Gertrude Stein once dismissively said that Oakland, California had "no there there." Many decades later, nobody reads Gert but everybody and his sister wants to live in Oakland. With Jerry "Remember Me?" Brown as its popular mayor, affordable rents, a vibrant, diverse population and a fascinating history — everyone from Jack London to Huey Newton rose from its streets — Oakland is now the rising star of the Bay Area. We can only hope that the most recent good news to come out of Oakland will spread like a benign pandemic. That is, Oakland is the first city in the nation to force fast-food restaurants and convenience stores to pay for cleaning up the litter they generate. Last week, Oakland's City Council approved a new tax for businesses that disseminate goods in packages that routinely end up as litter. These annual taxes, averaging between $230 and $3,815, depending on volume of business, will be used to pay for crews to clean up trash around commercial areas and schools, where litter is heaviest.
The Chamber of Commerce and "business community" (if that's not an oxymoron) fought this sensible measure, because they fight anything that puts the long-term good of the public ahead of the short-term profits of private enterprise. They think it's just a matter of enforcing the litter laws on the books. Uh huh. Tell that to the cop who, en route to a murder scene, has to stop and ticket the kid tossing the McNuggets package on the sidewalk. Here's the reality: fast food and "convenience" packaging comprises half the litter in America now and the problem has reached epidemic proportions. We simply can't keep up with it.
Litter is more than an aesthetic issue. It's a symptom of a larger problem. A nation that would soil its own nest is one that has lost its self-respect. If we can't respect ourselves, who can or will we respect around the globe? We've all seen Supersize Me and/or read Fast Food Nation. We know fast food is killing us slowly and ruining the health of our children. Even while fast food kills us, it also buries us under mountains of litter.
Four years ago, in these pages, I wrote, "Not so long ago in America, the very idea of littering — the wanton, stupid and illegal disposal of trash — was generally regarded as barbaric, something piteously subhuman and far-fetched, like a missile shield, faith-based government programs or Creationism. Take a look around today. Drive down any street, highway or interstate, walk through any park ... and it is quickly obvious litter has made a roaring comeback."
In short, littering is as American as apple pie and violence. What ever happened to the outrage over litter? And what does it say about us as a species — or more importantly our future on this planet — that so many of us believe the world is our garbage can?
A block from the Advocate office is the most blighted block I've ever seen. You, however, will never convince me that this is how people want it, even the people littering. There's a sense, looking at this block, of what the shrinks call projection. Nobody cares about me, so I don't care about anything else.
Shrink or not, the sheer volume of litter seems beyond our capacity to control. The people who create this needless packaging have to be part of the solution. Thus, Oakland did what every city should be itching to do.
OK, you progressives in Hartford, Springfield, Holyoke, Torrington, et al. What are you waiting for?
