06-07-2010: "City of Athens holds event on the value of cleaning up pet waste"

The
first major event to raise awareness for keeping city parks and other
public
areas clean from domestic animal waste was held yesterday at the FIX
Park
in Patisia.




During
the event brochures with information on how to properly dispose of pet
waste and
keep parks clean were distributed. For this purpose, the City of Athens
has already begun to
place marked signs and install special stations with doggie bags for
collecting
dog waste at more than 400 points in the city, local parks and other
public
areas.




The
event was held by the 5th City District of Athens, the City of Athens
Waste
Management Department and the City of Athens
Music Ensembles. Present at the event were Deputy Mayor
for Waste Management and Environment Yiorgos
Dimopoulos, City Councilor Evgenios Kollatos,  5th City
District chairman Vassilis Geladakis, City District Councillors and many
local
residents.




While
addressing the residents, Deputy Mayor Yiorgos
Dimopoulos said:




"From
Patisia a major effort begins. An effort our city needs. To raise
awareness and
educate animal lovers who hurt the image of the city. The aim is to put
an end to
this and say ‘stop' to what we see several times daily in the streets,
neighbourhoods
and city parks: a pet owner littering with their pet.




My
belief is, and we all agree on this, that an animal lover is a person
who has many
emotions and channels that love to animals. So it is inconceivable for
this
person, who is an animal lover, not to have emotions and love for the
urban
environment and above all not to have love for young children,
especially now
that it is necessary for them to go out and play in city parks. This is
why we are
asking everyone to pass on this message and joint effort so that the
problem caused
by a few individuals can be overcome.




The
City of Athens
has begun creating the necessary infrastructure for this project. It is
our
belief that together we can protect the parks and make our city even
better, despite
the large and important problems that we are facing these days."




The
event concluded with a pop and rock music concert of the band DE STIJL
of the City
of Athens Music Ensembles.