OSWEGO, NY—On Monday, October 27, Mayor Billy Barlow and City Hall officials unanimously voted to ban the use of styrofoam and smoking on public properties. 

A concerned member of the community took the opportunity to speak about the effect of smoking on the community. 

“Discarding cigarette butts constitute the majority of litter on beaches, playgrounds, etc. The reduction of use results in reduced clean up costs for the community,” said the woman. 

Cigarette filters, e-cigarette pods and plastic wrappers all contain toxic chemicals that can leak into water supplies and are non-biodegradable. These products can also pose a major threat to children and small animals. 

“That’s the bottom line for me is quality of life. There will be improvement for us, as current residents as well as the future residents,” said Council Member Robert A. Corridino. 

SUNY Oswego students also expressed their support for the ban, but adding more can and should be done. 

“To have them all be more encompassing and have a more robust ‘Keep Oswego Clean Initiative.’ I feel like besides just banning styrofoam products they should too expand it to ban other single use plastic products as well…” said former Student Association President, Omar van Reenan. “Then we also have to take that responsibility to heart and act on that responsibility to protect not just the people but the environment of the city of Oswego as well.” 

Now that it has been passed, the initiative will go into effect on April 22, 2020, which is also Earth Day.

SUNY Oswego’s improvised comedy club, the Shawn Cassidy Fan Club, hosts weekly shows every Saturday night at the Marano Campus Center Auditorium at 8 PM.

Kayla Bonasera is the club president.

“Every Saturday night we do live improve comedy performances where we have sketch-based comedy that revolves around the suggestions that we take from our audience,” said Kayla.

In the darkness of this room not only the bracelets glow, but some of the worst humor also comes to surface, which is why they must censor some parts of the show.

“It does get crazy. During the parents weekend show we censor it. We actually allow one swear word,” said Carl Neff, who is treasurer of the club.

But not only the local students and their parents come to the shows. One example is Spanish exchange student Andrea Rodriguez.

“I think the most exciting thing about this performance is that they all act natural,” said Andrea.

If you are looking for something fun to do on the weekends here on campus, the troop practices every Sunday night and performs the skits on Saturdays.