Still time to enjoy one more swim of the 2014 season. I did, and it was Fabulous and Fantastic!
The crowd today was more typical of a day in mid-summer, not the end of September.
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Published by Kimsmithdesigns
Documentary filmmaker, photographer, landscape designer, author, and illustrator. "Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly" currently airing on PBS. Current film projects include Piping Plovers, Gloucester's Feast of St. Joseph, and Saint Peter's Fiesta. Visit my websites for more information about film and design projects at kimsmithdesigns.com, monarchbutterflyfilm.com, and pipingploverproject.org. Author/illustrator "Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities! Notes from a Gloucester Garden."
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Still time to enjoy one more swim of the 2014 season. I did, and it was Fabulous and Fantastic!
Good Morning Gloucester 
With no life guards
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I went to good harbor today and was so stunned to see the parking lot beyond full as well as the amount of dogs off leash and allowed to run and poop without the owners being responsible at the end of the day the one barrel at the foot of one of the board walks was discusting .. The sign clearly says to take your stuff off the beach and leave nothing behind but your footprints .. So what’s up with people stopping and taking out all their trash and just dropping it what a mess!!!! People by choice are so damn ignorant .. We all want to have a beautiful day but over time I have seen more then 90% of the good harbor beach goers disregard common sense and choose to do the wrong thing .. Ultimately it will all come back to bite everyone and there will be no more good harbor …
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Great shots Kim. Wingaersheek from the water looked like 4th of July. Wall to wall umbrellas and the river was double parked boats.
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Thanks Paul. I thought it tremendous to see so many people enjoying our beautiful beach(es), in fall, no less!
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I sure miss these days- makes you miss for sure! thanks Kim:-) Dave & Kim:-)
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The sad part is our whole city is being taken over by careless people. These careless people live right here on our island. They don’t just trash our beaches they trash our parks, our woods, our ball fields, our neighborhoods. They are litterbugs and they have no conscience. How in god’s green earth do you have beautiful places to visit and enjoy and you leave and drop your litter where ever you please? I have picked up hundreds of yellow bags of trash from our city and after all these years I still can’t figure it out. We need to do better. Does no one see someone drop a bag or bottle down are we so busy we don’t see it? Speak Up and Clean Up and perhaps one day we can all take a walk in our beautiful city and not bend down to pick up after the litterbugs.
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The following is an example of why beach goers and visitors find Gloucester’s trash policies confusing.
Yesterday after swimming at the Salt Island end of Good Harbor, I tried taking a few snapshots for GMG readers to see the fantastic crowd, but was shooting into the light. On the the way home I stopped at the footbridge side to take some photos. I noticed a couple stuffing the trash barrel with their collection of “end of the beach day garbage” and politely said, “at Good Harbor, we have a carry in, carry out policy.” They looked at me as though I had three heads and said, “well why is there a barrel?” as they shrugged and walked away, leaving their trash behind. I didn’t discuss the issue further with them because I think folks spending the day in our beautiful city don’t want to have the last memory of their fine afternoon of some local women calling them out on a confusing trash policy.
The barrels stunk to high heaven. While taking a few snapshots I ran into friends, and the daughter was holding her nose as we were chatting because of the foul odor, which is indicative of uncollected trash sitting in the sun, for longer than just a day.
After swimming, I went to water the HarborWalk Gardens. The flowers and scenery of boats arriving home in the light of the setting sun were beautiful, but the litter spread throughout the garden was not. However, the worst problem by far is the horrendous odors coming from the dumpsters at either end of the Harbor Walk Gardens. It makes me want to vomit while having to stand in one place to water and smell the rotting trash.
We invite people to walk our walk and learn about the working water front, but the odors are so repugnant, and its not from fishing industry. I cannot tell you how many people I see holding their noses as they walk pass the dumpsters, especially young visitors. These smells are memorably bad and would not encourage one to return to a place.
The same wretched smelling garbage at the base of one of the dumpsters sat there for three weeks.
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Welcome to my world Kim. It is not that confusing you “Carry Out what you carried in” that’s it. The barrels are there for the dog poop. No big deal the bridge used to be lined up with 10 barrels at every boardwalk including the bridge end. You never smelled a bad barrels until you smell 10 of them or how about 40 that is what was on the beach and the answer was always we NEED more barrels. Talk to the people maybe that is what is wrong we need to “Speak Up and Clean Up”. Thanks for trying I’ll get shot at one of these times for speaking up but I will not stop its my city and I will work until my last breath to clean it and keep it clean. It’s the rest of the litterbugs that won’t.
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Kim-Patty…The last couple of pictures are by the dumpsters with locks on them…I am assuming locked because belong to an establishment and had problems with other’s throwing trash and filling them up- I know sometimes some folks would throw oil and other hazmat type stuff in these also and reason for lock? I know this way the haulers are required to sweep up what is missed throw it into truck (does not always happen).
The littering is a world-wide issue I see I see it this way on the walks in mountains people throwing food wrappers and water and soda bottles – I pick up what I can by ye old backpack can only hold so much. If I see someone tell them with the what if somebody did this in front of your house or on your lawn? And yes get grief for it oh well one must say how they feel – wonder why two ears, and two eyes hmmmm………! I do believe you have to start young – I know my mom was very strick with this with us kids so it carries over into adult. You can teach them young but if younger folks see adults tossing then they get the mixed signal! What they do have this way is what they call troops for trash and go out locally (much Like you have that way) pick-up the area’s and have either a burger burn or cokes-cookies for those involved…
The real key to all this is self-policing and holding oneself accountable and that has to come from within! Best of luck but in the same token I have seen some very good PSA’s on trash and school projects in this area along with citizens and that’s the right path for sure!
Dave
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Dave, whether or not the dumpsters are locked, it is the responsibility of the owner of the property to properly clean and maintain their dumpsters, and the surrounding area; to not allow raw garbage to rot for literally weeks at a time, especially in a highly trafficked location. There are countless businesses in our community that address garbage responsibly. The few that don’t, unfortunately, make a very unpleasant impression that affects many.
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Kim,
I understand this but, if it is a “paid service contractor that hauls the dumpsters not sure what the ordiance says as I am not there?” If so, this is what I meant to clean up as part of their service? ” I know this way the haulers are required to sweep up what is missed throw it into truck (does not always happen), or dumpster.
Thanks,
Dave
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What a beautiful day at Good Harbor beach! People are so irresponsible, it is a pity! it isn’t complicated to carry out our papers, bottles…last summer, I offered politely to a party’s of 6 people an empty bag to help them carry out their garbage…
I appreciate that the city of Gloucester, with his regulation show us that they talk to intelligent people. I hope that each of us will do his homework…
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Sometimes, I have doubts.
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It was gorgeous Monique and honestly I did not let the trash issue spoil my afternoon. The post began as a simple–“oh what a beautiful day” kind of post and quickly turned into a forum about trash.
As a community we have to acknowledge that what may seem obvious to we residents, is not entirely clear to non-residents, especially when they see a nondescript looking trash barrel at the end of the footbridge.
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Sorry disregard my last post pls!
Dave
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