Litter

Re: “Treat the hills with respect and care,” Mailbag, Sept. 5: The good writer's apparent lack of finding any larger-size plastic bags - i.e, the so-called single use, carry-out-your-groceries ones that are some five times taller than the 3-inch ones that he mentioned observing - would seem to indirectly support the conclusions of Environmental Resources Planning, LLC, an independent, Gaithersburg, Md. firm that has determined that these bags have...

CITY HALL — The amount of trash and cigarette butts on city streets continues to decline, according to the most recent “litter index” released this week. Glendale Neighborhood Services officials reported that on a scale of 1 to 4 — with 1 indicating “no litter” and 4 representing “extremely littered” — the city had an average ranking of 1.47. The results were compiled last month when city officials and volunteers recorded litter levels in 24 study areas. The annual litter ranking has fallen consistently since 2005, when Glendale received a 1.87 ranking in the inaugural study.

Darleene Barrientos Maple Park is a haven for its neighborhood's older residents, who want a shady, peaceful place to play chess and other board games with friends. But the park is also a magnet for smokers, who apparently throw their cigarette butts and food wrappers everywhere but into trashcans. Members of the city's Neighborhood Services staff and volunteers from the Committee for a Clean & Beautiful Glendale and CitySearch.com armed themselves Thursday with plastic bags and litter picker-uppers and got to work.

During my daily litter pick-up walks through downtown Montrose, I notice an inordinate number of cigarette butts deposited in every possible nook and cranny along Honolulu Avenue. Apparently, many people believe that the Earth is their personal ashtray. Make no butts about it, it isn't! With our recent rainstorms, many of these butts washed down the storm drains and now reside on the beaches of Southern California. The city of Glendale is trying a new system along Brand Boulevard.

The 11th annual "I Love My Neighborhood" poster contest awards were held Wednesday evening, April 14, at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, and several of the top finalists were from Crescenta Valley schools. Glendale Unified School District public schoolchildren, along with students from several private schools, entered the contest to draw a poster with the theme, "Litter No More in 2004." This year saw a record 10,000 students enter the contest. The contest is sponsored by the Committee for a Clean and Beautiful Glendale.

My annual ode to the springtime beauty of the Verdugo Hills is late this year, but the generous winter and early spring rains have created a continuing profusion of wildflowers. Even this late, the early blooming pink storksbill, gorgeous deep purple phacelia and uncurling white popcorn flowers are still around although much diminished. Orange monkey flower lavishly decorating rocky road cuts, widespread pale lavender caterpillar phacelia, purple flowered whorls of chia, pink prickly phlox and yellow pincushion are at or near their peak.

Vito D. Erasmo thinks everyone in Glendale should do their part to keep it a beautiful place. In January, Erasmo decided to do his part and joined the Adopt-A-Block program offered through Neighborhood Services after seeing an advertisement for it in the Glendale News-Press, he said. The program allows an individual to adopt a certain block and make sure the area remains trash and graffiti free, Erasmo said. The longtime Glendale resident — who broke a vertebrae in 2006, leaving him unable to work — said the volunteer program is perfect for him. “I don’t have to work at a desk, which is great because I can’t always get out of bed and do work,” Erasmo said.

If you?re tired of hearing about litter in La Crescenta, there?s one way to remove the temptation to talk trash ? pick up the carelessly discarded refuse before it can provide water cooler fodder, La Crescenta resident Paul Rabinov said. ?If everybody picked up a little bit of litter every time they went for a walk, [people] wouldn?t talk about La Crescenta being a town of rocks and trash,? Rabinov said, while on a walk picking up trash last week with Crescenta Valley Town Councilmember Steve Pierce.

When California legislated motorists/passengers must wear seat belts, I wasn't a big fan at first, and it took some getting used to, but it eventually became an automatic habit. The ban on plastic bags, like the seat belt law, may be a little inconvenient at first, but it's also well worth the effort ("Education Matters: Antonovich's arguments are short-sighted," Nov. 26). Plastic bags are supposed to be recycled, but many people don't bother to do that. The bags that are not recycled don't always make it into our trash barrels either.

Darleene Barrientos Paper plates, drink cups, cardboard boxes, old campaign signs, empty bottles of vodka, even a diaper, and lots of cigarette butts were all 15-year-old Raymond Quinto was concerned with Saturday, despite the early morning heat. "There's been a lot of people who don't really care what happens," Raymond said, separating from his group to pick up litter in driveways along Glendale Avenue. "I even found a needle." Raymond and his fellow Key Club members were part of a group scouring for litter from City Hall down to Lomita Avenue as part of the city's 17th annual Great Graffiti Paint Out and Community Clean-Up Day. About 600 people braved the heat, which was in the 90s by noon, to pick up hats, gloves, plastic bags, rakes and plastic litter picker-uppers and fan out to neighborhoods as far out as Glendale High School and to pedestrian bridges and tunnels along the Los Angeles River and at Fremont Park.

