redflag32
01-22-2008, 06:36 PM
The flats in Lenadoon have become a dumping ground for some local people who seem to care nothing for their community. The bins outside the flats, which are for the residents of the flats, are being used as skips by some people in the area to get rid of their household rubbish. These people range from individuals who come in their cars to dump their rubbish around the bins, to the elderly lady who walks past the bins every morning, on her way to the shops, and dumps her bag of rubbish into the bins at Dungloe Crescent.
It is obvious that these people have the “I’m alright Jack” attitude and do not care about the community they live in. But these sorts of people must be challenged by all the residents in Lenadoon when they see them dumping their rubbish. These people would be the first to complain about the youth in the area “lowering the tone of the estate”, yet do not see their own selfish actions as anti-social, which it is.
People can dispose of their rubbish easily enough in any of the council dumps, free of charge, or arrange to have the rubbish picked up by the City council, again free of charge. But they would rather make the whole area look like a dump, so long as it is not outside their own front door. This has to be confronted and stopped.
Another main reason for the problem is the way the council and their workers do their job. The bins should never been put in a location where they are easily accessible from the streets, when the council was planning work on the flats. Also the recent cut-backs in council workers by the council, which was opposed by only the SDLP and the PUP, who warned that rubbish would build up in the city's estates, adds to the rubbish problem.
Also is the attitude of the council workers whose job it is to empty the bins. I have talked to them many times about leaving bins un-emptied, their answers range from “it’s not our job” (yes that confused me also!!) “We don’t empty THOSE bins” (again confused) and “we only do the left hand side of the street” as another bin lorry drives along the right hand side of the street without emptying a single bin. I asked if even for the sake of the community, would they not just empty the bins? You would have thought I had asked them to take a pay cut.
I believe that people need to look at what they are doing to the estate and where they want it to be in the years to come. A bit of effort by local residents to use their own bins, or ask the council to pick up house hold furniture to be disposed of. Why throw your rubbish at somebody else’s door? Do you not realise how selfish this is, how anti-community it is? And I would ask the council workers to be a bit more flexible in their job, why drive past bins that need emptied, do you not care about the state of the area, or is it just a job and you do as little as possible? A bit of common sense from people could easily end the problem
Then again, maybe common sense is not that common.
Gerry Foster,
IRSP Andersonstown
http://andersonstownirsp.wordpress.com/
It is obvious that these people have the “I’m alright Jack” attitude and do not care about the community they live in. But these sorts of people must be challenged by all the residents in Lenadoon when they see them dumping their rubbish. These people would be the first to complain about the youth in the area “lowering the tone of the estate”, yet do not see their own selfish actions as anti-social, which it is.
People can dispose of their rubbish easily enough in any of the council dumps, free of charge, or arrange to have the rubbish picked up by the City council, again free of charge. But they would rather make the whole area look like a dump, so long as it is not outside their own front door. This has to be confronted and stopped.
Another main reason for the problem is the way the council and their workers do their job. The bins should never been put in a location where they are easily accessible from the streets, when the council was planning work on the flats. Also the recent cut-backs in council workers by the council, which was opposed by only the SDLP and the PUP, who warned that rubbish would build up in the city's estates, adds to the rubbish problem.
Also is the attitude of the council workers whose job it is to empty the bins. I have talked to them many times about leaving bins un-emptied, their answers range from “it’s not our job” (yes that confused me also!!) “We don’t empty THOSE bins” (again confused) and “we only do the left hand side of the street” as another bin lorry drives along the right hand side of the street without emptying a single bin. I asked if even for the sake of the community, would they not just empty the bins? You would have thought I had asked them to take a pay cut.
I believe that people need to look at what they are doing to the estate and where they want it to be in the years to come. A bit of effort by local residents to use their own bins, or ask the council to pick up house hold furniture to be disposed of. Why throw your rubbish at somebody else’s door? Do you not realise how selfish this is, how anti-community it is? And I would ask the council workers to be a bit more flexible in their job, why drive past bins that need emptied, do you not care about the state of the area, or is it just a job and you do as little as possible? A bit of common sense from people could easily end the problem
Then again, maybe common sense is not that common.
Gerry Foster,
IRSP Andersonstown
http://andersonstownirsp.wordpress.com/