SunRail will celebrate its 5th anniversary in a few days. Before that happens, can somebody please clean the SunRail stations at Lynx Central Station and in Sanford?
The accompanying photo was taken at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday (4/24) on the northbound platform at Lynx Central Station. There was trash on the platform and the fenced area between the platform and the neighboring apartment complex.
It’s clear the platform area had not been cleared in a long time. Some trash has blown onto the railroad tracks.
One problem complicating the situation is that homeless people camp at the station overnight. Many sleep in the station on flattened cardboard boxes. Some sleeping pads were still on the platform Wednesday morning.
There are mystery substances smeared on the platform. The platform needs daily power washing.
Every morning hundreds of people get off SunRail trains and walk through this mess on the way to the sprawling Orange County Courthouse. In a few months, this station also will be used by people headed Creative Village and the downtown campus of the University of Central Florida and Valencia College.
The maintenance issue in Sanford is not as egregious as Lynx, but it is still very serious. A few weeks ago, we wrote about litter at that station. The biggest pieces of litter have been picked up, but the bus loop next to the station is strewn with thousands – no exaggeration – of cigarette butts. (See the accompanying photo.) Many of these cigarette butts have been faded by the weather, so it’s clear they have been there for a long time.
A Sanford official told us that one reason for the problem is that the federal Department of Homeland Security won’t let the city deploy cigarette butt receptacles because terrorists can use them to hide bombs. He pointed out that’s why they have see-though trash receptacles with transparent bags.
Good point!
That rule applies to all the SunRail stations, such as the one at Sand Lake Road where you would be hard-pressed to find two dozen cigarette butts or any trash.
How does Sand Lake Road stay so clean?
“I just stay on top of it,” said the Sand Lake Road maintenance man that everybody knows as Dan.
Cigarette butts are not just unsightly, they are an environmental hazard. Though cigarette butts and filters look like cotton, they aren’t. They’re plastic. We were surprised to learn that cigarette butts make up more than one-third of the litter that is collected annually worldwide.
The discarded cigarette butts leach toxic chemicals, including arsenic and lead into the soil and water. There are huge stormwater pipes at the train station.
Waste from the station ends up in nearby Lake Monroe. It’s ironic that beautiful mosaics of alligators and manatees decorate the sidewalk at the Sanford SunRail bus loop.
SunRail it’s addressing the maintenance issues at Lynx with contractors who are supposed to do the work. SunRail officials also said they’re discussing the issues at Sanford SunRail with the City of Sanford and Seminole County.
The maintenance at the Sand Lake Road station is the gold standard that should be applied throughout the system.
Please get ‘er done and keep those stations clean. The riders and the community deserve it.
