The MARC Sludge Pit

**londoner** · 04-24-2012, 05:21 PM

So anyone who lives or walks near MARC knows about the 18th street sludge trench. It's pretty incredible really. I've dipped a ruler six-inches into an especially vicious portion of this cess pit. Now the Catharine and Fitzwater side streets aren't too much prettier, but nothing takes the cake like 18th Street. And to those cynics among you (the one's who say why don't you do something about it...) i'm the guy who walks this loop with his goldendoodle scooping up bags of trash daily. Here's a brief photo essay, that spans ohhh, about one eighth of the block:

In a way, the sludge pit acts like a time capsule...capturing human remnants for decades to come. Perhaps there's a bakelite collectible at the very bottom.

It's like a human-waste layer cake.

Anthropologically speaking, i suppose if you took a cross-section of the sludge you'd be able to date back how long the remains have been there--like rings on a tree.

I suppose there are worse things in the 'hood. But presumably, doesn't MARC have some sort of janitorial staff? Anyone? Do they clean their toilets once every century too? It's kind of crummy that a neighborhood rec center can be both wonderful and a blight simultaneously. Dear MARC/SOSNA any chance you guys can crack this one? It's not good for anybody.

**Barley** · 04-24-2012, 05:41 PM

Hey, thanks for documenting this cess pool. Perhaps SOSNA can address why, during the first "hyper-localized" cleanup that included this stretch of road in the "hyper local" boundary, did the volunteers quit after only making it a few feet down the block. I'm guessing they ran out of trash bags.

Does MARC have a janitor? I don't know what his title is, but he empties the basketball court trashcans almost every weekend and leaves the bags of trash on the NE corner of 18th and Catharine until pickup on Tuesday.

(Similar to the way MARC leaves its trash outside it's front door on 17th for days on end
Report trash, litter and dumping in your neighborhood - Schuylkill Southwest, Philadelphia, PA, Philadelphia - Issue #163787 - SeeClickFix
Report trash, litter and dumping in your neighborhood - Schuylkill Southwest, Philadelphia, PA, Philadelphia - Issue #147637 - SeeClickFix)

He also shovels and sweeps the basketball court--the ENTIRE court--of any snow to keep dogs from playing and pissing on the court.

As for MARC in general.
1. I wonder if the grass between the street and the sidewalk will be cut at all in the coming months.
2. I wonder if staff have even noticed that two of the three basketball hoops are missing nets and the one with a net has its backboard falling apart. It was a couple years ago that any broken nets were replaced in matter of minutes. In fact, I quit hanging nets myself once I noticed how responsive at the time MARC was.

In my opinion, oversight of MARC is slipping. The baseball field received all new sod for its infield this spring. The rest of the facility has had nothing done to it.

**londoner** · 04-25-2012, 07:29 PM

Wow. 1 comment? I know the SWCC portion of the blog is uptight, but come on, are none of the politically connected members at all annoyed (at least a little bit) about this problem?

**mprams** · 04-25-2012, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by londoner

Wow. 1 comment? I know the SWCC portion of the blog is uptight, but come on, are none of the politically connected members at all annoyed (at least a little bit) about this problem?

Those photos look a lot like (if not better than) the entire stretch of 22nd Street from Christian to South St. (and I'm sure more than a few other blocks in the neighborhood). I supsect most people just yawned at the thread topic.

**bobl** · 04-26-2012, 06:33 PM

The "sludgepit" is in the street and not MARC's responsibilty. I would suggest that you call the Streets Dept followed by a call to an Obsessional Therapist who could help you deal with all your problems with MARC.

**torts** · 04-26-2012, 07:37 PM

Totes

**VWPHILLY** · 04-27-2012, 11:52 AM

That place can't even keep the front of the place clean and u expect them to clean the rest of their properity.........GOOD LUCK
But the basketball court is cleaned for the drug dealers that like to hang there........I wonder if they will cut the grass or trim the bushes this year or just wait for one of the neighbors who gets sick of looking at that place and trim the bushes himself.

**devilspocket** · 04-27-2012, 06:14 PM

How to Organize a Clean Up Event

**Jeez mon** · 06-10-2012, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by devilspocket

How to Organize a Clean Up Event

This afternoon, a neighbor spotted an unusual circumstance: There were 3 consecutive empty parking spaces on 18th Street (SE corner at Fitzwater). There were empty parking spaces, because a block party at 18th & Catharine had the street closed off. The neighbor -- who lives about a block away -- scooped up the sludge along about 2/3 of the east side of that block. Using a shovel only, he produced eight large contractor bags of sludge in about 90 minutes.

