WTOP Report Provokes Anger Among Area Cyclists
Goodbye Fixie, Hello Tweed!
Committee Approves Same-Sex Marriage Bill
Burger-pocalypse at BGR
D.C. Area Pedestrian Safety Could Be Worse
Good morning, Washington. Air is moving from one place to another at rapid speed this morning, continuing yesterday's warm but difficult-to-hang-on-to-your-newspaper conditions. The wind is being blamed for power outages across the region, mostly in the outer suburbs. Wind is also making it more difficult for firefighters to battle a blaze on the grounds of Laurel Regional Hospital, reports WTOP, though surely the fact that the fire hydrants at the scene are all broken is the bigger factor. Still, AlertDC tells us that the National Weather Service has issued a Fire Weather Watch for the District of Columbia today, from 10 a.m. until after sundown. A Fire Weather Watch means optimal conditions exist for fires to spread—hopefully it won't actually start raining fire down on us. That seems like it would be bad.
Should We Be Charged for Grocery Bags? The Post reports that D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) has a bill that would force District residents to pay 5 cents every time they take a plastic or paper bag from a retail store. A majority of the Council apparently supports the tax. Creating incentives to using fewer plastic bags seems like a great idea, though adding additional costs, however small, to the cost of buying food in the middle of a massive recession will surely get some pushback from somewhere.
Metro Delays Service Reduction Discussion: The Examiner reports that Metro's board has taken reviewing proposed service cuts today off of its budget meeting agenda, delaying discussing the controversial proposals in favor of looking for more budget cuts elsewhere first. Last week, Metro officials indicated the service cuts would be on today's agenda, but the agenda has since been revised. The proposed cuts include ending 3 a.m. rail service on weekends and stopping weekday trains at 10 p.m.
Briefly Noted: Autistic teen missing from his home near Capitol Hill ... Police presence beefed up at Cardozo High School after fight ... Council looks at possibilities of stimulus at public roundtable.
This Day in DCist: One year ago, a taxi strike failed to materialize, and two years ago, we were getting ready for Snowpocalypse '07.
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Ahh the wind and mild temperatures (and the downpour last night) - welcome to the Oregon Coast!
I swear, it's like I'm home again. Now where's the beach?
Sun in February? There is no sun in February on the coast....nor January, March, some sun-breaks in April, there is some hope in May.....
Yeah, I guess I didn't mention I meant Oregon coast SUMMER weather.
Adding a 5 cent charge to plastic grocery bags is fine and dandy, but when the hell are we going to adopt bottle return deposits like the northeastern states and Michigan? With all public drinking and the bottles and cans on our streets, it would help clean up this town in a major way, practically overnight.
EVERY website of EVERY candidate who has EVER run for City Council have had a blurb about their candidate supporting a bottle bill. This goes back to the 1970s. Yet EVERY time it comes up for a vote, it never passes, courtesy your friendly neighborhood eunuchs on the council. Honestly, did someone cut these clowns' junk off and throw them out a car window? The Sierra Club, PIRG, Clean Water Action, and every environmental group in the region pushes for bottle bills, but they never get get the MILLIONS that the snack food, beverage, and bottling industry musters to kill the bill. It ain't gonna happen. Which is a shame because you could put those hobos to work collecting empties for the deposit and I'd have extra spending money after I strangle them.
I lived in NYC for 2 years, paid the bottle deposit, never returned the bottles, and had the added benefit of homeless people picking thru my recycling bins in the middle of the night. How that's superior to just recycling the goddamn things like I do now is beyond me.
Like the ghetto shrine and sneakers over telephone wires, the plastic bag tree is a symbol of urban indifference that must be preserved at all costs. Besides, what are those into homoerotic asphyxiation supposed to do? Because some of us can't afford sleeping bags and silk neckties.
They can use dry cleaning bags and rubberbands, just like normal people, that's what.
