Litter in Media: Problems and potential solutions

Litter is, unfortunately, a huge issue still in Media. Dr. Eric Stein has been working diligently in the past year (and prior to that) to work with the Media Business Authority and local businesses to clean up State Street particularly on the weekends. Borough staff run the street sweepers on the weekday mornings, but the issue appears to be the cigarette butts in front of various establishments on Saturday and Sunday morning. It’s the responsibility of the business owner to clean up in front of their establishment, but unfortunately the enforcement of this is difficult and costly, to say the least.

The Community Design Committee is currently looking into a variety of solutions, and working in conjuction with the Media Business Authority to resolve this. Paul Robinson, a longtime resident and member of Council for 12 years previously, has said that this issue has been talked about since he has been on council and he shares my frustration with the inability to create a meaningful solution.

My personal opinion is that human nature is that late-night revelers at bars smoking in the cold generally are not going to voluntarily keep our streets clean, ’cause, let’s face it, it’s easier to flick that butt than to put it out and then put it in the trash. And, truth be told, employees of these establishments having spent the last 8 hours with same patrons are unlikely to want to clean up disgusting cigarette butts at 2:30 AM at the end of their shift. God knows I wouldn’t.

What’s the solution? We’re looking into the costs of hiring staff or a 3rd party to clean up on weekend mornings. We’re also looking at the legal limits of our ability to enforce our litter laws. There’s likely some combination of these two which will get the streets cleaned up.

What’s good for Media is a safe, attractive street that attracts both patrons and residents to downtown Media. I am hoping we can resolve this issue this year in a way that works for everyone.