebecca Glass, Gloria Green, Loretta Hagler, Brandi Jacobs-Jones, James Page, Ruth Page, Toni Page, Shanna Johnson, and Teresa Johnson. My compliments to each of you.

And exactly what is the litter-gitter pledge (it's a tough one)? Here goes: "I promise to be a good Litter-Gitter."

It is that simple. We give you a litter-gitter-pick-up-stick and you agree to keep the block on which you live free of litter and cigarette butts. Just YOUR block. We want you to just be on the lookout on your block and if you see a piece of litter (before any build-up), just grab your litter-gitter and pick it up. With the stick you don't have to bend over and you don't have to touch it! Just put it in a plastic bag and put it out with your regular household trash. The city has agreed to pick up all bagged litter that you put out on your regular pickup day.

Call me! I'll help you get involved and I will even help you clean your block the first time. Richard Cobb - 523-7902.

"Sense of Community" is Alive and Well!

Our neighbors over in the area along 9th Avenue in Fairfield West got with it yesterday morning. With a great display of that ole "sense of community" spirit that is a vital part of good citizenship, these folks came together to spruce up that busy thoroughfare. From early morning until mid-afternoon, they teamed up with a crew and truck furnished by the City of Huntington to clean up trash and litter along that avenue and its side-streets from 16th Street to 20th Street.

In addition, they targeted some abandoned houses that have gained a reputation for being the location of illegal drug activity. The houses were knee high in grass and weeds, and the lawns were covered with trash.

Would that every citizen living on every block of our city could rekindle that old Huntington "sense of community". Want to get involved on your block? Call me and I'll help you get started by furnishing the right equipment that will allow you to pick up blowing litter - and you don't even have to bend over or touch it! Let your "sense of community" show!

Richard Cobb - 523-7902. Adopt YOUR Block ... Be a Litter-Gitter!

(To comment, give your opinion or make suggestions [you can do it anonymously], just click on "Post Comments" at the end of this posting. Then, click the "Anonymous" button and have your say.)

Solid Waste - A Major Community Concern

The City of Huntington and the Cabell County Solid Waste Authority have been cooperating to come up with a solution for the court ordered closure of the Deitz Hollow landfill, which is located in Guyandotte. The order states that the closure of the landfill must be completed by 2017. But the recent cost estimate of $9 million, which the City of Huntington does not have, is obviously going to go up with each passing year

The landfill stopped accepting garbage in 1993, but the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection ordered that several closure steps had to be taken to ensure that water and contaminants do not damage adjacent soil and streams.

The citizens of Cabell County should be provided with an on-going status report on each shut-down-step leading to the final closure. In addition, the public should be kept abreast of all attempts to locate funding. Our leaders should understand that a well-informed citizenry is much more supportive of the efforts of our governments' leaders when it comes time to make hard decisions that may negatively affect taxpayers.

Obviously, the costs will keep increasing the longer it takes to close Deitz Hollow by the 2017 deadline. We know our political leaders are working on it. We just want to be kept informed about this issue and any plans for establishing another landfill for our county - so that we do not have to pay to transport all of our solid waste to another state.

I have read reports where some landfills in West Virginia are considering accepting solid waste from other states. Doesn't make sense to me that we are sending West Virginia solid waste out-of-state and exploring the possibility of accepting out-of-state solid waste into our state's landfills. Duh?

(Want to comment anonymously? Just click on "Post Comments" at the end of each posting, click the "Anonymous" button and have your say. Thanks.)

Stow Your Butt and Chewing Gum!

Friends of mine brought me a gift back from a visit to the state of Oregon. It was a couple of a very popular auto bumper sticker seen out on the west coast. The stickers show a burning cigarette butt and contain the message, "KEEP YOUR BUTT IN YOUR CAR!" And beneath that blunt statement is, "The Earth is Not Your Ashtray!" My wife and I immediately put them on the rear bumper of our cars.

The earth is not an ashtray, but many folks don't think about that before throwing their cigarette butts and chewing gum on the sidewalks and streets of our area. Would that we would have a litter receptacle and a cigarette disposal unit on each and every street corner and intersection of our city. Evidently, our political leaders lack the will and the funds to attack the problem of litter in Huntington.

A major portion of street litter comes from cigarette butts and, believe it or not, disposed of chewing gum. The sidewalks and parking lots are covered with petrified globs of chewing gum!

We are currently exploring a new strategy to combat the pandemic of cigarette butts and chewing gum. The photo above shows two available personal pocket ashtrays - one for cigarette butts and one for chewing gum. Don't laugh! They are being used in many cities (world-wide) in an effort to educate people about their personal responsibility in the battle to eliminate the scourge of litter.

