Beefed-Up Patrols Will Try to End Tradition of Tossing Out the Old

Tired of sweeping up the mess, Los Angeles officials are trying to end a New Year’s Eve tradition of hurling desk calendars from the windows and rooftops of Downtown buildings.

In the final days of 1993, the city will beef up security patrols in City Hall and other city buildings to cut down on the litter. Pleas also are going out to workers in other Downtown high-rises as well.

“Although we attempted to prevent this practice in past years, a substantial amount of litter was thrown from Civic Center buildings,” Randall C. Bacon, general manager of the city’s Department of General Services, said in a memo to be distributed to city employees this month.

Those who are caught heaving their calendars to the ground will be disciplined, officials said, although acknowledging that no one has been caught in the act.

City officials also are appealing to workers’ sense of fiscal responsibility. The city is in a serious budget mess, the argument goes, and the thousands of dollars in overtime costs for street cleaning will only make it worse.

“The practice of throwing desk calendars from windows and rooftops to celebrate the end of the year has become a costly problem which we can ill afford,” Bacon’s memo said.

In case neither of those appeals work, officials are also trying the guilt trip.

“Before you throw, remember that some poor city employee who wants to be home has to go out with a sweeper to clean it up,” said Patrick Howard, director of the Bureau of Street Maintenance.