I'm not sure what happened last weekend, but walking down the street I almost has the feeling someone had scattered the contents of a big dumpster all down the street. I snapped the photo about at about 7:15 Saturday morning. I think it is definitely time we do something about this trash. Look at this, it's ridiculous.
9 comments:
I agree and that "something" should not be me, nor my neighbors out there on saturday mornings picking it up. The city should be cleaning H street every day if necessary. The sources of the litter should be determined,educated and if it continues fined.
The city is clearing some, but I always hear about the street cleaners missing half the trash that's out there. I think we may need to take a variety of approaches. Right now the city is (it seems to me) doing a bit more to clean H Street than it has traditionally done. I know that there are plans in the works to deal with the trash further down in the "entertainment" district. I think the main problem area for trash is 8th & H. But we also have problems with graffiti, illegal dumping, & illegal razor wire. It is great to have people from the community out picking up trash, but I believe this is more about building community than about actually keeping the streets clean. What we need to do is make noise about the mess on H Street. We need to call 727-1000 about graffiti or razor wire or trash that has been illegally dumped. If you see someone illegally dumping trash you should note the license number & car make & color & call 311.
As far as the Office of Neighborhood Serivces is concerned, businesses are responsible for clearing trash all the way out to the treebox.
By the way, isn't that the property owned by H St. Investment Corp. (H St. CDC's for-profit subsidiary?). They work wonders for H St.
I swiped your photos, credited, for some postings of my own. I have written about this at length. The issue isn't cleaning the streets, it's cleaning the sidewalks. Etc. etc. (see e.g., the entry "Every Litter Bit Hurts" in my blog.
Great photos!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, sorry, I meant to put something in my earlier comment about merchant's cleaing their own sidewalks (which a lot don't). As a side note, I do actually have a shot of what appears to a Family Liquor (not exactly known for being a great neighbor) sweeping the sidewalk in front of the liquor store. But back on topic, the stuff about the street cleaning is relevant because sometimes we do have lots of trash in the street (just not in this photo). Obviously the real goal is behavior modification so we won't have to keep cleaning up after selfish & irresponsible people. I'm not sure how you go about changing behavior like this, but I do think people are more likely to toss their trash on the ground when there are already several other pieces lying there.
It's the whole broken window thesis. Another somewhat relevant blog entry, sparked in part by your linking to some research from the Rand Institute on community efficacy, is entitled "Urban Health, Nasty Cities, Broken Windows, and Community Efficacy" from April. More trash begats more trash. And if you don't feel any sense of ownership, you have no conception of why littering is bad, cf. my Sunday blog entry on schools. The best long term change in behavior we could do would be to have students be responsible for cleaning their schools, just like they do in Japan. You understand then, the consequences of mess.
I've been trying to get trash picked up in rear of my house someone dumped six weeks ago (six black bags) no such luck, hope yours is better.
Isn't this at the Blimpies? Why are they not cleaning the sidewalk? Why no cleaning enforcement from the DC government?
This shot was taken outside the Blimpies & the Foot Locker. The trash is gone as of this morning, but I walked on that street last night & it looked like the same trash in this photo. Trash looks like trash, so maybe it wasn't the same, but it looked about equally trashy.
Post a Comment