7 ms·

This makes me want to get a battery powered shop vac, so I can carry it on my bike and spot-clean gravel and glass messes...

itronitron 3y ago
I imagine you could pull a child carrier behind your bike and your passenger could maneuver the vacuum nozzle while trailing behind you. Related >> https://bikeportland.org/2022/01/07/a-california-inventor-is-working-on-a-bike-lane-sweeper-trailer-343301 https://bikeportland.org/2022/01/07/a-california-inventor-is...
duxup 3y ago
When my kids were younger I used to bring things to clean up / fix local playgrounds that I was at every day. Later I saw another parent doing the same. As much as I or someone might feel I "shouldn't" have to, it's pretty efficient to just have someone do the job right then and there.
- micromacrofoot 3y ago
  If everyone pitched in just a tiny bit, picking up a single piece of "someone else's" trash... we'd live in a significantly nicer world. There's a very stubborn "I didn't do it, not my problem" mindset in the US specifically.
  - duxup 3y ago
    Yeah the "someone else should do it" kinda thing is a weird self re-enforcing kinda thing too. Seems to just stoke anger and inaction. Like I show up at a playground at say 8 am, maybe the trash left there was from 8 hours ago ... now someone gets upset that the city didn't do a thing that is probably a rebellious expectation (can't patrol all the parks overnight every 8 hours) and they shove their hands in their pockets and pout. I'd rather folks just pick some stuff up and toss it in the bin nearby and we're all good.
    - easyas124 3y ago
      I'd rather the litterbugs just not litter in the first place. (Sure, accidents happen, but I've seen ten times more outright antisocial trash dumping than forgetting a candy wrapper by mistake.) People get upset because it is entirely possible to live in a world where you don't have to clean up after people who don't take responsibility for themselves, and I think a lot of people are tired of it.
      - duxup 3y ago
        I've never really found "those people shouldn't do that" does much to change things or make the world a better place.
        lostlogin 3y ago
        Best proof of this is seen in shared kitchens. A sign saying that keeping the place clean is a shared responsibility is sure to get things back on track…
        easyas124 3y ago
        This is a slippery slope towards nihilism. When we expect less and less of our fellow humans, where do we wind up?
      - kgermino 3y ago
        There's loads of littering by me but I don't think people realize how much of the trash blowing around isn't left out by individuals (intentionally or accidentally) but an artifact of our trash collection process. A lot of the litter by me either falls out of the bin/truck during collection, is dug out of trash cans by squirrels, or spills out when the wind opens the can lid or even blows it over completely. There's things we can do to mitigate that but it'll never be perfect so you'll always see "someone else's trash" blowing in the wind.
        duxup 3y ago
        My trash pickup day is Wednesday, and it is always the windiest day.
  - dotnet00 3y ago
    The "I didn't do it, not my problem" mindset arises because of people with a "I did do it, but it still isn't my problem" mindset. The person who cares enough to clean up a mess in a local park is eventually going to give up when they notice that it's always the same people leaving the mess in the first place and that cleaning up for them is only emboldening them further. Ideally what would happen is that people would be self-conscious enough to figure out after one or two slip ups that someone else is having to clean up for them, and feel bad enough to avoid doing it in the future. This has become one of my bigger hard learned lessons. I used to go out of my way to be as considerate as possible to everyone I interacted with, trying to predict issues and mentioning them early to make things easier for others even if it might inconvenience myself. The idea was that people would reciprocate enough that it'd make things easier for myself too. But over the years I've had to stop accepting that, because as it turns out, most people really don't care. Being extremely accommodating and planning ahead to fit someone's constraints won't mean that I get the courtesy returned. They'll just continue to push me around at their own convenience.
    - micromacrofoot 3y ago
      > after one or two slip ups that someone else is having to clean up for them, and feel bad enough to avoid doing it in the future. I've lived long enough to know that this won't happen in my lifetime, it requires an entirely different societal mindset... something closer to shame/collectivism a country like Japan has (they still have litterers of course, but a much smaller number) Chronic litterbugs don't care, they're often low enough on the hierarchy of needs that this kind of morality isn't on their radar at all. If everyone pitched in, you might pick up a single piece of trash occasionally... so you'd avoid the "I just cleaned up this whole park yesterday" problem, because in theory you'd have a larger number or people doing a little work rather than a smaller number doing most of it. I regularly pick up trash in my neighborhood, so I get it though... it's impossible for one person to keep up with.
      - dotnet00 3y ago
