Ban dogs.

White Plains is adding about 2,000 new rental apartments over the next couple of years. Each of those apartments could contain one or two dogs. Each of the dogs will need to poop multiple times a day outside in an exposed area. That's in addition to all the current dogs in downtown apartments. Most of the old co-ops and two of the condos ban dogs. But most condos, including the two biggest, Trump and Ritz, allow them. So do the big existing rentals: Trump, Avalon and 55 Bank Street.

Yes, dog owners are required to pick up. To do so they use plastic bags. All those plastic bags should be cause for alarm even if they did not contain poop. The bags need to be disposed of but can they be recycled? Obviously, they cannot be reused.

And how are all those poop filled bags disposed of. Many are placed in designated receptacles. Then what? Beats me. The entire thing makes no sense.

Solution: ban dogs, at least in downtown apartments. The dog thing can be grandfathered/grandmothered to the owner, i.e., while the owner occupies that apartment he/she may continue to have a dog pet. But any lapse in dog residence results in the ban. New occupants are subject to the ban. Obviously, this ban would not apply to people with a handicap who need the dog specifically to help with that handicap.

After a while the fewer and fewer dog owners may feel shamed into replacing their pet addiction with something that helps make White Plains more sustainable.