POST # 3 (additions to Post #1 and Post #2)
February 6, 2018

Structure:

 I: Problem exists, sidewalks of Morgantown are unsightly.
                       1. Importance to City for being clean and beautifu
                       2. Graphic portrayal of problem of unsightliness of Morgantown sidewalks,
                          a.  sidewalk stains and debris  b. loitering and panhandling c. overlap of both
                       3. Definition of area under discussion using map 
                       4. Problems other cities have, often much worse but similar through links to
                        online articles
                       5. Possible causes of our problems, change in way City is now used through then
                       and now photos
                      
    II. Possible solutions   
                      1. Some things that have been done to try to help so far, i.e. human deflectors
                         a.  negative reactions to this type of device link to articles online
                         b.  sound deivces 
                      2. Campaigns and other methods other places have use, broken down by type of  
                       problem and posters and signs pertaining to each: 
                         a. Stains on sidewalk, vomit and spilled food
                         b. dog droppings  c. cigarette butts  d.  general trash e. loitering
                         e. more positive reactions to less threatening devices
                      3. Regular sidewalk power washing by professionals
                      4. Move vagrant/homeless services outside Downtown Morgantown, deal with 
                       elsewhere   
                     5. After services are relocated, provide a covered area that is authorized for 
                         loitering but not sleeping drinking
                     6. Provide public urinals
            
   III  Store owner responsibilites,
                      1. plantings where human deflectors might otherwise be
                      2. daily sweeping and washing down.
                      3. Costs, ROI - who pays what

Audience: All residents of Morgantown, particularly permanent residents, store owners,  and importantly: the City Manager, the City Council, the Mayor, Chamber of Commerce,  Public Works Department, Public Safety Department, Code Enforcement. 

Reflection: We need to realize that there is a problem with the appearance and sanitary condition of Downtown Morgantown and we need to realize that we can and must take steps to fix this.

Call to Action: Professional sidewalk cleaning service and additional individuals need to be hired to clean the sidewalks,  surveillance camera systems need to be installed to catch perpetrators, and codes need to be enforced. Campaigns must be started to raise public awareness and pride in our city's cleanliness.

Morgantown is our home, for long or short term, or our place of business. Just as we want our houses to be clean and inviting, so should we want the environment to be clean and inviting. 

A walk downtown should be enjoyable, not a depressing trip past refuse and waste. People should not be loitering and asking us for money as we walk by, and should not be creating dirt where they are sitting.

IMPORTANCE:

• While many residents of Morgantown may never walk this route, students such as myself do so on a daily basis. 

•  Anyone who walks on our sidewalks in the Downtown area should be impressed rather than disgusted.

•  Businesses can do better business in an inviting environment. 

• Visitors need to see a clean and attractive city.

•  Parents of WVU students need to know that their children will be in a safe and healthy environment.

Below are pictures taken over the last year and a half of things I have encountered on walks from the Greenmont Neighborhood of Morgantown, which is next to South Park, crossing the Walnut Street Bridge and going mostly down High Street and also down Spruce Street to the WVU  Downtown Campus. 

       Keep in mind that High Street is also known as 

                                "Main Street"

High Street, "Main Street", is the face of our city!

Entry Point: I will begin with a picture of the birds eating vomit on High Street, basically because it is an attention-getter and starts out graphically displaying the problem This picture contrasts the usual Classically Conditioned expectation of seeing birds at a feeder in someone's flower-filled backyard. We don't know whether to feel pity for the birds or to applaud their versatility. At least they are offering some solution to the problem. This will cause Cognitive Dissonance in the viewer, something is just not right about this picture: On several levels.

Warning! The following photos are not pleasant. But this is what you are likely to see any day on the sidewalks of Downtown Morgantown, especially on High Street and Walnut Street.

                               
                             Birds eating vomit on High Street near metal benches close to Willey Street

High Street

                                                                   Vomit and stain corner of High Street and Willey Street

Oozing trash cans on Walnut St outside the clothing and food distribution mission. There are frequently trash bags of donated items outside the building.

Stains on High Street

Dog droppings on the narrow Walnut Street Bridge walkway are seen on an almost daily basis. I have seen someone purposefully walk his dog there. When I asked politely if he did not have a small plastic bag with him as he walked away from his dog's business on the bridge, the owner began to berate me - "What business of yours is it? Why don't you just walk around it? Anyway, there is a guy who comes and cleans it up."