        Yep, although there's also just an issue of people not seeing their surroundings as something they own. I've seen this in collectivist societies too. For example, in India, there's a pretty jarring contrast in big cities, between pristine modern buildings with immaculate interiors situated on a street literred with garbage. While Indian society loves to label littering as shameful, because no one sees the street as something they also partly own, their idea of cleaning only extends to keeping their own building immaculate.
- neocritter 3y ago
  It's hard to strike a balance between taking responsibility when no one else will and not being a doormat, but it's one worth finding.
  - Empact 3y ago
    As someone who likes to pick up incidental litter along my way, my practices on this front are: * I make a point of not picking up everything I see, rather just do an incremental bit at each opportunity * I set a basic standard for when I should: if I literally see litter and a trashcan along the path I’m traveling - the goal being to minimize the cost / maximize the value of the effort. Even with such minimal practices I probably pick up more litter than 90+% of people. :P
  - wil421 3y ago
    When I kayak I pick up bottles and cans when I see them. I’m not digging in the mud to get stuff but if I’m close I’ll make an effort to collect trash. Same on the beach and camp sites.
- Tade0 3y ago
  There's a loose mount on a swing at a nearby playground that's been driving me crazy, because it goes klak-klak as the swing swings, but I can't reach it from where I stand. The swing did undergo some maintenance in the meantime, but somehow that one part is still loose.
  - wolverine876 3y ago
    I'd be careful repairing swings and similar equipment: If you make a mistake, if you simply misunderstand some mechanic of it (e.g., part X needs to be loose because of tolerances for part Y), someone could get seriously injured.
Mountain_Skies 3y ago
When I lived in Atlanta, there was a large line item on my annual property tax for street sweeping, which didn't seem to make much of a difference at keeping the roads clear of debris. There were many streets near me that obviously had not been swept in years, and while I did see them come up my street a few times, given the traffic volume, it has hardly frequent enough. They also didn't seem to have any kind of communication process between the police, who respond to traffic accidents, and the street sweepers, who never came by after an accident spread debris all over the road. Sometimes the police would have a stiff push broom in their trunk to do a quick sweep of the large stuff into the gutter but for the most part accident sites would remain a hazard until it had rained enough to carry the debris down to the storm drains to be clogged up by it. People complain all the time about underfunded cities but if every property in the city was getting charged as much as I was per year, the street sweeping service should have been worldclass. It's things like this that make people distrust city government and not inclined to give them more money for little return.
- datadrivenangel 3y ago
  Atlanta, in addition to the traffic, is also known for their corruption.
  - easyas124 3y ago
    Every single American city has this to one degree or another, even if it's just "hey, my brother owns a landscaping business and can mow city hall...". But a Byzantine government structure and a "fuck you, got mine" attitude baked into the national ethos will do that.
    - datadrivenangel 3y ago
      Oh yeah. Atlanta is not unique in that regard. Great city.
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    Is it? The Kasim Reed years produced a few federal prosecutions [e.g. 0], but generally it's been pretty quiet? And it's not like the US Attorney isn't looking. So either Atlanta politicians are better at hiding their crimes, or they aren't committing them at the average rate [1]. Subjectively, I'd say that Atlanta has a fair amount of low-level corruption (see the Park amounts), but generally avoids the major-level corruption that other cities get caught in. [0] https://www.ajc.com/news/local/torpy-large-when-the-cost-your-own-corruption-knocks-you-out/ImwYdHnS8OzOBpKqsehtSK/ https://www.ajc.com/news/local/torpy-large-when-the-cost-you... [1] https://pols.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/273/2023/11/Corruption-Rpt-15-Final.11.2.23.pdf https://pols.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/273/2023/11/Co...
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
This makes me complain to the local county and tell them they should allocate more of my tax money to maintaining public spaces.
xyst 3y ago
Sounds great until your vac get clogged with used hypodermic needles. Good luck cleaning that without getting pricked
doublerabbit 3y ago
Already exist, I looked at one to pick up cig butts when I go on my nightly litter picker walks. Sadly they're unpractical and only last around 30mins ~
ornornor 3y ago
They’ve already been invented and you could probably buy one to make your dream come true! See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motocrotte https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motocrotte

itronitron 3y ago

I imagine you could pull a child carrier behind your bike and your passenger could maneuver the vacuum nozzle while trailing behind you. Related >> https://bikeportland.org/2022/01/07/a-california-inventor-is-working-on-a-bike-lane-sweeper-trailer-343301 https://bikeportland.org/2022/01/07/a-california-inventor-is...

