Delivered to 15,000 Plainfield "doorsteps" Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Gumbusters: An idea whose time has come?




Gumbuster tackles an NJT bus shelter.

Gum and city sidewalks, what a combination!

Just a couple years after Plainfield's downtown streetscape improvements, the view of Front Street is great -- old-fashioned lampposts, benches, pavers, trash receptacles. And then you look down at the sidewalk.

Gum city.

Several New Jersey towns have found an answer: GumBuster.

Detailed in the Ledger (more here), Madison has joined Cranford, Perth Amboy and Princeton Boro in buying the gum-removing steamer.

Would this be a worthwhile use of Urban Enterprise Zone funds?

And with an Interlocal Services Agreement (the highly favored tool for just about everything with the Robinson-Briggs administration), the PMUA could operate it.


When Malcolm Dunn was on the City Council, he pressed repeatedly for something to be done about this issue -- to no avail.

I have a feeling Malcolm would love this one.


-- Dan Damon

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is wrong with the people in this city? Are they comfortable being second class citizens? Living in garbage is not acceptable and needs to be stopped.

Let's get this city looking every bit as regal as it is, and that includes cleaning streets, sidewalks and homes - both residential and rental.

If you want to live in filth and don't care to keep this city clean, please move.

Anonymous said...

Dan, What ever happened to the MOPUP downtown merchants association, and the Beautification Lady who use to have the sidewalks steamed cleaned every summer? Downtown looks a mess, and no one cares, or shows recpect like they should for public property. When you go to other downtowns you dont see as much gum or trash on the sidewalks and streets as you do here. Please continue with this story, maybe the citizens of Plainfield can come up with a solution to help keep our city clean.