The Cupertino Courier

Letters & Opinions

Letters

Litter around
store needs to
be cleaned up

There's a 7-Eleven convenience store located at the intersection of McClellan and Bubb roads. I am writing to complain about the litter at and around the store. A YouTube video entitled "Cupertino 7-11 litter" will give some idea of the problem at the site.

The trash at and around the store needs to be picked up. I believe that there is a city ordinance that requires a business owner to keep the grounds around his property clean. That ordinance should be enforced. There is a small park with a pond behind the 7-Eleven. Litter from the store can be found strewn through the park and floating in the pond. If the city doesn't maintain the park, then volunteers might be found to take charge of cleanup in the park. But the owners of the 7-Eleven should make an effort to clean up their own property, since that is the source of the litter.

The 7-Eleven contributes in two ways to the litter in our neighborhood. First, patrons of the store are discarding their candy wrappers and other snack-food packaging as they leave the premises. Second, poor maintenance around the dumpsters beside the store results in trash blowing into the park behind the building. But when business owners don't maintain their properties, visitors (particularly children) may feel that the grownups don't mind the litter. I don't think I'm wrong in guessing that the candy wrappers, hot dog boxes and Slurpee cups that we see up and down Bubb and McClellan were thrown there by our own school children.

I encourage anyone who is concerned about this problem to mention it to the owners of the 7-Eleven when they visit the store.

We parents should talk to our children about littering, and teachers might talk to their students. High school service clubs might also help in some way. A child's peers can be more persuasive than the clueless adults who send him off to school. We assume that everyone knows they shouldn't litter, but the message needs constant reinforcing.

Gill Doyle

Folkestone Drive