New Laws

[bienamor]

What are the chances of this happening??? And why only in the Capital? taken from home page.

Fines for littering
The new director of AMET and the mayor of Santo Domingo have agreed to fine all those caught littering in the capital city. AMET will impose fines that range from RD$500 to RD$30,000. Jose Miguel Martinez, the man in charge at the municipal level of keeping the city clean, says that trash tossed onto the streets produces 5% of the 1,300 tons of garbage that the city government collects every day.



I wonder what the requirements for enforcement are?? Hope it's better than the traffic law enforcement!

[Pib]

AMET was starting to make changes when it fell in the hands of Hipo, and it was downwards from there (we are starting to repeat ourselves). If they can turn it around, get rid of the corruption that infiltrated AMET during the last government and start handing out big fines to litterbugs I will be happy happy.

If only the next goverment isn't as bad as the last one we could be on the way to a good start.

[KateP]

Originally Posted by Pib

AMET was starting to make changes when it fell in the hands of Hipo, and it was downwards from there (we are starting to repeat ourselves). If they can turn it around, get rid of the corruption that infiltrated AMET during the last government and start handing out big fines to litterbugs I will be happy happy.

If only the next goverment isn't as bad as the last one we could be on the way to a good start.

My question is how will they determine what is garbage left in the street for the garbage truck and what is littering. In some cases it clear but it'll be pretty shady in many other cases...

[gmiller261]

There is a god and intelligent politicians.... I am going on optimism so don't bring me down.

I'd cough up money for 10 designer garbage cans for Sosua. Provided they can't be stolen without a huge effort.

[Keith R]

Well, bienamor, they have to start somewhere! The trick will be to ensure that the fines are applied fairly (fine fits the violation, all must pay), transparently and with accountability. No small task that in the DR, especially after all that Hippo did to destroy institutions like AMET (like Pib, I am so tired of having to say that about everything! ).

My guess would be that if AMET can get this to work in SD, they'll try Santiago next. They get those two cities plus the North Coast resort towns (PP, Sosua, Cabarete), then it'll go a long way toward giving everybody the feeling that there's momentum, that the litter situation in the DR can eventually be solved with intelligent policies, enforcement, education and lots of patience and persistence.

Keith, waxing optimistic

[BushBaby]

I'm all for it too. Go AMET!! (At least whilst they are doing their litter duties they won't be stopping me for checking driving licence etc - which I always carry with me anyway!!).

B I G question though? One of the MAIN contributors to waste in the roads is the Garbage collection vehicle itself, Will the driver & collectors be fined for dropping garbage on the streets??? Could mean they lose their whole months wages & they will stop doing the collections!!!! - Grahame.

[Keith R]

Grahame,
Not sure how it is now, but when I lived in the DR 1995-99 I noticed some other contributing factors to litter:

(a) trash put out at the curb -- usually in flimsy plastic shopping bags made of the cheapest quality PE -- on days and hours when collection doesn't occur, only to be run over by cars, torn apart by street dogs, and opened by botelleros. Why do people put them out at wrong times? Usually because no one ever knows for certain when the trash man will arrive! They claim to have a schedule, but never send a copy of it to households or publish it in a newspaper, and even if they did, do you or I seriously expect them to stick to it??? To keep my garbage from being strewn all over the street, we kept it in containers just inside the gate, and when I heard the truck, I ran out to give it to the collectors. Can't count the number of times I had to do that in the middle of the night!

(b) trash/litter containers in public places that are never collected/emptied;

(c) people tired of waiting for the trash trucks, so they go toss it into the empty lot down the block. Hey, outta sight, outta mind right? Only problem is, pretty soon that becomes the smelly local illegal dump...

(d) no regularized street cleaning services. You know, it's interesting, how I see regularized barrido services in the rest of Latin America, some (as in central Lima) even highly mechanized. But when living in the DR I only saw it sporadically -- usually close to election time , and all done (slowly) by hand and with the crudest of brooms...

Regards,
Keith

[Texas Bill]

all of the previous posts regarding this subject correctly, no additional LAWS will be necessary. Regulations, however, are an entirely different can of worms!

Regulations impliment the basic laws by outlining those actions necessary to fulfill the law.

It takes a lot of work to properly and clearly outline what must be done to effect compliance.
I think that is where the boat has missed the dock. Not only is there a lack of regulation, there is obviously a lack of administrative enforcement.
Thus it becomes an administrative matter to assure compliance in an effective manner.
City, village governments should/must see to the appointment of authority to impliment the regulations once they are in place.
Empowerment of the policing agency to assure public compliance with the regulations.
Establishment of a schedule of fines for non-compliance with issuance of arrest warrants for non-payment/ non-compliance/repeat offenders.
Courts to assure collection of the fines imposed; not accepting excuses for non-compliance with the regulations. "Ignorance of the law is no excuse" answers given by the judges will go a long way toward cleanup of the country.

In other words, people, a VERY STRICT program demanded by the Central government to the various subordinate governments will start the ball rolling.
Follow up by an Inspector-ship, with severe punishment of those not complying, will be the ultimate answer. We cleaned up the highways and the towns of Texas in a 5-year period through such a system.
You have to be 'hard-nosed' with a lazy, complascent group of people; that's what we had, what you have and THERE IS A SOLUTION!

Think the Leonel Administration has the guts to do the job and can they be convinced to do it? Why not give it a try?
Those of you with a little power in government, present such a plan and see who salutes it.
People need to get tough with litter-bugs or you'll ALWAYS have garbage on your front lawn! That's just the nature of people all over the world until they learn that clean is better and more acceptable.

Texas Bill

[kingofdice]

I hope that AMET will follow-up through with litter fines. Something has to be exerted to change the Dominican mind-set about littering. I remember going into a colmado with my Dominican girlfriend recently to buy some ice cream. After she unraveled the ice cream papers, she threw them down on the ground in front of us and acted totally nonchalant.

When I asked about what she had just done, she said "Baby, everyone litters in the D.R. - it is nothing." Maybe some 500 peso fines would start a different way of thinking.

[Pib]

Originally Posted by kingofdice

I hope that AMET will follow-up through with litter fines. Something has to be exerted to change the Dominican mind-set about littering. I remember going into a colmado with my Dominican girlfriend recently to buy some ice cream. After she unraveled the ice cream papers, she threw them down on the ground in front of us and acted totally nonchalant.

When I asked about what she had just done, she said "Baby, everyone litters in the D.R. - it is nothing." Maybe some 500 peso fines would start a different way of thinking.

I don't think I have any living friend or relative that ever did that, at least not in front of me. The ones who did are all dead now, smitten by my mighty thunder of avenging fury. Not really, I just bored them to death with a long speech about responsibility to society and respect for Mother Nature.