Greening Austin Daily

Trashing Up Barton Creek Greenbelt

28th June, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

Austin 360 had this story today about the increased littering that comes as the water level along Barton Creek rise.  Here’s just a portion of the article (I’ve highlighted especially upsetting parts):

On a recent sunny Tuesday afternoon, 50 cars lined the road at the Gaines Creek entrance to the greenbelt, off MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) a little south of Loop 360. At Twin Falls, a 10-minute walk down the trail, a handful of twentysomethings smoked while standing in ankle-deep water. Dozens of other visitors lounged and sipped beer. A flattened inner tube lay on the rocks; snack wrappers ensnared by branches flapped in the breeze.

It takes two full-time city employees eight hours a day just to keep up with the mess left by visitors who flock to the greenbelt when the water is up. The debris ranges from little green bags of dog waste to dirty diapers, rotting food and beer cans.

If this is what it’s like during the middle of the week, I’d hate to see it during the weekend.  Along with all the trash, there are also problems with drugs and alcohol:

Eight park police officers have been assigned to a Barton Creek Greenbelt Initiative that will end in mid-July, ticketing people for bringing alcohol, illegal drugs, glass containers and off-leash dogs to the greenbelt.

In the first month of the weekends-only initiative, which started May 8, officers wrote 232 tickets for minors in possession or consumption of alcohol. They also wrote 10 tickets for possession of drug paraphernalia or marijuana. Six citations were issued for glass containers, four for minor in possession of alcohol and 77 for off-leash dogs.

Hopefully the police presence will continue at Barton Creek until this is no longer a problem. I’m all for people having a good time, but when excessive drug and alcohol use in a public park becomes acceptable, law-abiding people who are less likely to litter decide to skip the trip to Barton Creek, and instead the Creek is only frequented by people who aren’t concerned with cleaning up after their dog or collecting their trash when they leave. (I’ve been there before and seen drunk people carelessly throwing their cans to the side of the creek, only to be washed away by the current.) Plus when behavior like that is acceptable, it’s no longer a place you can take young children.  I’m not saying that it’s only hippies who are causing the trash problem, or that drug and alcohol users are incapable of cleaning up their trash, but having fewer intoxicated people along the creek can only help with the litter problem.

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