duxup 3y ago

When my kids were younger I used to bring things to clean up / fix local playgrounds that I was at every day. Later I saw another parent doing the same. As much as I or someone might feel I "shouldn't" have to, it's pretty efficient to just have someone do the job right then and there.

micromacrofoot 3y ago
If everyone pitched in just a tiny bit, picking up a single piece of "someone else's" trash... we'd live in a significantly nicer world. There's a very stubborn "I didn't do it, not my problem" mindset in the US specifically.
- duxup 3y ago
  Yeah the "someone else should do it" kinda thing is a weird self re-enforcing kinda thing too. Seems to just stoke anger and inaction. Like I show up at a playground at say 8 am, maybe the trash left there was from 8 hours ago ... now someone gets upset that the city didn't do a thing that is probably a rebellious expectation (can't patrol all the parks overnight every 8 hours) and they shove their hands in their pockets and pout. I'd rather folks just pick some stuff up and toss it in the bin nearby and we're all good.
  - easyas124 3y ago
    I'd rather the litterbugs just not litter in the first place. (Sure, accidents happen, but I've seen ten times more outright antisocial trash dumping than forgetting a candy wrapper by mistake.) People get upset because it is entirely possible to live in a world where you don't have to clean up after people who don't take responsibility for themselves, and I think a lot of people are tired of it.
    - duxup 3y ago
      I've never really found "those people shouldn't do that" does much to change things or make the world a better place.
      - lostlogin 3y ago
        Best proof of this is seen in shared kitchens. A sign saying that keeping the place clean is a shared responsibility is sure to get things back on track…
      - easyas124 3y ago
        This is a slippery slope towards nihilism. When we expect less and less of our fellow humans, where do we wind up?
    - kgermino 3y ago
      There's loads of littering by me but I don't think people realize how much of the trash blowing around isn't left out by individuals (intentionally or accidentally) but an artifact of our trash collection process. A lot of the litter by me either falls out of the bin/truck during collection, is dug out of trash cans by squirrels, or spills out when the wind opens the can lid or even blows it over completely. There's things we can do to mitigate that but it'll never be perfect so you'll always see "someone else's trash" blowing in the wind.
      - duxup 3y ago
        My trash pickup day is Wednesday, and it is always the windiest day.
- dotnet00 3y ago
  The "I didn't do it, not my problem" mindset arises because of people with a "I did do it, but it still isn't my problem" mindset. The person who cares enough to clean up a mess in a local park is eventually going to give up when they notice that it's always the same people leaving the mess in the first place and that cleaning up for them is only emboldening them further. Ideally what would happen is that people would be self-conscious enough to figure out after one or two slip ups that someone else is having to clean up for them, and feel bad enough to avoid doing it in the future. This has become one of my bigger hard learned lessons. I used to go out of my way to be as considerate as possible to everyone I interacted with, trying to predict issues and mentioning them early to make things easier for others even if it might inconvenience myself. The idea was that people would reciprocate enough that it'd make things easier for myself too. But over the years I've had to stop accepting that, because as it turns out, most people really don't care. Being extremely accommodating and planning ahead to fit someone's constraints won't mean that I get the courtesy returned. They'll just continue to push me around at their own convenience.
  - micromacrofoot 3y ago
    > after one or two slip ups that someone else is having to clean up for them, and feel bad enough to avoid doing it in the future. I've lived long enough to know that this won't happen in my lifetime, it requires an entirely different societal mindset... something closer to shame/collectivism a country like Japan has (they still have litterers of course, but a much smaller number) Chronic litterbugs don't care, they're often low enough on the hierarchy of needs that this kind of morality isn't on their radar at all. If everyone pitched in, you might pick up a single piece of trash occasionally... so you'd avoid the "I just cleaned up this whole park yesterday" problem, because in theory you'd have a larger number or people doing a little work rather than a smaller number doing most of it. I regularly pick up trash in my neighborhood, so I get it though... it's impossible for one person to keep up with.
    - dotnet00 3y ago
      Yep, although there's also just an issue of people not seeing their surroundings as something they own. I've seen this in collectivist societies too. For example, in India, there's a pretty jarring contrast in big cities, between pristine modern buildings with immaculate interiors situated on a street literred with garbage. While Indian society loves to label littering as shameful, because no one sees the street as something they also partly own, their idea of cleaning only extends to keeping their own building immaculate.
neocritter 3y ago
It's hard to strike a balance between taking responsibility when no one else will and not being a doormat, but it's one worth finding.
- Empact 3y ago
  As someone who likes to pick up incidental litter along my way, my practices on this front are: * I make a point of not picking up everything I see, rather just do an incremental bit at each opportunity * I set a basic standard for when I should: if I literally see litter and a trashcan along the path I’m traveling - the goal being to minimize the cost / maximize the value of the effort. Even with such minimal practices I probably pick up more litter than 90+% of people. :P
- wil421 3y ago
  When I kayak I pick up bottles and cans when I see them. I’m not digging in the mud to get stuff but if I’m close I’ll make an effort to collect trash. Same on the beach and camp sites.
Tade0 3y ago
There's a loose mount on a swing at a nearby playground that's been driving me crazy, because it goes klak-klak as the swing swings, but I can't reach it from where I stand. The swing did undergo some maintenance in the meantime, but somehow that one part is still loose.
- wolverine876 3y ago
  I'd be careful repairing swings and similar equipment: If you make a mistake, if you simply misunderstand some mechanic of it (e.g., part X needs to be loose because of tolerances for part Y), someone could get seriously injured.

