Devon Avenue’s Open Garbage Pits

Devon, Western to Whipple. Every block defaced by open garbage pits or street corner trashcans filled with household garbage. Worse, the new seating areas encourage people to sit, talk, and snack, but lack trash receptacles, so the planters and nearby garden areas serve as dumping grounds for water bottles, coffee cups, food containers, chip bags, and cigarette packs. This is true even for those seating areas west of California, the area that was completed first.

It’s simply disgraceful. All pictures were taken Tuesday morning, August 11, 2015.

: Bad as this is, other garbage pits on Devon are worse.

: Disgusting.

: Does anything other than household garbage go into the trashcans on Devon?

: The flowers help hide the garbage.

: Lots of open food garbage in here.

: How thoughtful of people! Coffee cups, water bottles, household garbage, and open food.

: I didn’t find a single tree on Devon that didn’t have garbage at its base.

: This garbage pit is directly behind an unfinished seating area.

: Look at this pigsty.

: Planter used as trash bin.

: Where’s the Board of Health? People should not be sitting directly in front of open trash pits.

: There are trash cans nearby, but dumping here is easier.

: This mess has a little bit of every kind of trash imaginable.

: Disgusting.

: Doesn’t this make you wonder how people live in their own homes?

To be fair, so many residents dump their household garbage in street corner trashcans rather than in their own dumpsters that there’s almost no room for anything else.

: This household trash belongs in an alley dumpster, not on Devon.

: Businesses use trashcans for disposal of business trash even though they get a tax deduction for trash removal.

: Some people are just pigs.

: This box appears to come from a nearby restaurant. The box didn’t fit in the trashcan overloaded with household garbage.

: Some people don’t even bother to seal their garbage bags.

: This box was sent from Pakistan to a Skokie man. It was filled with clothing for men, women, and children. I know this because the label was left on the box. Does the man own a nearby business, or was he just cleaning out his car?

The new seating areas lack trash cans so trash winds up in planters, on parkways, and on the ground. Then there’s the unfinished seating area below that clearly demonstrates what could happen if trash cans are added to seating areas.