(Image: prima seadiva via Flickr)
While we’re talking about turning Cal Anderson into a winter wonderland, let’s talk cleaning up after all those dirty children. 60% of Capitol Hill children under the age of 12 smoke. UPDATE: 60% of Capitol Hill 4-year-olds do not smoke. We regret the error. However the next stat is accurate.
80% of those kids throw their butts wherever they damn please. Fortunately, King County has a grant program to help and they are looking for a youth-focused group to take advantage of it and help clean up Cal Anderson. Maybe you could put the money toward some time on the ice… UPDATE: There’s no profit in cigarette butts.
Local Parks Clean-Up Community Grant Opportunity
GUIDELINES
The King County Tobacco Prevention Program is offering community grants of $750 for cigarette butt clean-up activities in parks in King County.
The purpose of this grant is to fund community groups who are willing to:
1) Collect cigarette butts and other tobacco-related litter
2) Provide an accurate count of butts and litter
3) Submit photos of butt clean-up activity with completed photo releases
Clean-up activities may take 2-4 hours.
Check out the complete guidelines and download an application here. And, kids, don’t smoke.
Ciggies=gooooooooooooooooood,,, Yum!
60% of Cap Hill kids under age 12 smoke? I find that really hard to believe….
Please cite a reference!
A more accurate reporting method would say,
“some adults and minors discard cigs illegally, which is called littering!”
Thanks for promptly updating the article with the latest statistics.
Haha – I’m not sure the second stat is much better:
“60% of Capitol Hill 4-year-olds do not smoke.”
So 40% of Cap Hill 4 year olds smoke? I’m confused…
Please let us know the survey!
if it takes 2-4 hours to clean up why not get those over paid county employees to clean them up and give the money back to the taxpayers
Why not just make the park non smoking and save the money and penalize those that are the problem?
Make the park non smoking, enforcement would be a challenge, but it’s a start.
They should cut taxes on cigarettes! They should privatize Health Care! They should cut the Parks Department ENTIRELY! If people want a grassy area they should buy a house with a yard! Get a job (with health insurance!)! Liberate the taxpayers of all these overpayed “county employees” lazing around our city’s parks!!
Howsabout we enforce littering laws? If people get dinged for just throwing their butts wherever they want it might send a message? Does anyone have any idea how many _tons_ of this crap get discarded every year?
http://www.cigarettelitter.org/index.asp?pagename=un
What is this, bizarro land, upside down world, planet of the apes or is it something out of Dr. Seuss? I have had it with the inconsiderate behavior of smokers. Their actions and attitude have created a ZERO tolerance in me for such things. These butts are everywhere. They are ugly and they stink ! I only wish those poison sticks would work faster.
That 25 foot law is NEVER enforced. You have to walk through a cloud of smoke to enter the buildings where the smokers are almost always perched.
I HATE being caught behind a smoker on the sidewalk. It was much better when they could smoke inside. You could actually get fresh air outside.
It is not ok to throw you garbage wherever YOU want or bring your animal to piss wherever YOU want it to. No matter how cute it is, IT STINKS. Your butts are UGLY and you are a rude human if you do this to your neighbors and our neighborhood. BAD HUMAN BAD. Do we all need to walk around with spray bottles to curb your behavior?
somebody’s off their meds…
maybe if there were more garbage cans (with a cigarette collection on top)…
I’ve walked for many blocks holding random garbage because I don’t run into a garbage can. On main streets such as Pike, Pine, and Broadway.
Every other major city I have lived in have always been great about having garbage cans on nearly every corner. It really does help.
“60% of Capitol Hill 4-year-olds do not smoke.”
So 40% of Cap Hill 4 year olds smoke? I’m confused…
Those remaining 40% could also not smoke, and the first statement could still be true.
It seems to me that smokers, almost all of whom toss their butts wherever they feel like it, think that doing this is somehow not littering. I think this psychology is probably because each butt is very small. But, in the aggregate, they are a significant problem and contribute to the sleaziness of a neighborhood.
Will they change their ways? I’m not optimistic.
“…60% of Capitol Hill children under the age of 12 smoke…”
And our considered social response is to organize to pick up their butts, there by admitting that the majority of neighborhood kids are addicted to a deadly drug and we either don’t or won’t care? If that statistic is even a rough approximation of reality, I’d rather work to shut down Capitol Hill merchants who sell cigarettes.
I’ll help kick the butts involved in this atrocity, but I sure as hell am not picking them up.
This is why we should ban smoking in outdoor public spaces.
@ neighbor
It’s still a ridiculous statement. It just doesn’t make sense in regards to what the intended statistic is supposed to be. I know I’m being nit-picky but it takes away from the entire article when such fantastic statements are made.
Um. You don’t get to keep the money. Did you read the grant? It goes to refund any associated costs for the volunteering. So…not sure how you’d put it towards time on the ice…
Good point
Ban outdoor smoking? After they banned indoor smoking? WTF are you guys on? Maybe we should start banning farting too. I hate walking behind one of you tards after mexican food.
Once they took away all the receptacles for the butts they started going more and more on the ground. Litterers will throw garbage on the ground regardless – this isn’t something special about smokers. Reinstate proper garbage and butt collection areas. STOP banning shit you idiots. Seriously, stop it.
Hey I don’t drive a car. I stand around breathing in your fumes all day. Fumes that burn non-replaceable fossil fuels, gained through war and international strong arming. Maybe we should ban your car that you think you’re so entitled to drive around messing up our health, environment, and world harmony.
This is the same baby crowd who thinks standing in westlake and camping on a lawn is doing something. Grow up.