Earlier that morning, the manager of the Rec Center had done some of his regular cleanup near the basketball court. The block party participants seemed to be only concerned about cleaning up the immediate area where they wanted to put up their tent.

Contrary to an earlier post, it is not the responsibility of the Streets Department to keep the gutter of the street clean. Street cleaning hasn't happened in this city in many years. It is the responsibility of the adjoining property owners, and in this case the responsible owner is the City -- the owner of the Rec Center. On the other three sides of the Rec Center, the residents on the opposite side of the street occasionally pitch in to help with the City's side. But among the residents of the west side of 18th Street, there doesn't seem to be much motivation to pitch in. Apparently it is easier to organize a block party than it is to organize a Clean Up Party.

**OffenseTaken** · 06-10-2012, 06:03 PM

Originally Posted by Jeez mon

Contrary to an earlier post, it is not the responsibility of the Streets Department to keep the gutter of the street clean. Street cleaning hasn't happened in this city in many years. It is the responsibility of the adjoining property owners, and in this case the responsible owner is the City -- the owner of the Rec Center. On the other three sides of the Rec Center, the residents on the opposite side of the street occasionally pitch in to help with the City's side. But among the residents of the west side of 18th Street, there doesn't seem to be much motivation to pitch in. Apparently it is easier to organize a block party than it is to organize a Clean Up Party.

Holy ****, that is unbelievable! No street cleaning? I just assumed it came by while I was asleep and always bypassed our block for some reason.

There are probably people in Latin America who cannot fathom no street cleaning for a densely-populated city of a million and a half. It's just a basic necessity: it's not just an aesthetic issue, it's a public-health one, too. The sludge pit in my street is a breeding ground for mosquitos.

I guess these top-notch services are what we get for paying top-notch taxes. Thank God for civilized living.

**Jayfar** · 06-10-2012, 06:19 PM

Strangely, I saw city street sweeping machines cleaning the 2300 block of Christian St (presumably they did some other nearby blocks as well) on 2 consecutive days this week. Maybe it was a pre-Odunde sweep?

**Lolly** · 06-10-2012, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by OffenseTaken

There are probably people in Latin America who cannot fathom no street cleaning for a densely-populated city of a million and a half.

There are probably people on the North Pole who can't fathom it either. Yet there it is. Go figure.

**BrianL** · 06-10-2012, 08:37 PM

well the brothas and sistas are running the city according to former Mayor Street

**OffenseTaken** · 06-11-2012, 06:47 PM

Originally Posted by Lolly

There are probably people on the North Pole who can't fathom it either. Yet there it is. Go figure.

A street sweeper just came down Bainbridge, probably for post-Odunde cleanup. Of course it couldn't touch the parking lanes, where 99.99% of the dirt and trash and **** and crap and debris and probably a few animal carcasses are, so all it did was run down the middle of the street and turn the remaining .01% into mud. Which is still there.

**bobl** · 06-12-2012, 08:06 PM

Originally Posted by Jeez mon

This afternoon, a neighbor spotted an unusual circumstance: There were 3 consecutive empty parking spaces on 18th Street (SE corner at Fitzwater). There were empty parking spaces, because a block party at 18th & Catharine had the street closed off. The neighbor -- who lives about a block away -- scooped up the sludge along about 2/3 of the east side of that block. Using a shovel only, he produced eight large contractor bags of sludge in about 90 minutes.

Earlier that morning, the manager of the Rec Center had done some of his regular cleanup near the basketball court. The block party participants seemed to be only concerned about cleaning up the immediate area where they wanted to put up their tent.

Contrary to an earlier post, it is not the responsibility of the Streets Department to keep the gutter of the street clean. Street cleaning hasn't happened in this city in many years. It is the responsibility of the adjoining property owners, and in this case the responsible owner is the City -- the owner of the Rec Center. On the other three sides of the Rec Center, the residents on the opposite side of the street occasionally pitch in to help with the City's side. But among the residents of the west side of 18th Street, there doesn't seem to be much motivation to pitch in. Apparently it is easier to organize a block party than it is to organize a Clean Up Party.

I was under the impression that the streets were not cleaned because of parking problems, there seems to be little support in Philadelphia for alternate side of the street parking or prohibited parking on certain days.