Speak for yourself. I have dozens of ties for various themes.
when living in massachusetts, i used to always bring back my empties. they help support my other habits of whippets and k-holes.
Its a satisfying feeling bringing back empty bottles and getting full ones in return that people of all races, creeds, and economies can cherish...and ease the pains of life with.
Like bottle bills and junk food taxes, that bag tax is going to go nowhere fast. An unholy Big Bag alliance of plastic manufacturers and paperbag barons will roll into town, spread the cash, and this tax will die in committee. What the council needs to do is sponsor bold legislation that subsidizes the nascient broomstick-up-the-a$$ industry. Rich folks will drag their organic cruelty-free freerange tofu on their jewel-encrusted broomsticks, poor folks will impale porkchops and bbq potato chips on theirs. The recycled bamboo broomsticks have zero carbon footprint and actually absorb CO2 from the atmosphere during their life cycle. Granted, they make your poots smell like chop suey, but you can't make egg foo yung without breaking some eggs.
"...though adding additional costs, however small, to the cost of buying food..."
Charging a nickel for plastic and paper bags does not add to the cost of buying food; it adds to the cost of buying plastic and paper bags, neither of which is food.
Hopefully more people will get on the reusable grocery bag bandwagon. I'm so tired of being treated like an I'm the asshole for caring or whatever.
I have never been to a store that is friendly towards reusable bag use despite the fact that they're sold everywhere. If you go through the self-checkout, the scale freaks out and you have to wait 20 min for someone to come deal with it. All the while, the lonely people buying 3 frozen meals and a bottle of wine for their solo dinner huff at you for taking so long. If you go through the regular checkout, the cashiers get mad when you ask to use your own bag then literally toss your shit in a pile. Like I'm some elitist that's too good for store bags. Why do grocery stores hate the environment?! There is a conspiracy here DCist needs to investigate.
Geez - where are you shopping? I never get that kind of attitude at Harris Teeter or Trader Joe's - they encourage people to use their bags. Hey, it's free advertising for them, particularly when people inevitably use the bags for purposes other than grocery shopping. When the Harris Teeter in Adams Morgan opened they were giving the bags away (at least the wine bags, somehow I ended up with three of those...)
That said, I don't particularly want to have 4, 5, or 6 of those reusable bags taking up space in my condo (don't scoff - I have VERY little storage). I have one which is fine for routine trips when I walk to the store, but when I do the occassional large shopping with a car, I don't think I should have to pay extra for some kind of disposable bag.
Sounds like somebody needs a bag hutch...
Might I suggest folding?
Seriously though does no one else not have problems using your own bags at the self-checkout? Its like dividing by zero every time I'm checking out.
I don't do the self-checkout because it inevitably has some kind of malfunction.
And even folded, those bags take up space. That said, I definitely think more people should use them.
While it pisses my boyfriend off to no end, every time the checker/bagger at my local unfriendly Safeway "packs" my reusable bag by throwing things into it, I talk to the manager. And, every time they do a good job, I thank the person, and then tell a manager. I maintain that you have no right to complain if you're not going to do something about it and the best way to encourage good behavior is through compliments and rewards.
That being said, when I shop at the O Street Giant, my expectations are so low that if I get in and out without having to wait in a 30 minute line, I consider the trip a success -- items thrown in a bag or not.
I go to the O Street Giant exclusively for grocery shopping. I'm always riding a bike and bring a messenger and a couple resuables.
Everytime before I checkout, I just tell them that I'll pack my own groceries and they're perfectly fine and friendly about it.
Frankly, I'm embarassed when the cashier has to pack someone's groceries. It's a waste of time, especially when the recipient is usually perfectly able and just staring into a void.
I always get looked at like I have three eyes when I pull out my own bags at Safeway (any Safeway). I'll usually use the self checkout when available - you can now select "Skip Bagging" and then just put it into your bags on the floor. I think what's worse is that, on the occasions that I don't have bags with me, it's like pulling teeth to get them to not double-bag everything.
