Cleanliness|Urinating on the street and littering are commonplace in Kallio and Sörnäis, two townspeople say.
“Gate gongs, parks, beaches and bush areas are used as toilets. It’s a real problem, and it goes beyond the limits of tolerance”, says the person who lived in Kallio’s Siltasaari for three and a half years Tanja Sandell.
Urban cleanliness became a topic of conversation last weekend, when some of the visitors to the Helsinki City Festival and Sideways events organized in Taka-Töölö emptied their bladders in the yards of housing associations in the nearby areas.
According to Sandell, the phenomenon is not limited to the festival season or a certain part of the city – and not just to urination.
He noticed immediately after moving to Kallio that people like to gather in the nearby area, such as Tokoinranta and Pitkänsillanranta, for picnics on sunny days. The dark side of the phenomenon also became clear to him quickly.
“In summer, the beaches are full of waste of all sizes, for example pizza boxes, backpacks, wine bottles and cans. Then they are in the sea when the wind blows.”
In Sandell’s opinion, the city mainly handles the cleaning flawlessly, but he demands a more straightforward responsibility from the partygoers themselves.
“You have to get some rats.”
In Sörnäinen resident Emilia Yläinen says that he watched the horror of the workers with amusement.
The bushes and tree roots in the Katri Vala park next to his home are watered even in dry weather without a festival.
It’s sadder when the necessities are placed on the doors of other people’s homes.
“If I could choose whether there is a urinal in my portico or not, of course it would be nicer not to, but I myself have chosen my living area and I feel very comfortable here,” Yläinen describes.
In addition to urine, according to Yläinen, the street scene is polluted by nakki kiosk garbage, cans and occasional drug syringes. He believes that the problem can only be improved up to a point with infrastructure like toilets and garbage.
The root causes lie somewhere deeper.
“Surely we should think about how alcoholics, homeless people and drug users wouldn’t drive on that road at all,” Yläinen thinks.
He agrees with Sandell’s observation that maintaining street cleanliness in good summer weather seems more difficult than normal.
“In winter, there are fewer people on the streets, when there is no other than dogs peeing in the snow. So there is always something there.”
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