Is it just us, or has there been an extreme tidal wave of random menus and restaurant fliers being shoved into every possible crevice in our front doors lately? It’s hard to even fathom that there are this many Chinese Food/Pizza/Hoagie Places within a twenty-block radius of our apartments to generate such a maelstrom of take-out menus. The menus from pizza places are especially obnoxious, since every single one essentially has the same menu items, just a different-colored font. On the one hand, we understand that local businesses are going through a slump during the recession and that this is a relatively inexpensive means of advertising, but on the other hand, it is super wasteful and annoying. Not only that, but it also adds to the disgusting garbage tumbleweeds that roll through the streets of Philadelphia, eventually landing in a grimy puddle on the corner and making everything look even more polluted. We dialed up our friends at “311″, the Philly Information Hotline, to ask if this practice is legal and they informed us that as long as these organizations have a permit, they’re allowed to go door to door with their leaflets. They also helpfully noted that we could report any restaurant’s address and find out if they had obtained said permit, but otherwise we just have to suffer. So we ask – is this a problem all over the city, or has Fishtown been hit extra hard? Have you found any creative ways to dispose of these menus?