                                                                                         Dog droppings on Walnut Street Bridge. 

Several piles of droppings on High Street. They may be hard to see because the color is very similar to the brown mulch they rest on.  The tree in this picture is blocking the large pile in the next picture:

Dog or human? You be the judge. This is on High Street in the area of the Dry Cleaners.

MAP OF DOWNTOWN AREA with streets marked where attention is needed.

The RED line is the main problem area and would require more diligence, such as the professional sidewalk washing to be described later. This area includes Willey Street on the way to University Avenue across from the WVU campus, down High Street to Pleasant Street. 

The GREEN line denotes an area which requires less diligence, Spruce Street between Walnut Street and Forest Avenue. 

The ORANGE line designates the Walnut Street Bridge area that needs diligence on the level of the RED line.

Loitering and panhandling take place mostly on High Street and Spruce Street. There is a medical service for the indigent on Spruce Street near Walnut Street. A church on Willey Street serves meals, after which the people proceed downtown to sit on stairs, streets, and walls. Groups used to sit in the covered bus waiting area next to the Public Safety Building on Spruce and Walnut. When the park area there was redone recently, this structure was removed for that reason.

Spruce Street at Wall Street. Wall Street is sometimes impassable due to the amount of loiterers.

                                                                            High Street outside church 

   Vagrant sitting spot on High Street. Loiterers eat, drink and smoke and leave areas of grime      

   around places where they congregate.

Morgantown is not alone. 

Many other cities deal with similar problems. The larger cities have far worse problems than we have in Morgantown. Poor San Francisco!  They seem to be fighting a losing battle. And San Diego is dealing with a deadly problem of a hepatitis A epidemic due to feces in public areas.

Has Morgantown always had this problem?

What might have caused the problems in Morgantown? Have things always been this way?

The city is being used in an entirely different way than it used to be used. In the early days of Morgantown, most shopping was done downtown. Over the years there were 5 & 10 cent stores, a working movie theatre, furniture stores, shoe stores, a bakery, a hardware store, a department store and grocery stores.

More residents went downtown on a regular basis, and were therefore more likely to notice and correct cleanliness issues.

The following photos can be found after a Google search of images that takes one to this site: West Virginia History On View, part of West Virginia & Regional History Center with the WVU Library. 

Now Morgantown consists mainly of several pizza and sandwich shops and a few small novelty shops and lots of bars. The bars in part can explain why there is vomit and urine and cigarette butts on the sidewalks. The loitering problem by vagrants can explain more.

                                                     

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

Currently, the only day time sidewalk cleaner in Morgantown is CASEY. Casey has been cleaning the sidewalks of Morgantown for 10 years. I have only spoken with Casey briefly but intend to interview him, perhaps on video to hear more of what he has to say about what he has had to deal with over the years. Casey did say that he has managed over time to get some of the loiterers to clean up after themselves.

This is Casey

Morgantown's One Man Show when it comes to sidewalk cleaning. His equipment consists of a barrel on wheels and a broom and some spray bottles

What is really needed is a regular power cleaning done by professionals. This should be done on a regular basis on High Street, at monthly intervals. Perhaps this interval could be lengthened in the summer when students are mostly not in town, but should be done before they return for the Fall Semester. 

I was appalled to see how bad things looked Downtown at the start of this Fall Semester. That is not a way to welcome people back. Other areas such as Spruce Street could be done initially and then monitored and can be included when needed at the same time that High Street is washed. 

Also included in the monthly schedule would be the side of Wiley Street on the way to University Avenue across from the WVU campus, as well as Walnut Street between High Street and including the bridge. 

Casey should not be bearing the burden himself. Additional sidewalk cleaners need to be hired. 

See what a good job these sidewalk cleaners do:

One novel approach: as long as there is a vagrant population Downtown, could those people be enlisted to help clean the sidewalks? They could earn money this way so that they would not panhandle, and they may develop sense of ownership of the sidewalks and encourage each other to keep the sidewalks clean. Of course, it could work the other way and they might increase the litter to keep themselves employed, but at least they would be cleaning. This could turn the problem into a solution.

Place holder, video interview with Casey needed

Attempts have been made to deter vagrants from congregating in Morgantown.

