Basura

[jedard]

What a beuatiful country this is. But wait, who is that person who is destroying it?
Well what do you know, its the Argtentine people themselves. Everywhere one goes you see these pigs throwing there garbage on the ground, on the streets, out the back windows of their homes. These Argentines have no disgrace about this. hell just throw it on the sidewalks, son, thats what mom and dad do.
Now wait a moment, please don't let and tourist get caught doing this, right!
These people are SLOBS! They should all be kicked in the ass and scolded like a little child. What a mess they have made of the roads, streams, rivers parks. And then they have there gall darn dogs shi--i-g everywhere. Is this safe or what?
I don't complain and I love this county but it is going down the drain everyday with the blessing of the government. The human road kill. is also supported by the government,2nd only to Russia in the world.
It seems these people have not heard of the words, clean environment.
oink oink oink..........

 

[sergio]

I don't know about Brooklyn but I find the downtown of most US cities much, much cleaner than the BA microcenter. I try to avoid the microcenter because it is so congested, nosiy and dirty. A few weeks ago I walked down Paraguay from Esmeralda to Florida. The condition at night - in large part due to the cartoneros - was shocking. Garbage strewn everywhere. Filthy - a health hazard. Let's see if Macri does anything to help resolve this - find some dignified work for the cartoneros and get them off the streets. That would make a huge difference. Compared to the filth created by the cartoneros, the Argentine practice of littering is a minor problem. There is an attitude here that only one's own personal space matters. Watch the porters in the morning sweep and clean the area in front of their buildings. Rather than put the garbage in a bag, they often just sweep it into the street. Even if there were education on the subject (I see no sugns of this) this attitude would not change for a long, long time. It''s a sad reality that there is little sense of community spirit in Argentina.

 

[nikad]

The city looks much dirtier since there are cartoneros spilling the garbage everywhere. As I say, if that is their job, well do it right! Get what you need out of the bags, and put everything back the way it was before you leave ( in other words, do your job right!!! )

 

[perry]

In general I find Buenos Aires to be clean . The public bathrooms in Restaurants and Cafes are exceptionally clean .
Portenos pride themselves on their Personal Hygiene and they take tremendous care with their appearance.
I doubt there is a cleaner more fresh smelling race in the World.

 

[JG]

the streets and sidewalks are very dirty though. im almost never in any location without garbage everywhere. its litter every day here. plastic bags, etc. i see them throwing garbage. they do it right in front of my eyes. some of the richer neighborhoods have doormen who clean in front several times a day. ive been all over the province and the country, they litter just about everywhere. they really do and right in front of my eyes. they dont seem to see anythign wrong with it. you should see my plaza on the corner. wow, so much trash. Hve you been down to the nature reserve? the lake that greats you is a garbage dump.
AND im not even going to bring up the ubiquitous graffiti even on their most sacred structures. no not me. not even going to bring that up. Going to shut my pie hole.

 

[perry]

Buenos Aires in the areas I frequent is clean and getting cleaner. I do live in Palermo Viejo and have noticed in the lasy few years a huge improvement in this neighbourhood. They colleect garbage 6 times a week in this city and the problems of Cartoneros I beleive is improving.
As I have stated as a race I find Argentines exceptionally clean . Their restaurants and confiterias are spotless and most houses I attend are the same.
I beleive that some of you hate graffiti which I can understand especially when you have some of the most gorgeous statues on the planet defaced by Political Slogans. Even this problem has significantly improved of late and their is much less defacement of Public Buildings and Monuments .

 

[RWS]

Quoting "pericles":
". . . . I beleive that some of you hate graffiti which I can understand especially when you have some of the most gorgeous statues on the planet defaced by Political Slogans. Even this problem has significantly improved of late and their is much less defacement of Public Buildings and Monuments ."
Perhaps equally distressing is the theft of bronze (and other metals) from statues and monuments. Many tablets and some hands, swords, and other parts have been looted from even the most obvious of places. Again, a sign of lack of sense of community.

 

[JG]

RWS hits the nail on the head. yes, clearly something is lacking, some kind of civic sense and respect for others.
I see argentines throwing garbage all day long. how can others not see it. i see it, they buy something, tear off the wrapper etc and just toss it. many garbage cans have broken botoms as well.
The small building i live in is completely defaced by graffiti and so is most of the private property around me. monuments is just another example. i see the same in the suburbs, complete disregard for monuments or private property. those of you who have been here a while know how bad it is. my god, it was even worse a few years ago. ba often reminds me of a poor neighborhood back home. graffiti, broken sidewalks, bums smoking pot up and down the street, litter everywhere, people living in the plaza. BA has a few rich areas, people who live there shouldnt get too insulated.
Just a small example going back to the argentine passion for graffiti again, i could give many others. Well, mar del plata has several upper middle class areas not far from the commercial center. i dont recall the names off hand. But not long ago i took a long walk through that area on my way to the coast on the other side. well, you cant believe how much private property is defaced. graffiti on houses, but mostly on the stone walls that are typical of the area. By the way, even in this nice area, garbage disposal is hanging a bag from a nail on a tree. no garbage can because someone would steal it. are you getting the picture?
Not long ago in san telmo, an entire block had their door knobs removed at night. We could talk all night about this. i was just "home", there isnt graffiti everywhere, all over the place. But the fact is yes there is on my building here, we wont clean it, because in a day or 2 it would be back again. They burned a tree all day in the street yesterday, they said if they called city services it would take weeks and weeks to get a response. so we had a burning tree, getting the picture?

 

[RWS]

I've a question:
I first visited Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata a dozen years ago and was quite taken (as first-time visitors generally are) by their Europeanness, their many differences from Mexico, Brazil, and most of Latin America: including the comparative lack of graffiti. Each trip since then, I've wondered whether I simply saw too little of Argentina back in 1996, or whether I had been amazingly unobservant.
Does any other poster remember Buenos Aires back then? Was it cleaner and neater? Or did I imagine this?

 

[perry]

In the 1990s Buenos Aires was much more cleaner and relatively graffiti free. In the Late 1990s and then the Economic Crash of 2001 this all changed with the advent of the Cartoneros which was a new phenomenon created by the chaos of the Financial Crash.
The Government is doing a commendable job in restoring the Public Parks and surrounds and I beleive in a few years time the City will become relatively sparkling once again/