Having some civic pride in your surroundings,
... particularly the public spaces of your location, is often what separates the civilised from the uncivilised amongst us.
Often, when you visit a council house estate (public housing in the US), one of the ways in which it may become apparent that you are in such an area, is the vandalism, graffiti, unkempt gardens, and dirty littered streets. Now of course not all such areas are bad estates, but experience teaches us that there is generally a correlation between these issues and local crime levels, and even that ethnic minority areas are more prone to this than majority population areas.
So perhaps its no surprise that some areas take a very strong line on keeping. streets clean, gardens tidy, walls graffiti clean, and fine inhabitants who fail to tow the line. Anecdotally I am told that the Germans are particularly strong on these things, believing that they keep petty crime down ... they may well be right, but the UK is definitely not so strong on these, as the Labour Party seems to have an investment in keeping these estates as places of low aspiration and no hope.
But that's a bit of an aside and personal gripe of mine against the socialist parties .... the actual reason for this post is that Mesen, Belgium's smallest city, with a population of around 1,000 people introduced a by-law on the 20th of September 2019 which informed residents that they must pick up litter, clear up any dog mess, and pull any weeds from the streets in front of their houses.
The town, which is the site of a ruined castle and was the scene of the famous football match between the trenches in WWI in the Christmas truce of December 1914.
They face fines of up to 125 euro ($137; £112) if they neglect to perform their civic duty. The Mayor, Mr Evrard, says that it's only a small proportion who have been sloppy with their civic house-keeping, but they are letting the town down.
"Unfortunately, there are people who are uncooperative. Even after several letters over a few months, the weeds flourish in some places. Weeding is not a big problem it most cases, it only takes five minutes of work a week. If you are unable to weed your own weeds, you can let us know. Then we look for a solution together. I'll go to people's homes to hear what the problem is exactly. It's the only way to make Mesen the most beautiful city in the country."
A high aspiration and ideal with which to end one year, and start another with, and something we can all aspire to .... I might add that I regularly weed and clear up mess on the public frontage of my own house, so I am not preaching what I don't practise.
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| Mesen In Belgium Has Civic Pride .... |
... particularly the public spaces of your location, is often what separates the civilised from the uncivilised amongst us.
Often, when you visit a council house estate (public housing in the US), one of the ways in which it may become apparent that you are in such an area, is the vandalism, graffiti, unkempt gardens, and dirty littered streets. Now of course not all such areas are bad estates, but experience teaches us that there is generally a correlation between these issues and local crime levels, and even that ethnic minority areas are more prone to this than majority population areas.
So perhaps its no surprise that some areas take a very strong line on keeping. streets clean, gardens tidy, walls graffiti clean, and fine inhabitants who fail to tow the line. Anecdotally I am told that the Germans are particularly strong on these things, believing that they keep petty crime down ... they may well be right, but the UK is definitely not so strong on these, as the Labour Party seems to have an investment in keeping these estates as places of low aspiration and no hope.
But that's a bit of an aside and personal gripe of mine against the socialist parties .... the actual reason for this post is that Mesen, Belgium's smallest city, with a population of around 1,000 people introduced a by-law on the 20th of September 2019 which informed residents that they must pick up litter, clear up any dog mess, and pull any weeds from the streets in front of their houses.
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| Christmas Truce 1914 - Statue In Mesen, Belgium |
The town, which is the site of a ruined castle and was the scene of the famous football match between the trenches in WWI in the Christmas truce of December 1914.
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| The Mayor .. Mr Evrard ... Says There's Just A Few Bad Eggs In Town |
They face fines of up to 125 euro ($137; £112) if they neglect to perform their civic duty. The Mayor, Mr Evrard, says that it's only a small proportion who have been sloppy with their civic house-keeping, but they are letting the town down.
"Unfortunately, there are people who are uncooperative. Even after several letters over a few months, the weeds flourish in some places. Weeding is not a big problem it most cases, it only takes five minutes of work a week. If you are unable to weed your own weeds, you can let us know. Then we look for a solution together. I'll go to people's homes to hear what the problem is exactly. It's the only way to make Mesen the most beautiful city in the country."
A high aspiration and ideal with which to end one year, and start another with, and something we can all aspire to .... I might add that I regularly weed and clear up mess on the public frontage of my own house, so I am not preaching what I don't practise.
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