Each night dozens of trucks carrying 15 people depart from Mexico
City’s downtown to Francisco I Madero Avenue, the most famous
pedestrian street in the capital. Armed with 90C vapour guns called
Terminators, the group begins the laborious task of combing the street
looking for small, black circles fastened to the ground.
It takes them three days, working in eight-hour shifts, to go through
the 9,000 sq metre avenue. By the end, they have removed a total of
11,000 pieces of chewing gum....
The war on gum is waged in cities worldwide. The Wall Street Journal denounced gum as a “black plague”
on New York City almost a decade ago, and cities from Seattle to
Singapore have made eradicating it a central part of their urban
philosophy.
Imagine what it would be like to extract the thoughts and plans and sorrows and laughter from each colorful bit of chew. What an advertisement for silence, perhaps.
Perhaps more trash cans would help. But then, they took away public restrooms and drinking fountains for our own good so...
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