Fellow Anti-Litter Advocates,
Thank you to all who read and contribute to this forum – especially those who have made a concerted effort to beautify our City by starting with weekly clean ups of their own block. As mentioned, taking ten or fifteen minutes a week to clean a block can make a significant difference in the quality of our everyday lives.
In a perfect world, such efforts wouldn’t be needed. I would much rather address the source – people who litter – than clean up trash after the fact. I agree that greater enforcement of current litter laws would help stem what many see as an epidemic of trash on our streets.
As you can imagine, however, the laws are difficult to enforce. One person here mentioned the disproportionate amount of trash around City Hall. Unfortunately, a good portion of the trash around City Hall is left by the City’ homeless population (an entirely different subject that warrants lengthy discussion). Putting it simply, fining a homeless person for littering would most likely prove fruitless and a waste of City resources – and would be an unkindness to someone of likely limited mental capacity. On other hand, I would absolutely advocate for fining those individuals who should know better, but choose to foul our environment.
I would be remiss if I failed to point out the positive steps being taken all over the City. The new full-time crews who clean the concourse under Center City have already created a noticeable difference. I also expect L&I’s enforcement on the ban against commercial signs on public property will greatly curtail a practice that plagues many neighborhoods. Finally, I think some of the best work is being done by everyday citizens, like people here, who fly under the radar, but do the little things that add up to a cleaner City.
Remember, the “little things” matter:
“For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.”
“For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.”
“For want of a horse, the horseman was lost.”
“For want of a horseman, the battle was lost.”
“For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.”
“And, all for the want of a horseshoe nail!”
The promise of a new Administration in January offers the prospect of renewed efforts and energy to make our City clean and attractive. Please be assured that I will support those efforts. I will also continue to monitor this forum for ideas. Of course, people are always welcome to contact my office directly.
Sincerely,
Frank Rizzo
Councilman At-Large
City of Philadelphia
Comments (1)
Myself and 5 or so neighbors have been
cleaning our street in Lawndale [an old section
in North east Philadelphia] for many years
what I have noticed recently is there is less
trash to pick up, the neighbors that are not
interested [their right] are pitching in by
not littering. If a street is clean do you
want to be the one to throw trash on it. I
don't believe fining people is the answer,
lead by example show them what it looks like
clean and maybe they will get it. In our great
city there is one place that bothers me, I
have been going to the Phila. Museum of Art
on Sundays and if you walk out the back
entrance of the Museum there are several sets
of steps leading down to the water works
there are bottles and paper all over both
sets of steps and the sidewalk inbetween.
This is one of the finest Art Museums on the
east coast and what do people think when
they see this. I picked up bottles and paper
in this area but what it needs is someone
with a weedwacker to get the weeds and a
Fairmount Park crew to spend some time on
this area, I think as on my own street once
people see this area clean they will be less
likely to litter. Mr. Rizzo if you happen to
read this why not help you know who in our
city to call to get this done on a regular
basis. Once these steps get a through clean
it will be much easier to maintain on an
ongoing basis. Let's not be like England
fining for every little thing, it dosen't
work anyway.
APT
Posted by APTorrese | August 25, 2007 4:30 PM
Posted on August 25, 2007 16:30