Trash in L.A. River
* Re “Targeting a River’s Intractable Trash,” Jan. 22:
Wherever you go in our city, trash is clearly visible. Something must be done to improve the situation. Where is all this trash coming from? Littering is a widespread problem that will not be cured overnight. The public must be educated and encouraged not to litter. While the police have more serious crimes to deal with, our litter laws must be enforced.
I have noticed metal grates in front of some storm drains. Installing these on all storm drains would not only be relatively inexpensive but also a quick way to reduce litter.
ROBERT NEWMAN
Los Angeles
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I think the plan by the Regional Water Quality Control Board to have cities reduce the amount of litter coming out of their storm drains and channels by 10% every year until the L.A. River is entirely trash-free is a great idea and, I might admit, a long-awaited one by many who wish to see the L.A. River actually look somewhat like a river. But I think the idea of installing storm drain filters would be too costly and may cause flooding.
And cities issuing only a handful of littering tickets to offenders seems about right, because that’s about the number of people I actually see littering on the streets, with the exception of cigarette-butt flickers. I do see city and private trash trucks on our freeways daily with trash flying out their tops and many overturned trash containers with trash spewing out of them on trash day. We can stop a lot of trash from getting into our storm drains by preventing trash from touching the ground in the first place. This means requiring that all trash be placed inside plastic bags and requiring trash trucks to contain their trash better. I believe this and massive public education should clean up the L.A. River 99.9% with minimal cost.
KENNETH E. COLEMAN
Tujunga
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Why is it that when a problem comes up in L.A., the first thing officials think about is spending hundreds of million of dollars? Can we just make people aware what happens if they don’t use trash cans (the photos with your article)? Let’s start with children in schools or have a few billboards for everyone to see the damage. It shouldn’t cost millions of taxpayer dollars. Or am I being naive to think people could be responsible?
JUDITH NIKAZY
Los Angeles