Beschreibung

All spring and summer and into the fall I would make several bicycle trips a week to the top of East Rock, both for fun and for exercise. And each time I carried with me a grocery bag and each time I filled it with littler of all types thrown on the ground in the beautiful park (I've complained about it here multiple times).
Today, for the first time since October and for the first time since the park is closed for the season to automobile traffic, I took a ride to the top of East Rock and brought along my Ferraro's grocery bag. Lo and behold, the gate from the lower parking lot to the summit was closed and locked until spring, so I rode around it and pedaled my way to the top slowly, expecting the standard regular stops to pick up beer cans, Dunkin' Donuts bags and cups and lids, tiny liquor bottles, Newport packages, piles of empty beer bottles, Marlboro Light packages, and tons of paper bags and napkins.
But NO! There was no litter except for one old and soggy Mike and Ike box, which could have been there for a month or more.
So, Eureka! Clearly the answer to solving the constant, filthy and embarrassing mess that local visitors to East Rock leave on the ground in this beautiful and nearly sacred park, is to BAN ALL AUTOMOBILE TRAFFIC.
It's just that simple.
Once cars are blocked from entering the park the littering stops.
City of New Haven: This is an idea worth considering. Make East Rock pedestrian only.