News Release
Action Plan Unveiled for "Pizza Corner"
(Wednesday, October 11/2000)-- Mayor Walter Fitzgerald said today the Halifax Regional Municipality has implemented an Action Plan to address the litter problem at the so-called "pizza corner" in downtown Halifax.
Mayor Fitzgerald said recently that the corner was becoming a "public eyesore" and he wanted something done about it. He added that the streets and sidewalks at the corner of Grafton and Blower Streets in Halifax were littered each morning with food remains, hundreds of paper wrappings, cold drink cups and other materials from the many fast food outlets located there.
Also, he was quoted at the time as saying ""The food outlets are going to have to assume some responsibility for this situation. The municipality cannot be expected to do it all. I find it difficult to understand why every other location in the downtown area seems to be able to keep their streets and sidewalks clean. Why not there?"
As a result, HRM By-Law Enforcement, HRM Police Services, HRM Solid Waste Management, HRM Streets and Roads, HRM Parks and Natural Services and the Downtown Halifax Business Development Commission were asked to prepare an Action Plan.
The plan includes the following specific target dates and actions:
a) An Education and Awareness Program--(for metro area universities and property owners in, and around, pizza corner) to commence immediately. Solid Waste and By-Law Enforcement to initiate;
b) Meeting with Property Owners -- Owners to be informed of their responsibility to maintain cleanliness of area and their responsibility regarding waste produced by their businesses or outlets;
c) Halifax Regional Police-- Currently patrolling the area on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings;
d) Public Works-- An expanded regular schedule has been established to clean-up the area (13 clean-ups per week);
e) Police and By-Law Enforcement-- Alleged offenders of By-law S-600 (Solid Waste Collection and Disposal) and the Environmental Protection Act will be ticketed. This includes ticketing of business owners and litterers;
Staff is also considering a major public affairs initiative to give first-hand exposure of the problem to the media and public (news releases, interviews, etc).
Mayor Fitzgerald said he was pleased with the tremendous success of his recent "Company's Coming...Let's Clean-up" anti-litter campaign. More than 50 individuals, groups, and businesses participated in the program, conducting clean-up campaigns in various parts of HRM during the months of May and June.
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Mayor Walter Fitzgerald
(902) 490-4010
Peter James
Regional Co-ordinator
By-Law Enforcement
(902) 490-5641