The bag tax is the wrong way to go with this issue. Rather than penalizing people for using bags, how about creating an incentive for folks to use recycled or cloth bags that they bring from home? One of the grocery stores I frequented in Fargo would give you $.10 or $.25 to bring in your own bags and I think Whole Foods already does this too.
If I had any inkling that the money collected by this tax wouldn't immediately be consumed by the money-grubbing vampire necro-dick that is the DC city gov't I might be able to get with it, but we all know what time it is with that shit.
Giant does this - it's 5 cents for every bag you bring.
And I've never noticed hostility towards me bringing my bags - at least, not any more hostility than usual from grocery store cashiers. They do, however, tend to throw everything in the bag and not pack them well.
Oh, it makes sense that Giant does it, although I haven't gotten a nickel back in the past year of bringing my own canvas bag to Giant. The cashiers don't always follow through. And they've never packed my bag for me, either...
Whole Foods does it too.
let's see...
100,000 bags x a nickel = $5K
yeah, that's totally worth it. even if you assume over 100,000 bags, it's still chump change.
i say increase the driving/cell phone use penalty, or increase parking tickets by $1.
I'd pay $5k for every council member who puts a plastic bag over their head until they pass out. DOUBLE if I get to take their pants.
penalties work better than incentives. (unfounded opinion)
Also, check out www.trashfreeanacostia.com
I'm all for the push to cut down on plastic bags as are I'm sure millions of people. It will certainly take time for people to get used to though. The UK has been pushing this very hard over the past two years and there is a lot to learn from their successes and failures. Sure at first it scared people, but you really just get used to it and it is a small way to remind you to do your part.
It would be easier for Council to give businesses some leeway to handle the change how they see fit. ie. whether they don't allow them at all, they charge a fee, give that fee to charity... I don't think it needs to be applied to all the small mom and pop shops, but should be focused on larger chains and those who pump out thousands of bags in a day.
Tons of random links and facts:
http://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/2008/07/25/marks-spencer-proclaim-plastic-bag-levy-a-success.html
http://article.wn.com/view/2009/01/25/Plastic_bag_reduction_on_track_for_success/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10553528&pnum=2
An environmental handful: Progress in the war on plastic bags
* Tesco said in August 2006 it had saved two billion bags since Green Clubcard Points were launched. Its carrier bag use is 40 per cent lower than two years ago.
* Since the Government set its bag target, Asda has seen a 30 per cent reduction in plastic carriers. Sales of bags-for- life have increased by 265 per cent.
* Between February and October this year, Waitrose gave out 68 million fewer bags than in the same period last year – around 30 per cent less.
* Sainsbury's has seen a 27 per cent reduction in free plastic bags up to June this year. Its year-on-year rise in the use of bags for life has been 200 per cent.
A lot of stores say they reward people for bringing their own bags; I think Safeway is supposed to give people $0.03 per reusable bag they bring, but the cashiers never actually make that happen. At Trader Joe's , they are supposed to enter you into a drawing, but again, the cashiers don't actually tell you about that. Or they don't tell me. Anyway, I've done enough neighborhood trash pick ups in my day to know that anyway we can reduce plastic bags floating around in our rivers and green spaces is worth it. Maybe it'll stop people from double and triple bagging their groceries for their walk to their SUV.
Also, guess what plastic bags are made of: Foreign Oil! I totally support the tax.
to quote the late George Carlin:
"The earth doesn't share our prejudice towards plastic...plastic came out of the earth, the earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children...could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place: it wanted plastic for itself, didn't know how to make it, needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old philosophical question...why are we here?: plastic, assholes."
