Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, May 16, 2012
Dinosaurs Barbarians at the Bus Stop
Posted by Derek Erdman on Wed, May 16, 2012 at 2:34 PM
I'm officially an old man: I look forward to complaining about the litter at the bus stop in front of our house. When I turn the corner from Olive onto 23rd, I have a look and sternly say out loud, "What savages!" when I'm by myself. I no longer say it when my wife is with me in the car, because I'm sure she's tired of hearing it.
When we rented this home the landlord didn't disclose that there would be necessary daily garbage pick-up at the bus stop. When she stopped by six months after living here, I felt bad that I'd skipped a few days and I'm sure she saw the mounds of Mounds wrappers. "There's always so much garbage at the bus stop," I said to her. "I know," she replied. "I tried to get the city to put a can there for years."
Over the winter somebody was throwing black plastic bags of dog shit into the bushes. At one point, there were at least 50 of them. I didn't know what to do, so I collected them all and put them in a pile at the base of the bus stop pole. I didn't think a sign would work, but I guess a person seeing what they created was enough. The inventor of dog shit mountain no longer uses the bushes for disposal.
Sometimes on my way to Safeway, I get in a huff and kick the garbage into the street. Never glass, usually just Safeway food containers. That's certainly the reason for all of the garbage: the bus stop is the closest one to Safeway going in that direction on 23rd. People buy bags of Flamin' Hot Cheetos and bottles of Sobe and wait for the bus. If they finish the contents before the bus arrives, the packages drop out of their hands like they're dinosaurs moving on to the next things to eat.
I only venture into the bushes every month or so. There are condoms and needles in there. It must be a really good place to party.
This just in! I just filmed some miscreants tusslin' at the bus stop:
3
Derek, you should embrace the diversity in your neighborhood. So many negative feelings to what is obviously a cultural misunderstanding. Those teens in the video are just acting out their emotions - they mimic what they've seen on their popular hip-hop music videos. I'm sure when they're done horsin' around, they'll volunteer to clean up their neighborhood.
4
Seriously, though, who litters? I just had it drilled into my head so thoroughly as a child that littering was a huge dick move that I don't even consider it, any more than I'd consider smoking in a hospital or stealing somebody's lunch. You're just not supposed to be a dick, right? So who the fuck does that? What is wrong with people?
5
Look, just buy a cheap aluminum can and chain it with a padlock to the bushes. Put in a garbage bag and change it every week. You should not have to, but what are your options? It will make your life easier and hopefully cleaner. If it doesn't work, what have you lost?
6
Perhaps now you can persuade the Stranger to stop promoting graffiti (by posting photos saying its art) which is another blight on our urban landscape. I challenge you to find (and photograph) a Capitol Hill trash dumpster not already tagged!
7
@6
I agree. Or just pick it up once a week or whatever.
You inhabit a world where there are people who leave litter.
Complaining alone won't change anything.
But complaining and cleaning it up means that it is cleaned up.
I agree. Or just pick it up once a week or whatever.
You inhabit a world where there are people who leave litter.
Complaining alone won't change anything.
But complaining and cleaning it up means that it is cleaned up.
9
I'm going to be sorely disappointed if there are fewer than ten minutes of video of Derek's bushes on Slog every day.
10
Absolutely, @4...littering is pretty outrageous considering how easy it is not to do, and how it immediately gives a crappy impression of a place. Every once in awhile, purely for shock value, I'll throw some refuse down and start walking away. It seems so outrageous to whomever I'm with, they immediately know it's a gag. It would be weird to know someone who didn't react after I tossed something down.
12
@5 while that would probably help. i live on a street where i actually WATCH people litter. no it's not residential really - there's a market right across the street and it bustles from commerce from dusk to dawn.i've learned to accept that litter happens. i anticipated drug litter when i moved here.i know people be high and get lazy and stuff and toss and drop shit they've finish using.i made my peace with that. what surprised me was to discover that people purposely drive here just to dump they shit on the street. and not just on the street,people would toss trash in the back of my husband's open bed truck.once it was a tire. people shed they nasty clothes
here. appliances. but we can't blame it on the druggies because they stopped coming down our street a couple of years ago. people are just nasty.i exercise some of my darkest thoughts about humanity steppin over their shit.
and i'm older than you, so i win.
here. appliances. but we can't blame it on the druggies because they stopped coming down our street a couple of years ago. people are just nasty.i exercise some of my darkest thoughts about humanity steppin over their shit.
and i'm older than you, so i win.
14
Slog TrashCam. 24 streaming webcam action of the bust stop outside Derek Erdman's place. See REAL PEOPLE leaving REAL LITTER in REAL TIME. It'll be a hoot.
