New squad garbage police work to keep Madrid tidy

Spain's capital city is full of many wonderful things, but nobody could accuse its inhabitants of being overly tidy. Broken bottles litter the streets, cigarette butts protrude from the sand at playgrounds, and Sundays dawn with a nose-curling bouquet of revelers' urine and unscooped piles deposited by man's best friend.

But if a new plan by the city council works, Madrilenos will relieve themselves against the wall at their own peril. Soon, a 300-strong squad of "garbage police" will be patrolling the streets, doling out fines high enough to sober you up in a hurry.

Thinking of not picking up after your dog? That'll cost you euro1,500 ($1,875). Got a penchant for graffiti? The fine has gone up tenfold, toeuro3,000 (US$3,766) for a first-time offender - and double that for anyone caught twice. Regular litterers risk penalties of up to euro750 (US$941), as do those who fail to recycle.

"The goal is to defend the rights of the majority, who pay a lot of money in order to live in a city that is clean and safe," said Ana Botella, a conservative Madrid town councilor who spearheaded the get-tough plan, and who's also the wife of Spain's former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Many residents, long since tired of watching their step when they walk and holding their noses during the steamy hot summers, say it's about time.

Parents of young children are perhaps the plan's strongest proponents. Many playgrounds in Madrid's center are in public squares ringed with pubs that overflow into the streets in the evenings. By morning, all manner of refuse can be found amid the swings and jungle gyms.

"I think it's a good idea," said one young mother, Maria Lamamie De Clairac, as she played with her infant daughter at a playground in the Plaza Dos de Mayo in central Madrid. Looking around the plaza, Lamamie de Clairac lamented that it was not particularly child-friendly.

"It's dirty - dirty and full of drunks," she said, gesturing to a group of men holding cans of beer in the early afternoon.

The bill was approved by Madrid's town council Friday, and the new fines have already gone into effect. The garbage squad will be set up in coming weeks.

But some people say Botella and the council have gone too far. They point to a penalty of up to euro750 for anybody caught rifling through public garbage bins, which they say needlessly targets the poor just as Spain's economy is collapsing. Opponents also complain the bill would allow authorities to invade people's privacy by sifting through waste to make sure they are recycling properly.

Invasion of privacy or not, many residents say it's past time the government took tidiness more seriously.

"We have to have a clean city," Lamamie De Clairac said. "All the streets here are full of dog poop."

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Associated Press writer Jeannie Nuss contributed to this report.