George Carlin is an idiot. Or provocateur. Either way, while it's a fair point in the larger sense (we can't destroy the environment per se, only change it and harm the life currently on it) it's a stupid point for a lot of practical reasons (the same logic could be used for murder, global warming, kicking puppies, etc.)
ever heard of a comedian?
he is not an idiot, but he was a genius.
we're all doomed anyway people. why wast time thinking about plastic bags? let's focus on eliminating strippers with c section scars and stretchmarks.
dtrom4,
I take that you haven't listened to a lot of the late great COMEDIAN George Carlin.
No, I like George Carlin. But as I said, he was often a provocateur. He said stuff like that because it was counter to the accepted thinking (PC environmental crap, etc.). I don't know whether or not he believed it, but it's a stupid point. Yes, technically true, but not really a practical way of thinking about our actions. Fun, but not practical.
Also, I was just waiting for people to come to Carlin's rescue. I doubt he minds if I call him an idiot sometimes. Much less so now that he's dead. :)
well played, dtrom4. well played.
Mrs. 14thandyou handed her not-so-friendly Giant cashier a stack of reusable grocery bags the other day, and was met with the type of glare people usually reserve for terrorists and child rapists. I loathe plastic bags like I loathe Hitler, but it seems that it's all our neighborhood cashiers know. And god have pity on the poor soul who requests that his milk be placed into a bag.
The stories highlighted in the Morning Roundup really touch on issues of wealth, whiteness, and heteronormativity. Or maybe they don't. Is it time to go home yet? The beer in my fridge gets lonely without me and I just got some Doctor Who episodes from Netflix.
or just outlaw plastic bags like in LA (or SF?). That doesn't encourage resuable bag use though. I say tax each one .25
If we did a can/bottle deposit system, would people from Va and Md just bring theirs into DC?
I used to work at a grocery store and would have loved it if people brought their own bags. It pained me to double bag 5 items because the customer was afraid their can of creamed corn might somehow break through the bottom. It bothered me even more when they wanted doubled paper bags or even the dreaded paper INSIDE plastic. Do you realize how much of a pain in the ass it is to put two paper bags inside each other or wrap one with plastic?? It takes so much extra time and just causes more crankiness in the customers waiting in line that I as a cashier now have to deal with.
And just a little FYI, cashiers are not-so-friendly because every idiot, moron, and asshat is allowed to buy groceries. After a while it's hard to be nice to every customer when so many think they are entitled to triple $1 coupons even if they are expired, rain checks for every fraking item that's not on the shelf, discounted prices because that melon has a brown spot, or whatever else it is they think they deserve. Yes they could try harder but as with any job where you deal with the public for minimum wage it can really start to grate on your nerves.
Totally understandable. I think the problem is that stores either haven't trained or prepared employees to deal with one large bag. It's taller so your items are inevitably dropped harder and its wider so stuff inevitably moves or falls over, smashing other stuff. Add frustration on top of that and your groceries end up sad.
I think the problem is that stores either haven't trained or prepared employees to deal with one large bag.
Of course they haven't, when money gets tight the first thing that gets in most organizations is the training budget. That's why when I go to the grocery store I put my heaviest & most durable items on the belt first and end with putting my lightest & most fragile items on last. It saves me a lot of aggravation.
And yet this basic example of higher brain functions in primates escapes MOST people waiting in line to buy groceries. It's like they've entered some vortex where checks are considered "real" money; where old people argue while trying to buy half a stick of butter; where people leave to buy "just one more thing" then NEVER RETURN; where people actually give a fat rat's fart about Jennifer Aniston and her barren wasteland of a womb where not even tumbleweeds roll. It lies between the depth of man's fears, and the summit of his knowlege. It is an area we call...the Kentucky Avenue Safeway.
I would think (though I don't have any cashier experience) that the reusable bags would be easier to pack. They have a flat bottom and stand open, not like a plastic bag. Of course, I'm so anal that when I check-out I line up my groceries on the belt in the order they should go in the bag (boxes and cans first, eggs and bananas last, etc.)