16
Thank you for doing that! It's the stop closest to the Y that taught me how to swim so damn well as a boy, and deserves all the care you can lavish on it. Long ago after Metro installed a can at the stop down at Aloha the nearest resident begged them to remove it since people started pitching tons more than before and it would overflow like crazy, way worse than before.
18
Heeeey, I used to live in that house! After the police car crashed into the hedge one time (funny story), the resulting hole was just the right size for crackheads to crawl in to sleep. Oh the things we would find there! I do hope you can get a trash can put there for people to ignore and continue throwing their shit on the ground.
19
Proof of talking plants.
Oh, and I have always been an old man ever since high school because that's when I started to complain about the litter at various places. Littering is such a dick thing to do. To me it's a sign that if human beings can't pickup their own trash and properly put it way then we don't stand a chance of actually accomplishing something like saving the planet or actually doing something about climate change.
Oh, and I have always been an old man ever since high school because that's when I started to complain about the litter at various places. Littering is such a dick thing to do. To me it's a sign that if human beings can't pickup their own trash and properly put it way then we don't stand a chance of actually accomplishing something like saving the planet or actually doing something about climate change.
20
my 4-year old daughter picked up a used condom on 20th and jefferson at a bus stop. i'm not sure it gets much worse than that.
21
This post made me realize something:
Marcus Bachmann has completely ruined the word "barbarians" for me.
Marcus Bachmann has completely ruined the word "barbarians" for me.
22
Two words of advice: Leaf blower. Useful for cleaning out the bushes and blowing all the crap into the street, where it will either be easier to sweep up or, if you care to leave it there, a more obvious example of why a bin is needed on that corner.
24
What's really charming is watching people downtown dump their shit on the ground when there's a garbage can literally right in front of them. Once I was stuck walking behind a woman eating chicken drumsticks. When she finished one, she just tossed it over her shoulder.
When I used to live in the Central District, I once watched, aghast, as a woman threw a soda cup with all of her might into the middle of the street. She then turned and walked into her house.
When I used to live in the Central District, I once watched, aghast, as a woman threw a soda cup with all of her might into the middle of the street. She then turned and walked into her house.
25
There are people who are lower class, and then there are people who are just low class. A lot of the low class are useless fucking slobs. Hence piles of shit at bus stops.
26
I'm really opposed to the idea of normal citizens picking up other citizens garbage. By enabling them to do whatever they want and never see, visually, the consequences just reinforces the fact that they can throw whatever they want into the air and *POOF* it vanishes!
I'm a firm believer that every generations should see a community strewn in trash (or visit a city that doesn't pick up trash) and come to their own realization that littering is gross, ugly and not fun to be surrounded by.
I'm a firm believer that every generations should see a community strewn in trash (or visit a city that doesn't pick up trash) and come to their own realization that littering is gross, ugly and not fun to be surrounded by.
28
The bus stop outside my building on First Hill is a mountain of trash by the end of the day. Every night, a city or metro truck comes by to pick up the trash on the ground and blasts the shelter with water from a hose.
29
Ever see all of the garbage after the Torchlight Parade? It looks like a dumpster drove down the street, expelling its contents. Talk about low class - Seafair fans are the lowest.
30
Hey that's my corner! I turn off of olive onto 23rd as well.
Listen, everyone knows littering is a huge dick move. That's why it holds so much power. I remember sitting at a park bench down by Lake Washington off the Blvd. Beautiful day, beautiful plants, beautiful lake; any moron could appreciate that. This dude was macking on a girl (and a big mac) and when done threw the whole bag and wrappers and drinks over the bench onto the grass. The girl says "you should pick that up" and the guys says "Fuck that. They got other people to pick up after me."
Littering is a power move. A pathetic one but a power move non the less. Same as those guys who walk out in front of traffic....real casual like... mean-mugging you as if to say "what the fuck you gonna do about it? Run me over?" You know, tough guy stuff.
Listen, everyone knows littering is a huge dick move. That's why it holds so much power. I remember sitting at a park bench down by Lake Washington off the Blvd. Beautiful day, beautiful plants, beautiful lake; any moron could appreciate that. This dude was macking on a girl (and a big mac) and when done threw the whole bag and wrappers and drinks over the bench onto the grass. The girl says "you should pick that up" and the guys says "Fuck that. They got other people to pick up after me."
Littering is a power move. A pathetic one but a power move non the less. Same as those guys who walk out in front of traffic....real casual like... mean-mugging you as if to say "what the fuck you gonna do about it? Run me over?" You know, tough guy stuff.
