Cleanest City in Canada

[SteelTown]

Mayor launches 'Clean and Green by 2015' push ahead of Games

March 26, 2010
Meredith Macleod
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/742989

Mayor Fred Eisenberger wants Hamilton to be the cleanest city in Canada by the time the Pan Am Games come to town.

The mayor launched the Clean and Green by 2015 campaign yesterday at a workshop aimed at local businesses looking for ways to combat litter and graffiti.

"I think it's very doable. A lot of what we need to do is already under way," Eisenberger said.

"We have to set the bar high and use the Pan Am Games as an end date. We want to look our best."

Dan Rodrigues, chair of the clean city liaison committee, a volunteer group appointed by council, says there will be ways to measure Hamilton's cleanliness success.

The committee is an affiliate of the Keep America Beautiful campaign, which helps communities set benchmarks and strategies.

"This is something about community pride," Rodrigues said. "Hamiltonians really need something that they don't have to apologize for where they live."

That will translate into more investment and tourism, he said.

His group already tours the city doing audits of litter and graffiti in about 130 sectors. The worst areas are targeted for special attention by city staff and volunteers. This year, the committee found sections of Victoria Avenue North, Barton Street, Nash Road, the Linc and Fruitland Road the most littered.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger wants Hamilton to be the cleanest city in Canada by the time the Pan Am Games come to town.

The mayor launched the Clean and Green by 2015 campaign yesterday at a workshop aimed at local businesses looking for ways to combat litter and graffiti.

"I think it's very doable. A lot of what we need to do is already under way," Eisenberger said.

"We have to set the bar high and use the Pan Am Games as an end date. We want to look our best."

Dan Rodrigues, chair of the clean city liaison committee, a volunteer group appointed by council, says there will be ways to measure Hamilton's cleanliness success.

The committee is an affiliate of the Keep America Beautiful campaign, which helps communities set benchmarks and strategies.

"This is something about community pride," Rodrigues said. "Hamiltonians really need something that they don't have to apologize for where they live."

That will translate into more investment and tourism, he said.

His group already tours the city doing audits of litter and graffiti in about 130 sectors. The worst areas are targeted for special attention by city staff and volunteers. This year, the committee found sections of Victoria Avenue North, Barton Street, Nash Road, the Linc and Fruitland Road the most littered.

The city and police have made graffiti abatement one of their top priorities. A campaign was launched last May that focused on graffiti being a crime and urged people to call 905-546-CITY (2489) to report spray-paint vandalism.

Graffiti calls more than doubled after the campaign.

It costs the city close to $3 million a year to clean up litter and graffiti, says Beth Goodger, senior director of operations and waste management in the public works department.

[flar]

It will be quite the accomplishment if the dirtiest city in Canada can become the cleanest in just five years. They need to start with community pride, which is sorely lacking among some of Hamilton's citizens, like the ones who throw concrete blocks on Dundurn stairs, or spray graffiti everywhere, or litter indiscriminately, or leave old cars and garbage all over their yards and never cut their grass or tend their gardens.

[SteelTown]

Tim Horton's is a major sponsor for this. So there's private money going towards this campaign over five years.

The City will also build a maintenance hut near the Connaught to keep cleaning supplies and equipment nearby to keep the core clean. It’s part of the overall Gore Park Master Plan.

[Jon Dalton]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Tim Horton's is a major sponsor for this.

Does anyone else see the irony?

[Jon Dalton]

How about try to pass an effective bylaw to get rid of huge signs and aluminum siding covering the buildings in Gore Park by 2015 so our city doesn't look like a complete joke to those 42 countries?

[SteelTown]

[Jon Dalton]

Cool. I'm going to send them 5 full garbage bags of their own trash picked up during bylaw crawl, now i'll attach a thank you note for this effort.

[matt602]

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

Cool. I'm going to send them 5 full garbage bags of their own trash picked up during bylaw crawl, now i'll attach a thank you note for this effort.

Haha. Exactly what I was going to say. Pretty fitting that they should foot the bill for an issue they are largely responsible for.

[SteelTown]

It's not Tim Hortons fault for having customers that doesn't respect the environment. At least they are pitching in and sponsoring a clean up week.

[Jon Dalton]

Considering they make up 22% of all litter, there's a few ways they could deal with it that are more responsible than just shrugging it off and saying they can't help it. They do after all encourage gratuitous use of take-out containers and other consumables. If there was even a 5c deposit for coffee cups then every crackhead out there would be cleaning their crap off the streets, instead of people with full time jobs and responsibilities having to do it.

[drpgq]

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

Considering they make up 22% of all litter, there's a few ways they could deal with it that are more responsible than just shrugging it off and saying they can't help it. They do after all encourage gratuitous use of take-out containers and other consumables. If there was even a 5c deposit for coffee cups then every crackhead out there would be cleaning their crap off the streets, instead of people with full time jobs and responsibilities having to do it.

I like that idea.

[emge]

Tim Hortons at Don Mills and Steeles on the Toronto/Thornhill border has recycling bins specifically made for their coffee cups.

So either it isn't impossible, just expensive... or they're giving a nice bin to the people who want it and tossing them in the trash anyhow.

Then again, the workers at that location aren't allowed to take tips either, so there is some weird management stuff happening...

[bornagainbiking]

I believe in Hamilton that coffee cups of the paper type can go in your green bin and the styrafoam one are blue box.
Also the lids are blue box as well as the trays.
I try and stack them so they take up less volume.
Sometimes it is just a little personal effort.
However it is the attitude of the people that has to change, we need a sense of civic pride.
I still see cigaratte butts outside many entrances of establishment. What a welcoming sight.

[holymoly]

Originally Posted by emge

Tim Hortons at Don Mills and Steeles on the Toronto/Thornhill border has recycling bins specifically made for their coffee cups.

So either it isn't impossible, just expensive... or they're giving a nice bin to the people who want it and tossing them in the trash anyhow.

Then again, the workers at that location aren't allowed to take tips either, so there is some weird management stuff happening...

I thought no Tim Hortons locations accepted tips. Some of them do?

[balahari]

hi everyone,

this is balahari, i agree all your comments..

[holymoly]

Strange legs on the people in the poster. I wonder if they made them look like an M "arch" to suggest the litter comes from McDonalds.

ETA: I realize this is an old thread, but a FB friend just posted that she was picking up Tim's cups yesterday. Is the clean-up week on again, or it's just coincidental?