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DEL.ICIO.USIs Lawrenceville’s No. 1 problem environmental?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
True or false: In Lawrenceville, can old furniture be left curbside for trash pickup?
True. Gwinnett County-approved garbage haulers should pick up not only Hefty tall kitchen bags full of uneaten dinner portions, but also old furniture, old appliances (that don’t have pollutants) and three types of recyclable products.
I came across these words of waste management wisdom when my in-sink garbage disposal died on the Fourth of July stuffed with scraps of potatoes. Thanks to irrelevant Internet searches for “garbage disposals/Lawrenceville,” I ended up at the web site for Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful.
This Lawrenceville-based non-profit organization seeks to find the inner good housekeeper in all of us. They have instructions for composting, adopting roads and recycling all sorts of stuff from the once-a-year dead Christmas tree to the weekly milk jugs from Publix.
They also have online complaint forms for tattling on your neighbor’s unsightly never-emptied garbage or for violations of the “no handbills ordinance.” Yes, your neighborhood can actually sign up online for a “no handbills decal” to keep those lawn service and housekeeping handbills off of your mailbox.
With national awards for promoting a litter-free Gwinnett County environment, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful also reports that last year $6 million was spent removing litter from Georgia roads with taxpayer dollars. This money could be better spent, they say, and I agree in epic proportions.
But what’s missing from this site is the ongoing development debate about our county rapidly growing. No discussions here about tree saving versus strip mall building, or smog and pollution caused by the lack of additional transportation options.
Perhaps this is because the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners appoints the Citizens Board that governs this organization. I imagine political correctness is important even when strategically planning for foul-smelling sanitation.
They do, however, have a great online survey that begins by asking Gwinnett County residents, “What is the most important problem facing Gwinnett County today?”
Lawrenceville seems pretty clean to me compared to my previous DeKalb County-living.
Do you think our number one problem has anything to do with environmental solutions?
Permalink | Comments (12) | Categories: Jacqueline Bullard
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Sue
July 12, 2006 07:45 AM | Link to this
First, I want to say hats off to Gwinnett’s Clean and Beautiful. They have responded to all of my requests regarding graffiti near my neighborhood in Lawrenceville. It’s been five years since I’ve seen more graffiti in my neighborhood after my last request. I think that is a great example that if you don’t give up and report each incident, those violators will go some place else.
Although careful thought on development is a big issue for Lawrenceville, I do think environmental solutions play a big part too. Ms. Bullard mentioned that she’s noticed a big difference in cleanliness in Lawrenceville compared to DeKalb County. I noticed this too when my agent tried to show me how big of a house I could get in DeKalb compared to Gwinnett. The house was big and beautiful, but the drive to that house was full of litter on the highway there.
By Dave
July 13, 2006 10:45 PM | Link to this
No! The problem #1 is traffic. Not only is the traffic horriffic, the drivers of this diverse county must have all only passed their drivers test in their home countries. Beware of the ones you ID as Asian. They have got to be this States worst drivers on the road. I love them all, but they sure are somewhat retarded to the proper driving rules of Georgia. They do lots of smiling while running you off the road. Next in line are the Pick Up lunatics. They have to be first in line, even at the risk of killing themselves and four or five innocent people along with them. Then come the working mothers that are late to work on a daily basis because they need to get their kids to the baby sitting building on the side of the road some 20 mile from their home/apt. I quit, I am beginning to feel unsafe here on my computer.
By w00die
July 17, 2006 02:33 PM | Link to this
I think Dave has got a good point about the traffic. But I think we have an educational crisis here in Gwinnett and Lawrenceville. The schools are overcrowded and the students are under-performing. It is utterly ridiculous, the number of trailers parked at the schools to support the overpopulated system. They no longer give children books because they can’t afford them. They “assign” books for multiple classes. The buses are running 3 “shifts” to keep up and we have high school kids leaving at 6:30am and middle school kids leaving at 9:30am. You can’t walk to school around here because there are no sidewalks and too much traffic. The schools are jammed full of illegal aliens. I could go on and on but the bottom line is schools are suffering terribly here and I haven’t heard any solutions for anyone. Except one bright fellow who said “don’t have children”. Doh! Surely we are a little smarter than that!
By woodie
July 17, 2006 02:34 PM | Link to this
I think Dave has got a good point about the traffic. But I think we have an educational crisis here in Gwinnett and Lawrenceville. The schools are overcrowded and the students are under-performing. It is utterly ridiculous, the number of trailers parked at the schools to support the overpopulated system. They no longer give children books because they can’t afford them. They “assign” books for multiple classes. The buses are running 3 “shifts” to keep up and we have high school kids leaving at 6:30am and middle school kids leaving at 9:30am. You can’t walk to school around here because there are no sidewalks and too much traffic. The schools are jammed full of illegal aliens. I could go on and on but the bottom line is schools are suffering terribly here and I haven’t heard any solutions for anyone. Except one bright fellow who said “don’t have children”. Doh! Surely we are a little smarter than that!
