Have you ever noticed how many Main Avenue trash cans have ended up in Rio Grande Land? It’s as if they migrated south for the winter. Will the trash cans come back up the street, like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano? Or something like that? Or are tourists trashy? – Jon
Action Line confirmed your container conundrum. A stroll through the Central Business District reveals some interesting trends.
After all, downtown Durango is trendy. Smart meters, a welcome center, new sidewalks, bike parking on the street and a diagonal pedestrian crossing.
It’s the new-and-improved authentic Old West.
Anyway, in the 500 block of Main – home of the train depot and Starbucks – you will find 10 trash cans, four blue recycling bins and a “Big Belly” solar trash smasher thing.
Go north, and things quickly go south.
In the 600 block (Strater Hotel and Lady Falconburgh’s), the can count drops to seven.
The next block (Seasons and Coldwell Banker), the number of trash cans drops to five. However, there are four blue recycling bins.
The 800 block of Main (Main Mall and Beads and Beyond) also features five trash cans, but only a pair of blue recycling bins.
The next block, where Southwest Sound plays awesome tunes and Eolus Bar & Dining serves awesome food, there are but five trash cans and no recycling.
The can count dwindles to four in the 1000 block (Carver’s, Olde Tymers, Animas Trading Co.) However, there is a pair of recycling bins.
The next two blocks, there’s a can-don’t attitude for garbage receptacles: Only two trash cans grace the Lost Dog block. Likewise for the Buckley Park/Durango Herald block.
However, in the 1300 block of Main (Northpoint Mall to the Camino del Rio intersection), the trash can count doubles to four – ostensibly because of the dual trolley stops.
All this is way too much data, and what does it mean? Are tourists trashy?
Action Line say pooh-pooh to that notion.
Any Durangoan who thinks visitors are litterbugs should stroll down the scatologic scandal that is Animas River Trail.
Last week, Action Line picked up yet another green bag of someone else’s dog droppings. That, and an empty Tvarscki Vodka bottle, a Burger King bag, three energy drink cans and a couple cigarette butts.
So no, tourists aren’t trashy. We all are.
When a week goes by without a dog owner leaving a poop bag on the side of the pathway, only then can locals get uppity about tidy.
Harrumph.
The reason for more trash cans in the touristy areas of town?
Because there are more people there, according to Mary Beth Miles, sustainability coordinator for the city.
“It’s not a winter migration,” she assured with a chuckle.
“There’s a larger density of pedestrians (in Rio Grande Land), and it’s year-round,” she said. “If folks have the opportunity to do the right thing, they usually will. So, we put more trash cans where there are more people.”
H H H
Because some dog owners don’t think it’s their civic duty to pick up after their mutts, we must add another word to the Durango Dictionary.
Scatterbrain. (skat’er-bran’) noun – A delusional mental condition afflicting some Durango dog owners causing them to think it’s OK to pick up their dog’s scat into a green bag, tie it shut and then leave it.
Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if you ask the City Council to turn the Animas River green for St. Patrick’s Day like they do in Chicago.
