Upham Beach has a SERIOUS litter problem. Every time I’ve been to Upham Beach this summer I’ve encountered a shameful amount of plastic and paper litter. I’m not talking about one or two items here and there. Everybody can make the mistake of leaving a small piece of trash behind on rare occasions. I’m talking about deliberate disrespect for the beach. Much of the litter is left on the beach in front of the Envoy Point, Starlight Towers, and Caprice condominiums near the jetty.
The litter, I’m sad to say, appears largely to be attributable to teenagers (based on my personal observations). I’ll just leave it at that for now, although I reserve the right to publish actual photos of the perpetrators in the future. I’m amazed that the condo residents are so tolerant of this behavior.
To its credit, Suncoast Surfrider Foundation, under the direction of Mike Meehan, frequently stages cleanups of this area. A couple of weeks after the last cleanup, I came back to Upham to find the mess pictured in the photos. In about 10 minutes, right on the beach in front of the aforementioned condominiums, I picked up a full 13 gallon trash bag of litter.
The litterbugs even leave their clothes in the bushes (on private property no less).
The beach is for all to enjoy and there is no reason to litter, nor is their a reason for us to tolerate the act of littering. Not only is litter ugly, some of it is dangerous to wildlife.
Many of us like to talk about being “green” and respecting the environment. Why don’t we start at Upham Beach?
Another side effect of a few irresponsible people littering the beach is credibility. The condo residents see the young people hanging out on the beach, riding their skimboards, etc., and leaving their litter behind, and associate this disrespectful behavior with surfers and beach culture in general.
In a recent St. Pete Beach Commission meeting where the surfing community was trying to assume a reasonable and credible position against rushing into building permanent rock structures on Upham Beach, one condo resident made a remark associating the surfers with throwing litter onto their property, attempting to call into question the credibility and motives of those associated with surfing. Why put ourselves in this position?
Further, I’d like to point out that even though condos are often an eyesore, and frequently have little in the way of foliage and trees around them, a fine example of stewardship exists right above the beach in front of those Upham Beach condos by the jetty. A beautiful and peaceful garden is lovingly tended by the condominium residents and is open to the public. The gentleman below welcomed me into the garden as he was going about his work in the hot August sun.
Notice also the use of a compost bin to recycle garden waste (below). Sunset beach is visible on the other side of Blind Pass.
Yes, the condos are built too close to the Gulf, but the current residents are making the best of what they have.
Why don’t we ALL work together to make Upham a better place to play?