It comes as a relevation to me that property owners are responsible for street maintenance beyond the curb line. Do I really have to fill the potholes in front of my house and shovel the snow from my section of the street? I sure hope I can issue parking tickets.

The suggestion that we have recreation personnel do the jobs of Streets Department personnel is intriguing. I suppose that logically that means that Health Department personnel should staff the recreation center while the rec center people are cleaning the street and folks from L & I staff the Health Department and Fairmount Park employees staff L & I, and so forth down the line.

I sure hope the Managing Director is paying attention to all the brilliant suggestions found in these posts.

**londoner** · 06-13-2012, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by bobl

I was under the impression that the streets were not cleaned because of parking problems, there seems to be little support in Philadelphia for alternate side of the street parking or prohibited parking on certain days.

Parking problems? have you lived anywhere else? Streets are cleaned at least bi-weekly in every major city on this planet. Why we're so baffled by this concept and why there isn't more of an outcry about this is still beyond me. Are we that dumb that we can't figure out a way to handle this uber-complicated system of alternating parking-sides? Street cleaning, AFAIK, as a program outside the purview of the CCD, was killed during the budget cuts several years ago. Does anyone know if QV has its streets swept anymore?

Originally Posted by bobl

It comes as a relevation to me that property owners are responsible for street maintenance beyond the curb line. Do I really have to fill the potholes in front of my house and shovel the snow from my section of the street? I sure hope I can issue parking tickets.

First of all, it's your immediate gutter in front of your 14ft wide rowhome--not a HUGE swath of land to burden you with--and not the pothole in the middle of the street. Ever go to a suburb where homes are priced around $400k--$500k--and they have 1/3 acre to maintain and it's all done flawlessly? Why city residents who pay the same amount can't maintain their 9 square foot street tree or their 14feet of gutter is crazy to me.

While I 100% agree that the cleanliness of CITY streets should be maintained by, welp, the CITY...does that mean you presently ignore cleaning your filthy gutter? Do resident's stare at the filth in front of their expensive homes and say, "hmmm, i wonder why the city doesn't take care of that? Oh well, i'll just leave it there indefinitely."

Lastly, i've made this point before on these threads and you just proved it perfectly here: residents just don't know that the gutter is technically their responsibility for maintenance. If SOSNA did a very simple, educational flyer campaign explaining this--citing health concern reasons, water run-off issues, QOL improvement, property value increases--i think we'd see a dramatic improvement in street cleanliness. Doing greening committee members, this simple flyer will do more to improve the litter problem in the 'hood than 40 Big Belly trash compactors.

**Coco** · 06-13-2012, 03:31 PM

[QUOTE=londoner;503638].........First of all, it's your immediate gutter in front of your 14ft wide rowhome--not a HUGE swath of land to burden you with--and not the pothole in the middle of the street. Ever go to a suburb where homes are priced around $400k--$500k--and they have 1/3 acre to maintain and it's all done flawlessly? Why city residents who pay the same amount can't maintain their 9 square foot street tree or their 14feet of gutter is crazy to me...........[QUOTE]

I totally agree! I cleaned the street gutters of both of my neighbors just this morning, plus pulled the weeds, etc. One is a rental bldg where nothing ever happens, the owner of the other never lifted a finger in all the years I've known him. I don't mind. What I do object to, however, is the little plastic bags with dog poo that are left in the gutter or on the grate of the sewer inlet.

**cubanChris** · 06-13-2012, 04:22 PM

[QUOTE=Coco;503683][QUOTE=londoner;503638].........First of all, it's your immediate gutter in front of your 14ft wide rowhome--not a HUGE swath of land to burden you with--and not the pothole in the middle of the street. Ever go to a suburb where homes are priced around $400k--$500k--and they have 1/3 acre to maintain and it's all done flawlessly? Why city residents who pay the same amount can't maintain their 9 square foot street tree or their 14feet of gutter is crazy to me...........

I totally agree! I cleaned the street gutters of both of my neighbors just this morning, plus pulled the weeds, etc. One is a rental bldg where nothing ever happens, the owner of the other never lifted a finger in all the years I've known him. I don't mind. What I do object to, however, is the little plastic bags with dog poo that are left in the gutter or on the grate of the sewer inlet.

What is with that? Why go through the effort of bagging it if you're just going to throw it on the sewer grate or, more commonly, the sidewalk? I've never seen this habit in such prevalence before moving here, incredible.