Bus shelter replaced: Now can we have our bench back?

topic : Intercity Transit

After contacting Works In Progress regarding Chris Allert's article in last month's issue, reporter Rachel Young wrote a fine piece for the Olympian (10/18/2006) about the removal, and by that time, the replacement of the bus shelter in front of DeGarmo's Compounding Pharmacy.

When the bus shelter went missing in late September, Allert called Intercity Transit and was told that owner Richard DeGarmo had requested its removal due to the amount of litter it seemed to generate. DeGarmo was out of town at the time, and could not comment for the WIP article, which urged readers to call both Intercity Transit and DeGarmo's to ask for the high-traffic bus shelter to be returned. It wasn't long thereafter that the shelter re-appeared.

When questioned by Young, DeGarmo told her that he "contacted Intercity Transit because he was tired of all of the trash around his pharmacy, which he attributed to the bus stop. He did not request that the shelter be removed, he said. He asked that something be done about the trash and was surprised when the shelter at Harrison Avenue and Division Street was taken out a couple of weeks ago. 'I have no problem with the shelter, I have a problem with trash.'"

The Olympian article goes on to say that "DeGarmo agreed to have the shelter put back as long as Intercity Transit agrees to be more diligent in keeping the area litter free, said Dennis Bloom, planning manager for Intercity Transit. The agency now has an employee visit the site daily to pick up trash."