Litter bugs don't think

Litter bugs don't think
EDITOR:
I am a 15-year old freshman at Jackson-Milton High School. For the last several years, every spring and fall I have been part of a group that has adopted a road to keep litter-free in Austintown. Litter on the sides of the roads is not only disgusting to look at, but also it makes the community seem unclean, as if the community is one big trash can.
I finished with the spring clean-up recently. It still amazes me how much trash accumulates in a half year. It surprised me to see that we filled over 20 bags of trash in an area that is only about a mile stretch of road. If you clean up trash once, you will never litter again, because you will know it is not a pleasant task.
It makes me wonder what people are thinking when they throw trash out the car window. Is it really that hard to keep your empty fast food bags in the car for the extra 10 minutes until you arrive at your destination? Do people realize that all gas stations, restaurants and shopping centers have trash cans outside their doors?
Do people realize that someone has to pick up every piece of trash thrown on the side of the road? I understand it is very difficult to enforce litter laws; therefore, I think that every American should have to experience picking trash up. I believe it should be a high school requirement that all students should spend at least one hour picking up trash in their community. After they experience this, I do not think they will litter as much. I know after my experience, I will never litter again.
JENNIFER KOLASKY
North Jackson
Coffee shops won't do it
EDITOR:
I was amused by the June 4 letter to the editor by the Pittsburgh resident who suggested encouraging coffee shops and restaurants in the Wick Park area of the North Side of Youngstown as a means to spur development. He says he sees no & quot;sound & quot; reason why his idea can't come to fruition. Obviously the writer, living in Pittsburgh now for several years, has lost touch with reality.
On the same page, Bertram de Souza's column reiterates once again the swarming event of a vehicle by thugs a few weeks ago on Fifth Avenue, just north of Wick Park. This would be just one sound reason for businesses to stay away from the Wick Park area. Unless problems like this are solved, any business trying to locate in an area where thugs try to terrorize innocent people would quickly fail from lack of patrons and from being robbed. Another sound reason for the rejection of the writer's plan is simple: zoning. How many residents of the Wick Park area just want a safe neighborhood to live in, not coffee shops and restaurants inviting traffic, noise and more rodents?
First of all, the revitalization of Youngstown is focused on the areas between and around YSU and downtown. Let that be the business district, as it was zoned to be. This is a big enough challenge for the city. Once that area is redeveloped into a thriving entertainment center, then maybe grow outward to surrounding areas.
Secondly, while it is appreciated that someone in Pittsburgh has positive ideas for Youngstown, he would have done better to serve the Mahoning Valley's economy by not digging up his roots and relocating to Pennsylvania. This is probably the larger problem that needs to be addressed -- attracting businesses to locate in Youngstown.
While it is nice to have an entertainment district that people from Canfield, Boardman, Niles, Sharon and other communities can come to see concerts, hockey games and monster trucks, it will not bring more city residents. Manufacturing plants and factories will not only bring more people to the city, they will provide a better life for the citizens of Youngstown who desperately need jobs. That, in turn, will spur the development the city is looking for.
MIKE SCOTT
Canfield