In Bedford (where I work) PA, they're having to redo a ton of the exceedingly elderly terracotta because there's too much stormwater going into the regular sewer system and in storm events raw sewage goes into the river which is no bueno. So, everybody has to fix their sewers to be airtight (no infiltration of stormwater) and the borough is also doing a ton of work on the sewer mains as well because the downtown mains were all ancient terracotta.
The amount of violent unhappiness from citizens over this initiative was honestly pretty stunning. The sewer project was not popular. The alternatives to "Everybody fix their own sewers plus the Borough fixes its sewers" were... "build a huge capacity sewage treatment plant we don't need that is going to cost gazillions of dollars that we don't have so that we can treat all the stormwater every time it rains" or "pay massive fines assessed by DEP forever and ever so that we can keep putting shit in the river".
You'd think "Hey, let's not have shit in the river" would be a pretty easy project to get behind but apparently not.
One of the metro areas near to us is in the midst of a similar fight, I hear. Basically the same sort of "ugh, how dare you ~suddenly~ require that we pay into the infrastructure upgrades that will keep our water potable!? GOVERNMENT OVERREACH." Meanwhile the local government is like... "Well, we've put this to local voting for different ways to raise the funds via small, incremental local taxes or budget changes/allocations for over a decade now, and it's been voted down every time despite the warnings, and now we're at the critical point where there IS no delaying it for years more to soften the financial reality, so..."
Feral clown populations are sad, but need to be cared for until we find them all forever homes. I hope your area has a good TNR (trap, neuter, return) program to keep the population in check.
Yeah... people really need to be a lot more responsible with their pet clowns. So many people think they'll be so easy to keep, and then just aren't prepared for what a long-term responsibility they can be. Releasing them into the wild just isn't fair to anyone. :( It's a shame the feral populations come into conflict with people so often; some of the behaviors can be genuinely alarming, but it's true that it's not their faults that they've been turned loose without proper care.
Pictures of baby ones look so cute on social media, but clowns are for life, not just April First. A lot of people just get wrapped up in how people present clown ownership and don't really consider the time, cost and the sheer space adult clowns need.
People get so taken in by the cute holiday pictures of them! But yeah, they aren't a temporary acquisition. It's a years-long commitment, and so many people are just woefully unprepared for how to handle it once the novelty wears off. :( Plus people don't understand how much socialization and ongoing enrichment is needed. The behavioral issues that people get so frustrated by, and gives rise to a lot of the most negative clown stereotypes, are often a symptom of inappropriate care, and yet it's the clowns that suffer for it.
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mistressofmuses) wrote2024-08-21 11:45 pm
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That is unironically the kind of level that some people are at these days. And the rest of us get a good laugh out of it :)
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The amount of violent unhappiness from citizens over this initiative was honestly pretty stunning. The sewer project was not popular. The alternatives to "Everybody fix their own sewers plus the Borough fixes its sewers" were... "build a huge capacity sewage treatment plant we don't need that is going to cost gazillions of dollars that we don't have so that we can treat all the stormwater every time it rains" or "pay massive fines assessed by DEP forever and ever so that we can keep putting shit in the river".
You'd think "Hey, let's not have shit in the river" would be a pretty easy project to get behind but apparently not.
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Meanwhile the local government is like... "Well, we've put this to local voting for different ways to raise the funds via small, incremental local taxes or budget changes/allocations for over a decade now, and it's been voted down every time despite the warnings, and now we're at the critical point where there IS no delaying it for years more to soften the financial reality, so..."
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It's a shame the feral populations come into conflict with people so often; some of the behaviors can be genuinely alarming, but it's true that it's not their faults that they've been turned loose without proper care.
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