@AMDCer: I loved people like you because it made my job so much easier and you move through the process so much faster because it's scan and "drop" no setting things aside and packing them while trying to get money or the receipt. Especially while working the express line.
In my very limited experience with reusable bags as a cashier the problem became how much to put in each bag. With plastic or paper you have a pretty defined amount that can fit before the handles break or the bottom drops out. Reusable bags can hold a lot more but quickly become heavy so it requires a little more thought and time than the cashier may want to put in. That's not to excuse the haphazard throwing in of things but without training or constant exposure it's going to take some time to get used to them.
um, those customers DO have a right to a raincheck for 'every fraking item that's not on the shelf'.
the only place i've received any flak for using the cloth bags was at target. the clerk kept trying to charge me for the bags until her co-worker explained it to her in her native language.
none of the grocery stores i've been to seem to mind even when i bring other stores' cloth bags in to use.
yes, but you don't argue that with the cashier you walk yourself over the customer service and get one
usually true. most stores do it that way. at harris teeter on monday when i told the clerk that no, i hadn't found everything and would need a rain check or two, he called the service desk person over to write the rain check(s) while he was ringing me out.
i love harris teeter
Yeah - I'm totally on the HT bandwagon - it's so nice to finally have a decent grocery store I can walk to. I was concerned that the great service I received when it first opened would soon drop off, but as of yet, it's still very good.
Yep, i worked in a grocery store for seven years, I know all about asshat customers. But our experience wasn't about being an asshat, is was about providing the cashier with bags that she didn't want to deal with. I mean, suck it up. I worked cash registers for three years, it's not exactly a demanding position.
Ending weekday service at 10 would GREATLY inconvenience people and encourage more people to have cars
harris teeter employees + reusable bags = pleasant experience
giant employees + reusable bags = angry grunts and glares
where do you think i shop as much as possible?
Safeway?
avoid if i can, though i've been to the new one at 5th and L a couple times. it's a crapshoot WRT cashier friendliness.
"A majority of the Council apparently supports the tax." Just out of curiosity, how many on the council support paying their parking tickets?
I get that high winds make fire conditions worse, but did I really need an DC Alert warning me of a "Fire Weather Watch" this morning. Uhhh, thanks. I guess I won't start that large bonfire on my back patio. How should I alter my actions knowing that there is a fire alert? If the building I'm in catches on fire, I should panic more?
if they're considering a tax - make it something people notice...a quarter per bag would start to get people's attention. It's one of those things that if you get in the habit of you'll actually start liking reusable bags for reasons other than saving some far away seagull.
one problem i've run into is i now have to buy dog shit bags instead of reusing the lovely hole ridden bags from giant. but alas...
btw, i had no idea Giant gives you a discount, they've never given me one.
Can someone tell me if the plastic bags at your average grocery store are at least biodegradable? If not, then legislating that would also be helpful.
after a year of lurking, registered just to answer this.
Plastic is never biodegradable, in that no organism can digest it. It is merely degradable, meaning it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, until it's the size of plankton, and is eaten by birds and fish, and works its way up the food chain. That's why the Great Pacific Garbage Patch isn't actually visible on Google Earth, etc., because the pieces are too small.
PLA polymers (like in corn cups) are compostable and biodegradable, but can't withstand heat. And overgrowing corn leads to its own problems with nitrogen load.
www.algalita.org and riseaboveplastics.blogspot.com both have loads of info on this problem.
"a bill that would force District residents to pay 5 cents every time they take a plastic or paper bag from a retail store"
Thank goodness I'm not a resident.
"Get 'ya bags here, 2 cents, 3 cents cheaper than the store."
Retail store = all stores, not limited to the grocery store, right? If you're doing any kind of shopping (clothes, hardware, etc), you're expected to bring your own bags?
The bill refers only to Retail Food Establishments, so grocery stores, drug stores, convenience stores, most liquor stores, etc. I don't believe it applies to restaurants, i.e., takeout.