Hi,
I am your neighbor. You may have seen me and my little black truck picking up garbage on our Village roads. I started last April at the Village Cleanup day and from then until the end of 2014, I picked up 101 bags of garbage off of Old Hart, Oak Knoll, Buckley, Merri Oaks, and Ridge between Oak Knoll and Merri Oaks.
This spring, since March, I have re-cleaned Old Hart, Oak Knoll, Buckley and Merri Oaks, all of Ridge Road, and the far east end of Lake Cook from Old Hart towards the high school. Currently, I am working on Brinker by Countryside School. I have collected 53 bags of road side litter/trash so far this year. Our Village has become a garbage dump. There is trash on roads everywhere; more than you can imagine. It is a horrible Village-wide problem.
On Saturday, April 25, 2015, the Village is having its annual trash cleanup day. I got started picking up trash at this event and I’ve come to realize that we will never clean up our Village if we only take three hours a couple days a year to focus on the problem. The cleanup seasons are short; spring before the trees leaf out and weeds grow too tall over the trash, and in the fall after the leaves drop and before snow covers it.
This year I have volunteered as a Team Captain for the April 25 Village cleanup day. I would love to have you come out and be a member of my team, starting at 8:30 a.m. at Village Hall. If you cannot join the cleanup effort on April 25th, there are other simple steps I would like you to consider. A lot of the trash I have been picking up is coming from our own garbage cans and recycling bins. If you could use covered garbage cans and put a rock on the lid it will keep the rodents, raccoons, and others from dragging your garbage out of your garbage can for a late night feast in the nearby trees and bushes. Cover your garbage cans and recycling bins, and do not put garbage out in plastic bags. These steps alone will go a long way to curbing our litter problems.
Also, if you could walk your road frontage once a week or twice a month and pick up what has been thrown or blown onto your frontage, it will make that much less for others to have to cleanup. If you cannot do it yourself, ask your lawn maintenance service will do it for you. It only takes a few minutes if you keep after it consistently. Also, I have picked up a lot of lunch bags, wrappers, and refreshment containers left behind by the lawn service crews. Please remind your service providers to pick up after themselves.
This is a Village wide effort. I hope that you and your family will take the extra steps to assist the cleanup, of our roads. I think we can all agree, our Village looks so much prettier without the trash.
Thank you in advance for whatever efforts you take to help! With Gratitude,
Michael Hannigan
For more information on Saturday’s Village cleanup day, visit the Village news web page by clicking here.
Thanks Mike! Thanks P. Denise, Jan, Josie and rest of Heritage committee!
What is the effectiveness of a few permanent signs around Village posting no littering and fines. County should cover county roads and costs. And, what if Village police started pulling over offenders and following thru with fines? Maybe that’s not an effective deterrent and more cost than value. Should police and committee investigate?
Hmmm. I had diaried April 7th as VBH clean up day. From this BHO blog, I guess there is still more work to do.
SIGN ME UP!!!!
Were you ever a motivational speaker??!! I wanna be on your clean-up team!!!
Mother Earth loves people like you!
Thanks
Thank you Mike!
This village is starting to turn around……..in the right direction.
As Hillary Clinton is fond of saying, “it takes a village!” It is the responsibility of each resident of Barrington Hills to maintain the frontage of their property and contribute to the cleanup process every season. The copious amounts of trash and debris scattered about is disgraceful!!
People like Mike should be applauded for recognizing their role in maintaining our village by picking up trash and keeping our scenic roadways in pristine condition. He understands the critical need and necessity of taking charge of an issue.
Many thanks for your contributions, more of our residents should aspire to do the same! I plan to tell my neighbors to stop waiting around, and spend a few hours taking care of their property. That way, each of us will reach the goal of keeping Barrington HIlls trash free!
On Cross Timber Rd massive construction has been going on for approximately two years. Construction trash is blowing all over the street and the vacant lot across the street. Dirt is stuck to the road more days than not. There are times that residents cannot pass because the construction trucks are blocking the street and the non-English speaking workers will not move them until the police are called. I have ruined three run-flat tires (run flats can’t be repaired) driving over the debris to the tune of $300 a copy. I have observed an 18 wheeler, grossly overloaded with paver bricks, drive around our cul-de-sac literally destroying the pavement and the integrity of our street. The road and the shoulder are damaged and will be an expensive repair. One part of the road is literally cracked off and remains damaged.
Was a construction bond used to protect the village property? If not, why not? Inquiring minds want to know. We need some assistance here on old Cross Timber Rd.
Michael Hannigan,
Thank you for your efforts! I, too, am appalled by the amount of garbage that is thoughtlessly tossed out car windows in our beautiful village and I, too, am willing to do something about it. I worked with (pestered) IDOT for 1 1/2 years to “allow” the Riding Club of Barrington Hills to adopt 2 miles of Algonquin Road. Two weeks ago I organized an RCBH Algonquin Road pick-up and 14 of our club members collected 71 bags of garbage. Algonquin is flanked by steep banks, so it was quite a task. My husband and I continued the effort from Algonquin down Bateman the next weekend and gathered another 13 bags. We do this 2-3 times a year.
In response to Pat, no, I don’t believe signs will deter these litterers. People that consciously roll down their windows and toss their McDonald’s bag, or a coffee cup, or water bottles into a forest preserve are thoughtless, lazy, irresponsible and don’t think they will be seen or get caught because they are “in the country.” They do not care!
There was one time where I think I did make someone think twice about littering, but I do not recommend this! While at a stop sign at Penny Road Pub, a passenger in a car in front of me dropped a plastic “Big Gulp” cup out of his window and it landed right side up on the road. They sped away. I got out and picked it up. I caught up to them at Penny Road and Dundee. There was a lot of traffic. They were stopped. I got out, tapped on the driver’s window, she rolled it down and I was greeted with a snotty “Can I help you?” I said, “Yep, you dropped something” and I tossed the cup onto the passengers lap. I was in my car and gone before they knew what happened, but I am sure I made the guy think twice about what he did. (In hindsight, probably not a good idea, but I couldn’t help myself!)
About 85% of littering is the result of an individual’s attitude (15% accidental littering). Some states shift the cost of litter to the litterer. These states have a deposit on bottles and cans. When someone litters a bottle or can he is throwing away his deposit and at the same time the person that picks up the bottle or can can redeem it for the deposit thus offsetting the effort. In terms of fairness, it does seem right that the litterer incur a cost for the damage that they do and the people that make an effort to clean up the mess be compensated for their efforts. This doesn’t apply to all litter, but it would have a significant impact on the problem.
Unfortunately, there are many more people who are lazy, uncaring or imbued with a feeling of entitlement than there are who have a sense of responsibility and duty. My husband and I have sent two children into the world that care about our earth and the consequences of litter. That too is something we/parents can do to ensure communities will always have some people that care. As such, I know I will be cleaning up after others for the rest of my life and I am OK with that. At the end of the day, Michael and I and many others feel the same way. Perhaps meeting on this common ground is something we can ALL support in our village.