Sing It With Me: PLASTIC, PLASTIC, PLASTIC! YOU'RE REALLY SO FANTASTIC! OH, PLASTIC, PLASTIC, PLASTIC! HELP US WITH YOUR MAGIC!

Late yesterday afternoon, no more than 4 hours after I had called HPD about the several downed temporary orange NO PARKING signs on North 7th Street that had been blown over in the strong winds, they were gone.  Removed.  Reconsidered.  Repurposed.  By DPW, no doubt, who had to return to the scene. 

The orange wooden signs are attached with plastic zip ties to new green plastic supports that Rob Perry recently purchased to fill the role that parking meter poles once handled quite well, consistently and free of charge (though not on 7th Street north of Columbia, of course).  No meter poles with signs zip-tied to them ever made their way to the sidewalk or the street.  EVER!  But the plastic sign support replacements Rob Perry chose and bought for us sure do!  Push 'em over or blow 'em over! They're made of plastic; they can take it.  They never degrade in a landfill, either.  And, man, are they inexpensive!  Otherwise called CHEAP.  And, man, are they attractive.  Otherwise called CHEESY or HIDEOUS.  And, man, does this world (and our sidewalks) need more plastic or what!

Just a few feet from where a meter pole 
once stood on 6th Street until recently.

Also yesterday, there were three NO PARKING signs attached to lovely green plastic supports in front of the library, all of them on the wrong side of the sidewalk and all of them facing the wrong way.  Obviously, the signs had fallen over in the wind and someone -- certainly not anyone at DPW -- was kind enough to pick them up and place them upright where they would be less likely to fall over again in the wind. 

Our parades may not be possible without disposable plastic zip ties.  DPW uses hundreds of them for every event, and they all get sent to a landfill (or just dropped on the ground) after one use.  This sign, attached to a Warren Street lamp pole, required two zip ties secured to one another, as many signs do.  Sometimes three or four ties are necessary, particularly for signs secured to trees.  Look for many of the black plastic ties on the ground on Sunday.  Maybe even on Monday and Tuesday!

If I were the mayor or manager of a city with or without -- but especially with -- financial troubles, I'd tell my DPW Superintendent to come up with at least 3 cheaper or no-cost alternatives to using disposable 15 cent plastic zip ties for temporary NO PARKING signs.  Then we would sit down, discuss the options and choose one.  Why?  Because we can't keep going on like this.  Our planet can't, and our city can't, either!