The do-gooders at the Greater Downtown Council (GDC) are at it again -- and this time we hope they succeed.
A couple of years ago, the downtown business community took its lumps because it persuaded the City Council to pass an anti-loitering ordinance.
Some Duluthians thought loitering wasn't a big issue in spite of the property damage and occasional assaults that resulted.
Now the GDC has taken up another cause to improve the downtown. It has joined a pilot program sponsored by Keep America Beautiful to encourage smokers not to flip their cigarette butts on the sidewalk or the curb.
The program is limited in nature and will cover only a two block stretch of First Street, but the program could help citywide by reminding smokers that flicking their butts away is littering.
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Nobody at the GDC is going to report a smoker to our short-handed police force. Instead, the group hopes to clean up the downtown by giving away 1,000 free pocket ash trays and working with business owners in the targeted area to put more ash receptacles around.
We believe that one of the primary reasons most smokers litter is because the ability to dispose of a cigarette butt properly is extremely inconvenient. Trash receptacles, much less ash receptacles are few and far between.
Thus, as one smoker litters, others follow the example, and after a good rain, occasionally one can see mounds of butts hung up around the sewers.
This can't be good for the environment, and it certainly hurts the attractiveness of the community.
The GDC is also going to undertake a public education campaign to encourage smokers to dispose of their butts properly.
As with the loitering ordinance, some may see cigarette litter as a relatively minor issue as we set our priorities as a community. However, it is the little things that add up to create a climate that makes it possible for big things to go wrong. Shouldn't all Duluthians want to have a clean and safe community?
And what could be next? How about a program to teach people that it is not OK to spit on a public sidewalk, that spitting is a public health hazard.
And speaking of spitting how about encouraging people not to spit their gum out on the sidewalk either. These things all add up to make our community less than it could be.