It is astounding how many wildflowers I've seen on my weekly walks this spring in the Verdugos. However, I recently read that January, February and March were the driest in recorded history, yet surprisingly I have observed three or four kinds of lupine, three lovely phacelias, a profusion of popcorn flowers, windmill pinks, filaree, black sage and lots of other flowers. Certainly they weren't as robust as in a normal rainfall year, but still worth a look. But not deterred by the dryness, the litterers continue to rain down their drink bottles, medical cannabis bottles, tissues and other trash and garbage, including, the stupidest of all, cigarette butts.

Re: “Treat the hills with respect and care,” Mailbag, Sept. 5: The good writer's apparent lack of finding any larger-size plastic bags - i.e, the so-called single use, carry-out-your-groceries ones that are some five times taller than the 3-inch ones that he mentioned observing - would seem to indirectly support the conclusions of Environmental Resources Planning, LLC, an independent, Gaithersburg, Md. firm that has determined that these bags have...

CITY HALL — The amount of trash and cigarette butts on city streets continues to decline, according to the most recent “litter index” released this week. Glendale Neighborhood Services officials reported that on a scale of 1 to 4 — with 1 indicating “no litter” and 4 representing “extremely littered” — the city had an average ranking of 1.47. The results were compiled last month when city officials and volunteers recorded litter levels in 24 study areas. The annual litter ranking has fallen consistently since 2005, when Glendale received a 1.87 ranking in the inaugural study.

Glendale Community College police have issued 79 warnings and six cigarette-related littering tickets since they began enforcing a new campus smoking policy in March, officials said. The college Board of Trustees in August adopted the guidelines that limit smoking to seven designated areas along the perimeter of campus in an effort to curb secondhand smoke and to reduce the amount of cigarette butts and ashes on campus. The new policy also moves the college closer to city law, which bans smoking in most public spaces.

When California legislated motorists/passengers must wear seat belts, I wasn't a big fan at first, and it took some getting used to, but it eventually became an automatic habit. The ban on plastic bags, like the seat belt law, may be a little inconvenient at first, but it's also well worth the effort ("Education Matters: Antonovich's arguments are short-sighted," Nov. 26). Plastic bags are supposed to be recycled, but many people don't bother to do that. The bags that are not recycled don't always make it into our trash barrels either.

It's a tough gig. Tackling, sniffing out narcotics and bombs — they can do things no human can. The first class of highly trained German shepherds in the Glendale Police Department's K-9 unit are nearing a well-deserved retirement, when they will go home with their current handlers. Now, supporters of the program are in a mad dash to raise $100,000 to buy new dogs. It's a tall order, given the state of the economy and its pinch on the usual funding sources. The K-9 program has always been donor-supported, with minimal city resources going to keep it running.

My annual ode to the springtime beauty of the Verdugo Hills is late this year, but the generous winter and early spring rains have created a continuing profusion of wildflowers. Even this late, the early blooming pink storksbill, gorgeous deep purple phacelia and uncurling white popcorn flowers are still around although much diminished. Orange monkey flower lavishly decorating rocky road cuts, widespread pale lavender caterpillar phacelia, purple flowered whorls of chia, pink prickly phlox and yellow pincushion are at or near their peak.

I’m writing to you about the trash that is being left behind on the Brand Park hiking trails by hikers. I’m a Boy Scout with Troop 127, and all Boy Scouts know the motto of leave no trace. Whenever we go out in the wilderness, the rule is to never leave a trace — that means trash and food. I have been hiking up in the trails for many years, and every time I go, I always see trash, and I pick it up if I can. I would go up in the trails and see fire pits that I would say were not in the right place and even see cigarette butts on the ground.

GLENDALE ? The honors keep coming for a select group of area high school boys? water polo players. For 10 of them, all of whom recently competed in the postseason, they received one of the highest accolades one can earn after nearly three months of competition ? All-CIF Southern Section Division VI recognition. Five members from Crescenta Valley, three from Glendale and two from Hoover were named to the All-CIF team. Four players were named to the first team and three apiece were selected to the second and third teams.

Vito D. Erasmo thinks everyone in Glendale should do their part to keep it a beautiful place. In January, Erasmo decided to do his part and joined the Adopt-A-Block program offered through Neighborhood Services after seeing an advertisement for it in the Glendale News-Press, he said. The program allows an individual to adopt a certain block and make sure the area remains trash and graffiti free, Erasmo said. The longtime Glendale resident — who broke a vertebrae in 2006, leaving him unable to work — said the volunteer program is perfect for him. “I don’t have to work at a desk, which is great because I can’t always get out of bed and do work,” Erasmo said.