Litter disposal equipment for wide-spread usage on streets is expensive and the operational cost to service the equipment on an on-going basis is great. Until we can commit government and private resources to make the needed litter-abatement equipment available city-wide, we must focus on educating our citizens and visitors on their civic responsibility for keeping our neighborhoods' streets and our business districts litter-free.

So, the strategy would include giving the personal pocket ashtrays as a gift to smokers, and folks who enjoy their chewing gum, and encouraging them to become a part of the solution to the problem. They merely reach into their pocket or purse and use their own personal ashtray to stow their cigarette butts and/or chewing gum - until they are able to dispose of it properly. Presto! Litter dramatically reduced!

We deeply believe that together we can accomplish anything we can imagine! We'll keep you posted on what we are calling our "Stow Your Butt and Chewing Gum" strategy.

(Got a better idea? Feel free to give your opinion and/or advice - you can do it anonymously. Just click on "Post Comments" at the end of this posting. Then, click the "Anonymous" button and have your say. Your participation in our community conversation is important! Speak up! Thanks)

What gives here?

What gives here? This afternoon I again cleaned the block directly in front of the Jean Dean Public Safety Building on 10th Street at 7th Avenue. That facility houses the City of Huntington Police Department, the Huntington Municipal Court, and the Amazon.com call center is located on an upper floor.

After almost an hour spent picking up hundreds of cigarette butts and assorted litter right in front of the main entrance to the building, where many of the Amazon.com call center employees congregate to smoke during their breaks, I was absolutely stunned when two of the young ladies finished a friendly chat and their smokes and casually threw down the butts on the sidewalk right in front of me! What gives here? I was wearing a bright green vest with "VOLUNTEER" blazing across the front and back, and I was carrying a bright orange litter pickup-stick and a large black plastic bag! I had been rapidly picking up cigarette butts - one after the other within earshot of them! HELLO? Couldn't you see me? My better judgement dictated that I not say anything, because I was so angry. Instead, I have decided to make a personal visit to the management of the Amazon.com call center on Monday. That company and their employees must assume personal responsibility and be held accountable when they violate our litter ordinances.

Again, I ask this question - who is the person ultimately responsible for the management and daily operation of that city facility? Why must volunteers have to continuously keep the space in front of that city building free of trash, litter and cigarette butts? Whoever is in charge needs to provide proper litter disposal units and cigarette disposal dispensers at this entrance and service them on a daily basis. The litter disposal units in the area are currently located at each end of that block, and building employees and pedestrians are not using them - I suppose because they don't want to walk a half-block away to ensure that block stays clean and neat.

What gives here?

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Nomination for the New West Virginia State Bird?

Anonymous made this comment on my posting about the plastic bags that are blowing all over huntington:

"Trash in trees is such a widespread problem in Hawaii that the locals call the plastic bag the "State Bird." Same goes for West Virginia, in my opinion. Aldi's is a local market that charges for their bags - plastic or paper. I think other stores should follow their example. As for the awful messes at the entrance/exits to our fair city - I agree they are a disgrace. List among them the cigarette butt carpet at the West End bridge offramp onto Washington Avenue. Why doesn't the City Council step up to the plate on these issues? "

10:37 AM, April 04, 2007

Imagine a world without plastic shopping bags. It could be the future, according to one environmental website. There is a growing international movement to ban or discourage the use of plastic bags because of their environmental effects. Countries from Ireland to Australia are cracking down on the bags and action is beginning to stir in the United States.

The plastic shopping bag, so handy for everything from toting groceries to disposing of doggie doo, may be a victim of its own success. Although plastic bags didn't come into widespread use until the early 1980s, environmental groups estimate that 500 billion to 1 trillion of the bags are now used worldwide every year.

Critics of the bags say they use up natural resources, consume energy to manufacture, create litter, choke marine life and add to landfill waste.

Should we ban them in the City of Huntington and Cabell County? What do you think?

(Make an anonymous comment by clicking on "Post Comments" at the end of this post.)

After all, Attitude Is Everything!

(My wife, Carter Seaton, emailed me the little motivational story which appears below. She knew I had had a really bad day and was showing, and verbalizing, my frustration at failing in my attempts to complete my daily litter-abatement program tasks - not to mention my personal chores. I badly needed an attitude adjustment, and I am thankful that she cared enough to remind me that, truly, attitude is everything. I love her for it, and I wanted to share it with you. I will remind myself of this story every single day from now on, as I continue to preach the gospel of individual citizen responsibility to improve the conditions in each of our neighborhoods.)

Read on:

John is the kind of person you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it! You cannot be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood."

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."

Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. He continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. Nevertheless, when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."

What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'." Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude ... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34. After all, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

(Have you looked around your block and your neighborhood? Could you do more to make it a cleaner, safer, friendlier place to live? Call me, if you have a problem that you need assistance with - I care.)

[If you would like to post an anonymous comment to this, or any other of my postings, just click on "Post Comments" at the end of this posting.]