31
People.learn.how.to.use.your.video.camera on your smartphone. Turn the damn thing 90 degrees so your video doesn't look like it was shot through the key hole of a door.
34
I see people sometimes walking and dropping wrappers and walking and dropping something else and the reptilian part of my brain wants to put them out of there misery. When I've confronted people who are littering it's, "They pay people to clean this shit up." My jaw stays dropped for a while.
And I used to live on 4th Avenue and would be appalled by all the crap people would leave during Torchlight. Three feet deep from Pine all the way out to the Center. When I voiced my objection, it was pretty much the same story: There are crews that clean that up! It's their job! (and by the way, deep props to the clean up crews. They truly do have 4th back to normal by 1 AM. It was an amazing sight to see.) Nevertheless, who leaves crap all over the street?
I got a little pissed at people coming into what was my neighborhood and trashing it. If I went down to South King County or over to the Eastside, pulled down my pants, and took a crap in someone's front yard, I'd be fined (and maybe jailed) so fast...
Do they still teach civics in high school?
And I used to live on 4th Avenue and would be appalled by all the crap people would leave during Torchlight. Three feet deep from Pine all the way out to the Center. When I voiced my objection, it was pretty much the same story: There are crews that clean that up! It's their job! (and by the way, deep props to the clean up crews. They truly do have 4th back to normal by 1 AM. It was an amazing sight to see.) Nevertheless, who leaves crap all over the street?
I got a little pissed at people coming into what was my neighborhood and trashing it. If I went down to South King County or over to the Eastside, pulled down my pants, and took a crap in someone's front yard, I'd be fined (and maybe jailed) so fast...
Do they still teach civics in high school?
35
Have you considered forming an angry mob to raid the hardware store for large tools used to turn back the bus when it tries to dock?
37
The problem is a societal one of course.
Poverty, poor education, pop cultural celebration of violence and strife, constant corporate propaganda pushing mindless consumption and unquestioning indulgence of one's most base urges.
And this is what we get (litter, and murder). "We" meaning those of us in the 99% in physical proximity to the social decay brought about by corporate capitalism's death grip on our civilization. "We" meaning those of us who form the buffer protecting the 1% from the barbarism of their own creation.
These "barbarians" are the inevitable product of corporate hegemony over our society and the economic policies this brings about. Things will only get worse with continued "austerity".
Unless we do something about it.
Poverty, poor education, pop cultural celebration of violence and strife, constant corporate propaganda pushing mindless consumption and unquestioning indulgence of one's most base urges.
And this is what we get (litter, and murder). "We" meaning those of us in the 99% in physical proximity to the social decay brought about by corporate capitalism's death grip on our civilization. "We" meaning those of us who form the buffer protecting the 1% from the barbarism of their own creation.
These "barbarians" are the inevitable product of corporate hegemony over our society and the economic policies this brings about. Things will only get worse with continued "austerity".
Unless we do something about it.
39
Civilizations are known for their trash (potter shards) and some for their art, but mostly their trash.
41
I don't see a communal or city trash can in that picture?
Trashcans, easily accessible trash cans, thats what brings littering down - not grumbling about poor education and people not being well brought up.
People are people, we do what we do because of the options we have. Give them the easily accessible option of a trashcan and they would throw it there instead of on the street.
Trashcans, easily accessible trash cans, thats what brings littering down - not grumbling about poor education and people not being well brought up.
People are people, we do what we do because of the options we have. Give them the easily accessible option of a trashcan and they would throw it there instead of on the street.
45
@44 That works in places where people have never been to the Res. But if you've been there, you know what a front yard garbage pile looks like. It's a mythbuster.
46
I wonder how much of this SLOG outrage might be due to a cultural gulf.
We use picking up trash as a court-ordered punishment in this country.
If you've experienced such punishment, or have friends who have experienced it, or if you take part in a subculture that celebrates the sort of behavior that is likely to be so punished, then throwing shit on the ground isn't just a dick move, it's an act of social or even political defiance or resistance.
Let's ask Brendan Kiley to explain it...
We use picking up trash as a court-ordered punishment in this country.
If you've experienced such punishment, or have friends who have experienced it, or if you take part in a subculture that celebrates the sort of behavior that is likely to be so punished, then throwing shit on the ground isn't just a dick move, it's an act of social or even political defiance or resistance.
Let's ask Brendan Kiley to explain it...
47
This reminds me of a more heartwarming Erdman video called "Old Style: Don't Have a Kick to It."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97G4bhHF_…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97G4bhHF_…
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