We're talking Rubbish - Again
MEOTRA's streets have over the past couple of years become increasingly covered with litter, graffiti and that old East End specialty the dumped mattress. It gets me down. You too?
All the photos above were taken over a short (100 yard) section of Grove Road in one 5 minute period in late August. Several residents and our local Councillor Josh Peck called and emailed Look Ahead (who own the multiple-occupancy building between the cab office and the first of the houses in Grove Rd) about the bulky rubbish on their land and it has now been removed, as too has the scaffolding which was there almost three months. If you notice any bulky rubbish accumulating on their site then call Look Ahead are on 020 7368 4885.
So what can you do to help prevent our corner of the East End from sliding back into the primeval soup? Well, use the free FixMyStreet system as you can use it via a website, mobile website, as well as android and apple apps. It takes a minute or two to report most issues using the system.
FixMyStreet publish all the reported problems online so you can see what other problems have been reported in your area and they pass reports on to the local council automatically.
On the right hand side of the MEOTRA website we have a "feed" of all the reported issues in our Bow West ward. I reported that dumped fridge on the 6th and it has gone this (Sunday) afternoon. So the system works.
Tower Hamlets Council also have a free "App for That" called FiFiLi (Find It; Fix It; Love It). But I find it doesn't always work and there is no transparency: The only way to find out what issues have been reported is via a lengthy Freedom of Information Request and no record is kept of how long issues take to resolve.
"Every time I see a common street problem, like a pothole or a dumped mattress within a 100 yards of my home I'll report it using FixMyStreet"