Posted on 10/05/2004 6:28:38 AM PDT by pittsburgh gop guy
Post-Pearl Jam cleanup keeps city parking workers busy
Maintenance crews had their hands full of all kinds of refuse following Friday night’s show at the Sovereign Center.
By Dan Kelly Reading Eagle
It took more than music to soothe the savage political beast created when Pearl Jam politicked at the Sovereign Center in Reading on Friday night.
It also took a lot of cleaning up.
Pearl Jam arguably may be the biggest act to play the arena, but the rock group also generated the biggest mess, officials said.
“I concur, totally,” Lawrence H. Lee, Reading Parking Authority executive director, said Monday. “We were still cleaning up this morning.”
Pearl Jam lectured and then performed to a sold-out crowd of about 9,000 people as part of “Vote for Change,” an effort by musicians, actors and other artists to back Democrat John Kerry for president.
The Pearl Jam concert and five other shows in Pennsylvania, a key swing state in the presidential election, also were aimed at boosting voter turnout among young, disaffected music fans.
Though it was unclear how many people registered to vote at the Sovereign Center, Lee said Pearl Jammers generated more debris than the fans for Cher and, for that matter, every other concert this year combined.
The mess in authority lots and garages was less the incidental rubbish of the typical arena spectator and more the telltale debris of fans who arrived early, stayed late and enjoyed themselves while they were here.
“There was an inordinate amount of tailgating,” Lee said.
Lee, a former military man, had prepared his troops for duty on Saturday morning because a family had rented the Penn Court parking lot for a wedding reception at the center Saturday night.
But when parking authority boots hit the ground they were ankle deep in bottles and cans, charcoal ash and various and sundry wrappers and caps.
While most Pearl Jam fans prefer beer, there also were a lot of wine drinkers in attendance, Lee noted.
“We were semi-prepared in that we were ready to bring people in on Saturday for the cleanup,” Lee said. “But this was not the usual situation.”
Lee said he does not have a final tally for the cost of policing up after Pearl Jam, but he knows it’s going to be his biggest bill of the year.
“We filled two dump trucks full of garbage bags and we still have our Dumpster full,” he said.
Anyone who flew over Reading Sunday or early Monday might have been intrigued by the refuse on top of some parking facilities near the center.
“I made a decision not to clean the roof decks, which are rarely used, so that our people could at least have some semblance of a weekend,” Lee said. “That was all cleaned up this (Monday) morning.”
One thing Kerry backers and supporters of President Bush may want to consider about Pearl Jammers is their disposable income.
“Some of them dumped their grills and left the ash on the pavement,” Lee said. “Others just left their grills and hibachis, lawn chairs everything.”
Contact reporter Dan Kelly at 610-371-5040 or dkelly@readingeagle.com.
Hah!
The "great unwashed" indeed!
Somebody else's environment, yes.
"While most Pearl Jam fans prefer beer, there also were a lot of wine drinkers in attendance, Lee noted."
haha - wine drinkers? i wonder how many elitists showed up.
Wine?
Probably empty bottles of Night Train, Mogen David and Gallo Pink Chablis for those with a little more money.
I don't see why they're complaining... most of the garbage was able to drive itself home.
Thunderbird...Boone's Farm...Mad Dog 20/20...
Isn't the band Pearl Jam a corporation? What is the law concerning making political contributions to a political campaign 30 days before an election? What does the FEC have to say about this "tour"?
LOL, of course there was more rubbish - a large part of Cher's fan base are neat gay men.
It's part of the whole moveon.org and (leftist)America(ns) Coming Together concert series.
And I wonder how many doobs were found.
This did not help Kerry.
Disposable income.....ROFL.......if they got 100 new people who actually registered and go to vote I'll be shocked.......
Aren't the lefty loons the ones screaming about keeping the planet clean??
You ever see the pics of Woodstock after everybody left? I've seen cleaner landfills.
When they're not screaming about how awful people who don't think like them are.
I was wondering why Pearl Jam picked Reading then it occurred they were trying to create buzz in the more red-state part of Pa.
Well they did :-)
I suspect a good percent of those attending did not even come from Pa.
Another statement by the left! Let the jerks that have to work for a living clean this mess up.
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