In recognition of a resident who supports “Every Neighborhood Clean” and works to “preserve what matters” this entry is devoted to Wade Northington. Wade has served as a neighborhood representative on the Advisory Committee. He currently chairs the Landscape Committee and co-chairs the Maintenance Committee. His spirit of volunteerism, and initiative, continues to help the community. Read below his recent letter to the Birmingham News.
Dear Birmingham News,
The Ross Bridge Neighborhood Homeowners Association represents over 1800 residential households. The RBN HOA Landscape Committee is charged with maintaining the 2000 acre Ross Bridge property in pristine condition as a premier living space. One of our biggest issues on a daily/weekly basis is fighting litter from newspapers.
The City of Hoover City ordinances regarding litter and newspapers provides that “newspapers shall be placed on private property in such a manner as to prevent their being carried or deposited by the elements upon any street, sidewalk or other public place or upon private property.” The fine for noncompliance is $200 for the first offense and $250 for subsequent offenses. Trust me, virtually every one of the hundreds of copies of the Birmingham News/Life delivered to Ross Bridge is in violation of this ordinance.
Ross Bridge requires residents to provide a paper box attached to the mailbox post for the express purpose of delivery of newspapers and other handouts to prevent litter. The carriers who deliver the Birmingham Newspaper and Birmingham Life in Ross Bridge deposit the papers on the edge of driveways, in the curb, or in the strip between the curb and sidewalk (city owned), ignoring the paper boxes. Many of these papers end up being blown or washed into the curb and streets creating unsightly litter and resulting in our having to manually retrieve and dispose of the papers.
Although it may increase delivery times to do so, please ask your delivery agents to deposit the Birmingham News and Birmingham Life in the paper boxes provided for this purpose or well into the resident property as provided in the ordinance. If the paper box is full, don’t deliver. Going forward, we will document and report noncompliance to the City of Hoover for enforcement.
We deeply appreciate your cooperation in helping us address the litter issues in Ross Bridge and Hoover!
Wade Northington
RB HOA Landscape Committee Chairman