By woodie
July 17, 2006 02:55 PM | Link to this
I think Dave has got a good point about the traffic. But I think we have an educational crisis here in Gwinnett and Lawrenceville. The schools are overcrowded and the students are under-performing. It is utterly ridiculous, the number of trailers parked at the schools to support the overpopulated system. They no longer give children books because they can’t afford them. They “assign” books for multiple classes. The buses are running 3 “shifts” to keep up and we have high school kids leaving at 6:30am and middle school kids leaving at 9:30am. You can’t walk to school around here because there are no sidewalks and too much traffic. The schools are jammed full of illegal aliens. I could go on and on but the bottom line is schools are suffering terribly here and I haven’t heard any solutions for anyone. Except one bright fellow who said “don’t have children”. Doh! Surely we are a little smarter than that!
By John
July 18, 2006 01:41 PM | Link to this
Gwinnett’s number one problem is out-of-control overdevelopment. That is the problem that causes all the other problems.
Overdevelopment causes horrible traffic.
Overdevelopment brings gangs and graffitti from people who regard themselves as temporary residents of our community and often live in high-density housing.
Overdevelopment causes the reckless destruction of our trees and natural scenery. Why do we start every project by scraping everything down to the red clay?
Overdevelopment causes the overcrowding of our schools. It also results in the flood of kids who do not speak English and strain our school systems in trying to teach them. Many of their parents are illegal aliens who are providing the cheap labor to build the developments that are the source of the problem.
Overdevelopment and the influx of a transient population also increases the problem of unsightly trash and run-down areas. People who do not plan to settle down in a place permenantly do not care what happens to the community.
Get rid of overdevelopment and you get rid of the other problems.
By Dale
July 19, 2006 07:50 AM | Link to this
The ever increasing onslaught of illegal aliens from Mexico and South America. Its causing over population and overdevelopment. They bring their Third World life style here. I am so tired of having to choose between English or Hispanic. Si Habla English…
By doinou
July 19, 2006 08:46 AM | Link to this
Gwinnett County refused on many occasions to take a complaint from me without knowing my physical home address, accusing me of attempting to file an anonomous complaint. This puts me in a very difficult position, particularly since they have released my name to my neighbors. What difference does it make where I live? They need only to look at the violator’s premises.
By MC
July 20, 2006 09:32 PM | Link to this
@Dale: Is there really such thing as a Third-World lifestyle?
Also, “Hispanic” is not a language.
By mkt
July 21, 2006 12:11 PM | Link to this
I believe drugs is one of the main problems in Gwinnett County. Merely look at the detention center in Gwinnett and you will find probably 80-90% of the arrests made in Gwinnett County are somehow drug related. Also, of course, take a look at the last names of most of them. Gwinnett County, over the past 5-6 years has developed into a foreign country where Spanish is the predominent language and the drug rings have moved in. They are arresting the wrong people — they should be getting rid of the suppliers rather than their victims.
By mary
July 22, 2006 02:18 PM | Link to this
Number 1 problem?
In the rush to build new subdivisions and townhouses old subdivsions become dens for drug activity and rental slums. My husband and I are both educators and there are still houses in our little lawrenceville subdivision being kept up, but look at the rental house next door — cars that don’t burning household trash, burning yard waste from their fly by night yard business, filth everywhere, trash everywhere — and don’t get me started on Quality of LIfe and their help!!!!! (it is “in the process of going to court”; meanwhile, I have to look at a winnebago that doesn’t run, piles of junk, and I’m sure our friend next door is planning to burn his stacks of logs and branches in the fall when the burning ban lifts. If someone has a suggestion to fix this issue (and I haven’t eventouched on drug activity) HELP!!!!!
By Mary
July 23, 2006 05:16 PM | Link to this
Me again.
I was tremendously upset when I wrote above vent about overdevelopment and was embarassed about typos, etc. But I want to point out that I am NOT focusing on the immigrant issue as the reason that my subdivision and areas of Gwinnett County are the way they are. My husband and I teach the children of the immigrants that people whine and moan about (and let’s face it, we’re not without fault ourselves). Rather than point the fingers at the parents, let’s get off our simplistic high horses and look at the mistakes that both the US and Mexican governments have made. Let’s look at how developers have drawn on cheap labor. And don’t forget — Georgia opened the door when we hosted the Olympics —
And my neighbors who are busy “junkin” up the place are “good ol’ boys”, by the by —