I know we should be wary of efforts to legislate pet peeves, but count me as a supporter of City Councilmember Simcha Felder's proposal to allow New Yorkers to opt out of the stream of advertising circulars, menus, and other fliers currently being delivered unbidden onto our doorsteps.
It's bad enough, as a tenant, having to wade through a pile of soggy junk mail everytime you walk up your stoop. Throw them out, and more quickly appear. As Felder points out, homeowners have it even worse: they're on the hook with the Department of Sanitation for what is, essentially, someone else's garbage. And then there's the environmental cost of churning out all those plastic-wrapped papers. Felder isn't proposing an outright ban - just the chance to say no thanks to all the clutter. It's a do-not-call list for your front step.
I'm actually surprised that a bill like this hasn't been proposed already. Other cities do the same thing - for instance Amsterdam, where you can see, on every mailbox, a sticker indicating whether or not the building's residents want to receive the free junk. If I recall correctly, there are even a couple of options - for instance, one could say "yes" to menus but "no thank you" to piles of Rite-Aid coupons.
In the grand scheme of things, it's hardly a towering issue. But then quality of life is all about the little things, isn't it?
