By Michele H. Lacina
There's no getting around it: Philadelphia is a trashy city.
Walking, riding or biking, you can't escape noticing the mounds of waste heaped along many of our streets. Lately, even those of us who feel affection for the birthplace of independence are beginning to call Philly "Filthy-delphia" under our breath.
We can no longer sweep it under the carpet - Philadelphia needs a makeover.
While our city works to maintain the tourist areas with street cleaning and trash pickup, venture into some of the other sections of our community and, chances are, the landscape will be filled with broken bicycles, worn tires, and gang-related graffiti.
My husband, who worked in Philadelphia for years, told me endless stories about how dirty the city is, but I dismissed his complaints as far-fetched exaggerations.
"All big cities have problems," I told him.
"Yes, but when I have to go out and chase men away so that they don't use the alley next to my window as a urinal, something is wrong," he complained. "When I have to step over syringes and medical waste, something is wrong. When I pass garbage from fruit stands walking to Reading Terminal, something is wrong.
"Someone," he said, "needs to realize that burned-out buildings allowed to sit empty are a magnet for used diapers and piles of trash."
He's right.
What does it say about our city when we turn a blind eye to trash?
For one thing, it says we lack pride.
Every time we drop a greasy wrapper from a cheese steak because we're too "busy" to find a trash can or expect someone else to pick it up because it's "their job," we show disrespect for our city, and for each other.
Once, residents took pride in the appearance of their neighborhoods, utilizing the community spirit so that debris was picked up, a few flowers were planted, sidewalks were swept, and dirt and grime were washed from buildings and walls. It didn't take much money - just soap, water, and some elbow grease.
For a city with an "attitude" about everything from politics to sports, it's disgraceful to think that we're fast becoming known more for the debris littering our streets than for the many cultural and historical entertainments we have to offer.
From business owners to homemakers, pretzel sellers to city workers, we could all solve this problem if we'd begin ditching our cigarette butts in ashtrays and exercising our butts by gathering up unneeded articles and putting them in the proper containers for pickup.
We live in a disposable society. We brag about disposable income. We rely on disposable diapers. We wolf down fast food eaten from disposable containers. We've become accustomed to the convenience of cheaply made items designed to be discarded.
That's progress, but progress comes at a price.
I remember hauling a metal wagon as a kid to collect soda bottles for a two-cent return. Back then, the return on those bottles ensured that few people tossed them aside.
I'm not suggesting we pay people for bags of trash, but I think I know of a way to make some headway on Philly's current situation.
We need to update the Three R's.
We must relearn the art of
respect.
We must
reinforce
the laws and make people accountable for their actions.
We must return to teaching that the
responsibility
for failure or success falls on us.
When I was a child and left the front door open, my mother used to shout, "Do you think you live in a barn?"
Come on, Philadelphia, can we stop acting like we live in a dump?