Curbside clutter sign of timesAs student apartments change hands, piles of refuse grow deep downtown By David Slade (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Brad Nettles Garbage and household trash blocks the sidewalk on Felix Street in downtown Charleston Monday. 
Brad Nettles Albert Thompson with the city of Charleston Sanitation Department uses a claw to pick up trash from in front of a Morris Street residence Monday. As sure as flowers pop up in the spring, mountains of trash appear on the streets of Charleston as July turns to August. Summer college classes end, fall semester approaches, and student apartments change hands, leaving a wake of broken furniture and garbage bags that can sit on the curb for days. "This year seems to be worse than years past," said Karen Hauck, director of Keep Charleston Beautiful. "A lot of the problems occurred in the middle of last week, and trash pickup on the peninsula is on Monday," she said. "So, the stuff sits for days and people tear through it." The city cleaned up most of last week's trash piles over the weekend, with extra collections Friday and Saturday funded by College of Charleston, according to several city officials. "Of course the issue is, the kids are moving out, and they don't all move out on the same day or even the same week," said Charleston Councilwoman Yvonne Evans, chairwoman of the city's Town and Gown Committee. "The sofas are always a problem," she said. "It's depressing when you see a sofa sitting there, and it's been rained on." In May, Keep Charleston Beautiful and the college began an initiative to collect usable furniture and donate it to charity. Hauck said the program could be expanded next year to both May and July. Much of the trash problem stems from the fact that apartments must usually be vacated by the end of the month, and those dates don't always fall right before a trash collection. "We will continue to look at what can be done, from fining the kids and property owners, to scheduling extra pickups and other things," Evans said. Police Cpl. Ed Robinson enforces livability issues for the city, and said people who put trash out too early are typically put on notice and told to clean it up. In Charleston, trash can be put out up to two days before the scheduled pickup. Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 5 comment(s)
Posted by watchdog on August 5, 2008 at 3:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We are pigs in this city, we need to do something about this problem. I see people just throwing all types of trash on the streets. There is a lack of respect and community. The colleges in this area need to be held to a higher standard, they have too understand that they are part of the community.
Posted by rutide on August 5, 2008 at 8:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This comes with having a downtown college. I welcome the college but there are ways to deal with the "trash". Much of it is useable and I'm sure there are many families in North Charleston who could use some of it. Goodwill or the Salvation Army could get involved and collect the stuff worth salvaging. Many college towns do this or have similar programs, Charleston should look into this.
Posted by RW on August 5, 2008 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How abt finding the last owners and start writing some nice fines! Or tacking fines on to tuition, witholding diplomas etc
Posted by wpc3iop on August 5, 2008 at 1:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It would be nice to get some of the usable furniture, etc. to people who could put it to good use...sounds like a good project for King Joe or one of his flunkies...
Posted by imoc82 on August 5, 2008 at 2:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Complain all you want. The college keeps a lot of downtown alive when most people that live here stay at home. The college kids today at CofC have more money that most of you could ever imagine having at that age. They may not have a sense of respect for the city when they throw it all out on the street. Have you people not seen the trucks of people that drive around after work and pick a lot of this stuff up. College kids have been throwing stuff out for years and the people that live in and around charleston have always known when to show up in order to get a new couch, tv, kitchen appliances, etc. The only difference these days is that the stuff is getting nicer. And another thing to realize is that this is not all "college kids". More and more graduates every year decide not to leave our lovely city and end up staying in Charleston. While yes some of them do move off to West Ashley, Mt. Pleasant, or James Island, a lot of them stay downtown where they have spent that last 4-5 years going to school.
If someone was smart, they would start a buisness where they went around and picked up all the old furniture and then sold it back to the students in the fall. If I had the time and a wharehouse I would do it. College Trash N Treasure type of idea. Just my thoughts.