LETTER: Let’s clean up the county
The political views of the people we elect to local offices may vary widely, but they can all agree on one goal: Attract business and industry to the area so that our young people can work and stay here.
But take a long drive around Washington County and you might ask yourself: Who wants to move a business here? Who wants to stay here?
Now that the snow has melted, all the litter that it covered is back in view. Drive a mile or two outside any town in Washington County and you’ll see not just cans, bottles and detritus of fast-food meals but whole bags of garbage, tires, old appliances and mattresses along the sides of the road. What do visitors to this area think of this? Do they imagine that the people who live here are slobs, that they have no care or concern for their own environment? They might also conclude – rightly so – that this area lacks leadership that could do something about it.
Our government officials, from the state level on down to borough and township, view this problem with profound disinterest. The state Department of Transportation’s “Adopt a Highway” program, at least in this area, is so poorly administered that one has to wonder if it went out of existence years ago. And the accumulated trash along the interstates is embarrassing.
Our Washington County commissioners are too busy acquiring office space, declaring the county a gun-rights sanctuary and accommodating the gas-drilling industry to address the ugly realities south of Southpointe.
Our township supervisors shrug their shoulders. “Not our roads, not our property, not our problem” seems to be their attitude. And too many of us complain about the disgraceful roadsides in our neighborhood but do nothing about it.
Many citizens, I’m sure, are ready and willing to volunteer their time to attack litter; they just need organization and leadership, which is in very short supply.
If you want to invite your boss for dinner at your house, first you need pick up your clothes from the floor, empty the garbage and clear the dirty dishes from the sink. And if we want to draw more business to this county, we need to make this it a more attractive place to be. We need leaders dedicated to do that.
Parker Burroughs
Washington