They are getting sulky when it comes to hygiene.
Officials in the city of Babylon, Long Island, are so fed up with people littering that they’ve put up signs condemning “stupid” squatters.
“They’re throwing out tons of fast food, 7-Eleven cups, Taco Bell, Wendy’s. It’s insane, like a freezer being dumped at the entrance to the Southern State Parkway,” said Mayor Rich Shaffer, who added that sanitation crews picked up 250 tons of trash from the road last year.
“We’ve also thrown away mattresses and tires, but the strangest thing is that the town will take all this stuff away – all you have to do is call. So the town goes out of their way to throw all this stuff away. It just goes to show how stupid the people are.”
The scathing signs, installed in 25 locations, ask 200,000 residents why they litter and offer four possible answers: “I’m lazy. I don’t care about natural areas. Mum cleans up after me. All of that.”
“We were fed up with watching the filth pile up. The standard ‘Please don’t litter’ campaign just didn’t cut it,” Shaffer said, noting that the sign was inspired by one a town council member found in Florida.
On Wednesday, the town Post to Facebook They posted a video of the signs and warned that first-time litterers could be fined up to $1,000.
Schaffer said some people think the plan is too strict because it is funded by the town’s commercial waste district, not tax money, and would cost about $750,000, but he doesn’t think so.
“It’s much tougher to live surrounded by people’s filth,” he said.
“Politely asking people not to litter clearly doesn’t work. We had to figure out how to start a conversation, and that included looking people straight in the face.”
