It’s been a trash-infested garbage bin of a living space since August, and I have had enough. A barn filled with pigs, cows and chickens is cleaner. Garden Apartments West has become the campuses biggest slob fest.
The pictures above do justice, don’t they?
Tuesday, as I entered the building and walked past the mounting pile of trash that’s been lying on the cold, dirt-covered tile floor, I stopped. I stopped to think about how many times garbage has been left laying around. In the front entrance, the hallways, the laundry room, the back entrance and even outside the building. Since August, I’ve lost count.
Never mind that the dumpsters and the recycling room are both within 400 feet of the building. Never mind that some residents treat their living space with respect. And never mind that a maintenance worker has been responsible for taking out the trash (something that isn’t his or her job). Hell, never mind that I’ve seen bugs crawling around the building.
Let’s just treat our living space with disrespect. Like the sad, brown dumpster, which is responsible for your trash.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I grew up treating what I have and where I live with respect. For young adults, who will eventually go off to live on their own someday, the pictures above are not respect. Would you let your home get like that? Would your parents be proud of it?
The pure laziness and disregard has gotten to me over the past two months, and I know I am not the only one. As residents, we owe better to each other. We owe better to the building we live in. And we owe it to those maintenance workers, who have acted as Waste Management employees for the past two months. The smell and the rodents have been disgusting, too.
Whatever has happened in other buildings on the east side of campus is a story for another time. Maybe it’s better, maybe it’s the same or maybe it’s worse. But I want my living space clean.
I didn’t grow up living in a pig pen, and I sure as hell don’t want to start.
Do better, Gardens West. And remember: the dumpster and the recycling room is a short walk away. Pick up the trash.
By Mike Hogan, Managing Editor
hoganm17@bonaventure.edu
