Would homeowners dump their yard waste over the fence into a neighbour’s yard? Throw food wrappers over the fence? Tolerate the neighbour’s dog coming in and messing with their garbage? I don’t think so.
Sooke has nice people. But maybe some of the things they do aren’t so nice because they haven’t thought it through.
The other day a group of us walked through some of Sooke’s pathways and little community parks. They belong to Sooke taxpayers. They belong to the neighbours.
Most of the parks had yard waste dumped in them. Some of the parks had household garbage strewn about. (We think possibly bears carried it in.) All the parks and paths had some kind of rubbish.
If you are trashing the parks and pathways, that is the same as trashing your neighbour’s yard.
Why not ask the District of Sooke to help you make a plan to deal with yard waste?
There are guidelines for keeping your household garbage safe from animals. Not dropping butts, drink cans and food wrappers needs a little personal effort, kind of like taking your coffee cup back to the kitchen.
How about in 2017, residents work on keeping Sooke nice and tidy for everyone?
Heather Phillips, Sooke