One thing Morgantown has tried is "human deflectors". The picture above of vagrants sitting in front of the church on High Street shows people sitting on the planter walls as well as on the stairs. The church later installed these "human deflectors" which has stopped them from sitting on those walls, but not on the stairs,

Anti-sitting devices on planters in front of church on High Street near Willey Street

Anti-sitting devices on Willey Street opposite WVU campus

 Anti - sitting devices on Walnut Street  near mission between High Street and  Spruce Street 

Other cities have implemented similar devices. It is generally thought that these devices send a threatening and unfriendly message, some more than others.

Devices such as the following are seen as hostile:

There is frequently public distaste for this type of device, as can be read at "Are Anti-Homeless Sleeping Spikes Immoral?"  OR here for a more general discussion about methods used to repel loiterers, "Top 10 Anti-Homeless Measures Used in the United States" . Some noise devices have been used as deterrents for congregation. More here, "Defensive Urban Architecture" .

However, some devices have actually gained praise. This is because these items are not seen as threatening or unfriendly:

                                           

                                                  This device comes off as a work of art

This sitting area below, on High Street, needs a planter in place of bare stones. Notice the planter already in place on the wall perpendicular to the one the man is sitting on; A planter would be an attractive and non-hostile way of deterring sitting in this location, and the grime that accumulates there:

One way that Morgantown tried to help with the problem of panhandling is the parking meter device that used to stand in front of the Public Library on Spruce Street: One has to wonder why it was removed.  Was it felt that this sent an unfriendly message, or just did no one use it?

                        I took this picture in August, 2013 outside the Public Library on Spruce Street

There is no easy fix for the problem of the sometimes truly- homeless or the vagrants/loiters. To really fix the problem that is. However, as the problem has no easy solution in sight, it would seem prudent to deal with the issues by at least relocating the problem. 

Social services of all types - medical, food, clothing, shelter or otherwise - should be removed from the Downtown Morgantown area. These things act as lures for the people concerned. It is only natural that they want to hang around the area that provides them sustenance. 

The bus depot is moving to Westover. These services could move there as well. It is a fairly well accepted fact that some people take the bus into Morgantown in order to avail themselves of these services, and to panhandle while there. Then, an area where they could feel comfortable sitting could be provided. When people have time on their hands they do need somewhere to just sit.

In New York City, it is common to see plenty of old people sitting on benches, or people eating their lunch on benches, or playing chess at a table. NYC is large enough to absorb their indigent population to a greater degree than is Morgantown. They are out numbered by the vast amount of other people on the street.  Now one rarely sees anyone but the vagrants sitting on the benches and walls and sidewalks Downtown. 

                                       

Campaigns

                              

Other cities have campaigns to raise resident awareness. Morgantown needs to hold such campaigns. Poster creation contests could be held in schools on a yearly basis so that kids get used to the idea of promoting, and valuing, a clean and sanitary city.These signs could be displayed everywhere around town.

EXAMPLES OF CLEAN CITY CAMPAIGN POSTERS:

CIGARETTE BUTT POSTERS:

Cigarette butt containers should be made available on posts in the bar area of Morgantown:

                             Cigarette butts and stains around trash can on High Street

                                       

                                                       Cigarette butt containers on posts

I have seen no pleasant anti-loitering posters of signs. Some need to be invented. It is, however,  possible to make a fairly pleasant anti-panhandling poster or sign:

Decator, IL Panhandling video:

Sarasota, FL No Panhandling campaign

Memphis Say No to Panhandling campaign

MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL - ANTI DOG DROPPINGS:

Laws for not cleaning up after your dog should be strictly enforced. Pick up bags could be stationed near the Walnut Street Bridge, on High Street, on Walnut Street or wherever CASEY says the most poop is to be found on our sidewalks.

New York City streets at one time were an obstacle field of dog turds. Then Ed Koch became Mayor and enforced the laws, and the city changed. Oh how much better it became! According to this article, the city has backsliden, but stricter enforcement of the laws again is being called for. 

This article includes a picture of a sign made by Manhattan's St. John of the Divine church saying: "Thou Shalt Not Poop"

Public awarness can be raised with Public Service Announcements:

Scoop the Poop Video 

The Morgantown Information Sign on High Street is flanked between  benches which are frequented by vagrants. This is the site of the "Birds Eating Vomit on High Street" photo,  Let's replace the current faded sign with a fresh poster, or new posters each month about cleaning up our city!

