[September 29, 2008] Program intends to trash litter in downtown Erie, Pa. Tweet (Erie Times-News (PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sep. 29--Smokers better be careful where they leave their butts. A new anti-litter program is in the works that could result in citations for smokers who flip their cigarette butts onto sidewalks and streets in downtown Erie instead of into the proper containers. Other littering will also be targeted. The program, which could start within weeks, will be a joint effort of the Erie Downtown Partnership and Erie Insurance. Brenda Sandberg, the partnership's chief executive, said the anti-littering program was partly sparked by new state legislation that prohibited smoking in most indoor areas. "With everybody having to go outside, we are just very concerned about the number of cigarette butts that are going there," she said. The partnership cleans the sidewalks downtown all day during weekdays, but the cigarette butts make it difficult to keep up, she said. A cleanup campaign sponsored by the partnership in April culled about 10,000 cigarette butts from the downtown area. Even more were found during a cleanup in September, she said. Sandberg said she has already talked to Erie police about enforcement. Under the plan, police would work overtime on the enforcement with money from the partnership and others. Sandberg said the partnership wants violators to do community service instead of being fined. "You get a couple of those, and word-of-mouth is going to educate people more than anything," she said. The partnership is planning to apply to the state Department of Environmental Protection for a grant to buy more cigarette-butt containers, as well as to pay for overtime for police. She said DEP is concerned because the cigarette butts end up in storm sewers and then Presque Isle Bay. She said details of the program are still being worked out. "I don't have a start date," she said. "We'll do a trial run, probably at the beginning of October through the first major snowstorm." To see more of the Erie Times-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.GoErie.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Erie Times-News, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]