Mountain_Skies 3y ago

When I lived in Atlanta, there was a large line item on my annual property tax for street sweeping, which didn't seem to make much of a difference at keeping the roads clear of debris. There were many streets near me that obviously had not been swept in years, and while I did see them come up my street a few times, given the traffic volume, it has hardly frequent enough. They also didn't seem to have any kind of communication process between the police, who respond to traffic accidents, and the street sweepers, who never came by after an accident spread debris all over the road. Sometimes the police would have a stiff push broom in their trunk to do a quick sweep of the large stuff into the gutter but for the most part accident sites would remain a hazard until it had rained enough to carry the debris down to the storm drains to be clogged up by it. People complain all the time about underfunded cities but if every property in the city was getting charged as much as I was per year, the street sweeping service should have been worldclass. It's things like this that make people distrust city government and not inclined to give them more money for little return.

datadrivenangel 3y ago
Atlanta, in addition to the traffic, is also known for their corruption.
- easyas124 3y ago
  Every single American city has this to one degree or another, even if it's just "hey, my brother owns a landscaping business and can mow city hall...". But a Byzantine government structure and a "fuck you, got mine" attitude baked into the national ethos will do that.
  - datadrivenangel 3y ago
    Oh yeah. Atlanta is not unique in that regard. Great city.
- ethbr1 3y ago
  Is it? The Kasim Reed years produced a few federal prosecutions [e.g. 0], but generally it's been pretty quiet? And it's not like the US Attorney isn't looking. So either Atlanta politicians are better at hiding their crimes, or they aren't committing them at the average rate [1]. Subjectively, I'd say that Atlanta has a fair amount of low-level corruption (see the Park amounts), but generally avoids the major-level corruption that other cities get caught in. [0] https://www.ajc.com/news/local/torpy-large-when-the-cost-your-own-corruption-knocks-you-out/ImwYdHnS8OzOBpKqsehtSK/ https://www.ajc.com/news/local/torpy-large-when-the-cost-you... [1] https://pols.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/273/2023/11/Corruption-Rpt-15-Final.11.2.23.pdf https://pols.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/273/2023/11/Co...

Cthulhu_ 3y ago

This makes me complain to the local county and tell them they should allocate more of my tax money to maintaining public spaces.

xyst 3y ago

Sounds great until your vac get clogged with used hypodermic needles. Good luck cleaning that without getting pricked

doublerabbit 3y ago

Already exist, I looked at one to pick up cig butts when I go on my nightly litter picker walks. Sadly they're unpractical and only last around 30mins ~

ornornor 3y ago

They’ve already been invented and you could probably buy one to make your dream come true! See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motocrotte https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motocrotte