Benches near pay phone and sign on High Street

This would be a perfect place to promote the 

cleanliness of our city with campaign posters

Other surfaces could be public service advertising spots as well:

 What about human waste?

Nor are the sidewalks a urinal!

Fresh urine on High Street, seen walking home from a late class last week, January 24, 2018

Many cities over the ages have had public rest rooms. 

While these could be used for other than their intended purposes, and therefore may not be feasible, there are urban sidewalk urinals available that could be strategically located somewhere along High Street, perhaps in one of the smaller alley areas but not too far removed from High Street and in a well lit area:

The privacy doors could be spray painted with plastic appropriate paint to make them more attractive.

There must be Enforcement of Anti-Littering and Anti-Pooping laws  In order to catch the offenders, surveillance cameras need to be set up in various locations. There needs to be a camera pointing in each direction on every one of the three light poles on the Walnut Street Bridge where dog droppings may be found almost daily. 

Security is also an issue on the bridge at night. High Street would be another good location for security cameras, as well as Spruce Street and other locations Downtown. These cameras need to be monitored 24/7. The Public Safety Building may be a good location for monitoring the cameras.

We can look at examples of city surveillance camera usage.

Errant dog walker caught on video

Don't think that humans do it?

Security cameras Harrisburg City, PA

Security Cameras Orlando, FL

With Video:

Federal Grants Federal Grants Bring Surveillance Cameras to Small Towns

With Video:

CNN: After Boston, the Pros and Cons of 

Surveillance Cameras

New photos from Walnut Street Bridge taken February 1, 2018. I had seen some of these droppings a day or two before but had not had time to stop to take pictures. There were five separate piles on the bridge the day these were taken:

In addition to the above piles, there were trails of poop that had been dragged by shoes on various areas of the bridge. Casey should not have to clean this up. It is the dog owners' responsibility!

Just when I thought that the probably human droppings shown earlier were the worst thing imaginable, I came across the following item on High Street on my walk back from class yesterday, February 5, 2018. Please be aware that what you are about to see in this photo should never be seen by anyone on any sidewalk anywhere. I doubt you would see something like this in even a Third World country: I debated whether to put such a gross picture online, but this is the situation as it exists now in our city. Have we no shame?

BEWARE NEXT PHOTO:

   

                                  Taken on High Street walking south just before Walnut Street.

                               

Could a public restroom have stopped this from happening?

Many cities have outdoor public restrooms. They need to be too small to accommodate anything other than use as a bathroom. The one shown below in Portland,  in an article entitled, "Portland is Making 512 Public Restrooms Gender Neutral" appears too large:

                                     

                                      Outdoor public bathroom in Portland, OR

Article in the Cap Times, Madison, WI "Madison mulls $300,000 public restrooms for downtown visitors, homeless, revelers"

discusses adding this type of outdoor public restroom to their city.

"San Francisco needs to provide safe, dignified bathrooms for homeless people" from Streetsheet.org 

Flip side of the issue, how do you keep problems from occurring with public restrooms? "S.F. Offers Cautionary Tales on Pay Toilets" Many are repurposed as shooting galleries, a house for prostitution, or crash pad, just about anything other than their intended purpose.

                                        Public restroom in San Francisco

Someone needs to design a modest yet open easily cleaned public bathroom stall. Perhaps this could be a project for design students at WVU.

If there is any doubt left in your mind that we have a problem in Morgantown, you need only to walk the sidewalks and see for yourself. 

Generally, the warmer months are worse as far as loitering. But no season seems immune to the daily assault on the sensibilities from refuse and grime on our Downtown city sidewalks. 

City beautification is a wonderful thing. There have been campaigns in the past and the current Urban Landscape Department does a wonderful job.

            Past efforts at sidewalk beautification. Students took part in planting tree planters

                                                              on High Street in 1965

Marchetta from the Urban Landscape Department watering flower planter on High Street

These efforts are great and  are appreciated, but until we can clean up the sidewalks, they are like "lipstick on a pig"

                         

                                             Cartoon by Dahl's Japan, Japan Times Online

Who should pay for the sidewalk cleaning?

What other issues impact use of the sidewalks in the city?