Mayor Kevin Faulconer is proposing a budget of $70,000 for a second weekly trash pickup in Mission Beach. The summer months is breeding time for flies and it’s a nuisance to tourist and beach neighborhoods like Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, La Jolla and Mission Beach. This summer there will be 20,000 tourist visiting San Diego. To keep America’s Finest City looking fine, the flies have got to go.
A scientist was hired by the city and Mission Beach rates high on flies. Mission Beach is high dense area, has little open space and it’s easy for scavengers to lift open and leave open trash. This is how flies enter and lay their eggs.
One thing I wish they added to the article is that people should pick up after their own dog. Dog waste is the most important variable in eliminating flies. Our warm San Diego weather and the moisture from the dogs waste is a perfect recipe for a horde of flies to flourish. From a Flies perspective that Dog waste is “the good stuff”. A fertilized egg can hatch within 24hrs. A female fly can expel 150 eggs at one time and lay over 500 eggs over the course of 3 to 4 days. The fly issue is a sanitation problem because they play a role in transmitting diseases from food poisoning to respiratory illnesses.
Maybe it’s a bizarre belief thats picking up dog waste is natural and it will fertilize the grass. However, it’s a convenient excuse to avoid the dirty job of dog ownership. I understand that the budget of $70,000 might be necessary to spend on extra trash picking. San Diego is high in population. By 2020, San Diego will grow in 1,000,000 more people. Even though our population is growing, lets not forget to be considerate to each other. Dog owners can do there part in picking up after their dogs. It’s common courtesy. It will help prevent disease causing bacteria and parasites, it helps prevent flies and no one likes stepping in it.
If you have practical tips on how you keep waste at a minimum don’t forget to share them with us!
