Cleaning Up

Great for residents of Fort Worth! Apparently the city has solved all the problems facing a large fast-grown urban municipality. That's the only conclusion I can reach after reading in the Star-Telegram that Cowtown is going to start issuing tickets to residents whose trash bins are visible from the street. That's right, forget about crime, blight, pollution, smog, substandard buildings, the city is worried someone may have to face the ugly sight of your trash or recylcling bin. "We don't want to hand out tickets, but unfortunately it does come down to that sometimes," the S-T quotes a representative from the city's Code Compliance Department as saying. Anyone that has ever called Code Compliance would have to agree with that. The department is one of the most lackadaisical at city hall. The tickets carry fines of up to $307.00. The S-T goes on to quote another city spokesman as describing the horrific sight of trash bins in people's yards, as, "a big problem.". Really? Honestly, on your list of problems facing Cowtown, where does the location of your neighbor's trash bins rank? Here's a thought. The city issued us the ugly trash bins and demands that we use them. Why doesn't the city issue us prettier trash bins?