ELEPHANT-DONKEY.com

Hadrian said 03/11, 02:48 AM
The town of Impecunia TX has an innovative means of combating litter: a two week ban on the sales of any product found not properly disposed of.

"Impecunia was spending too much money picking up after people" says Mayor Natalie Milf. Now the streets, parks and roadways are spotless.

Mayor Milf explains, "When I was young, Mom collected any of our toys not put away properly at the end of the day and set them off-limits for two weeks. I thought we'd try some of Mom's discipline with the problem of litter".

Shop keepers were not fond of the strict anti-litter law at first. Now they say they enjoy not having to clean up their parking lots after careless customers.

The town's sheriff is still unconvinced. Vigilante justice has sprung up in the town against tourists driving through the area and unaffected by the consequences of their littering. One family was found recently tied up at the edge of town.

"Them fools tossed out a dirty disposable diaper from their car" says Barker Wrongtree, arrested for waylaying the family. "That's plain nasty and its bad news for me and my kids. Imagine them running around 'butt-naked' for two weeks because of these big city folk!"

Hadrian said 03/20, 01:27 AM
Your objections to this plan are that it is unfair and it will not work.

What about this effort to mitigate the negative impacts of chronic public inebriation associated with the sale of alcohol? Many cities in Washington state have instituted mandatory alcohol sales restrictions in so-called Alcohol Impact Areas. The sales of certain low cost/high alcohol content beer and wine products, identified by a banned products list, are not permitted in these areas. If a convenience store continues to sell these products, it could be fined or lose it's liquor license.

Poor drunks can't get their high-octane hooch, meanwhile, snooty specialty shops that sell imported beer are off the hook. But the effort has moved from one area of a city to an entire city -- and from one city to many others around the state.

Why not try the same thing with products that are littered? Lets face the facts. Littering is illegal, as is public drunkenness. And something must be done.

(Link in the comments)

Hadrian said 03/24, 04:03 AM
Government can legally control the conduct of business. For example, eminent domain and zoning laws eliminated sex shops and peep shows from Times Square. What happened to the the sex shops? They simply switched neighborhoods. But at least now the tourists can enjoy the now Disney-fied Times Square.

The same has happened in fortified alcohol free zones in WA state cities. The sales of low cost high powered booze and the bums that drink it simply moved to other neighborhoods. Now, entire cities are treated as "Alcohol Impact Areas"

Why can't entire cities like the fictional Impecunia TX do for litter what has been done to control smut shops and public inebriants?

Litter is not only ugly, it???s expensive -- and the tax-payers pay the clean-up costs -- to the tune of millions of dollars. Litter leads to water and soil contamination and other threats to public health such as rodent infestation. Thats right - litter is harmful to human health.

Studies have found that litter is also a major indicator of neighborhood decline and disorder, leading to higher crime, lowered property values and a decrease in business.

My proposal is not only reasonable, it is urgent and necessary.