Hey, look, don't get me wrong. I love my home town. It's packed with friendly people. Lots of great restaurants. So much to do for fun. But still -- it's not perfect. There's too much damn litter around.
My town is in New England. Population about 40,000. A tourist Mecca. I live in the middle of the down town neighborhood, surrounded by condos, stores, restaurants, and fascinating, colorful people, especially all the guys and gals sporting tattoos.
Really, it would be heaven -- if only there wasn't so much junk scattered around. You know -- cigarette butts, plastic soda bottles, cardboard coffee cups, straws -- you got the picture. I want to do something about all this litter. So I'm writing up a plan, and sharing it with you, too, just in case your hometown could use some sprucing up.
Great way to get the plan rolling. We had one in my town two months ago. A town manager organized the whole thing. She publicized the event with fliers, posted them in store windows. Advertised the big day on the town newspaper and website. Asked for volunteers to step forward by email or phone. Promised them, too, when the big clean up day was over, they'd all be treated to free pizza in the town park. She would supply all the brooms, shovels, and garbage bags.
We all met in small groups, in different locations throughout the downtown. The manager assigned a captain for each group. The captains directed their volunteers to different downtown locations where litter was a plenty.
I got the job of sweeping clean a brick walkway adjacent to office buildings and a restaurant.
I didn't need a garbage bag, just a broom to sweep all the litter and mushy, decaying clumps of leaves. OK, maybe leaves aren't litter, but when they're long dead and turning into mud, they sullied the walkway -- so I swept them all away with the traditional litter, dumping all along the curb. The manager had told me, "Richard, town sweeper trucks will be coming through later in the day to clean up the curbside."
There I am, in photo 1, sweeping away, wearing a reflective green vest I got with my own money -- more about that vest later.
Whatever town employee or manager of volunteers spearheaded the clean-sweep day gets the name, phone number, and email addresses of the volunteers who showed up. From now on, I'll identify the person running the initial clean-up effort as the manager.
The manager contacts the volunteers, asking them to show up for a meeting to set in motion a follow-up program to keep the city streets litter-free -- long term. A one shot clean-sweeps day with no follow-up will soon find the streets as dirty as before.
A volunteer visits a local coffee shops. Asks to speak to the owner. Gives the owner a flier, announcing a citywide program to build city pride by getting individual property owners to spruce up walkways next to their business. Point out the discarded coffee cups, cigarette butts, plastic bags near the entranceway. Suggest to the owner that they place a butt-deposit container outside their entrance door. A wastepaper basket, too. Explain that the better his store looks from the outside, the more likely customers will anticipate the place is clean and neat on the inside. And the neater and cleaner the whole neighborhood looks -- if other store owners cooperate, too -- than more valuable the property looks.
Explain, too, that every store owner who promises to make a special effort to keep the sidewalks next to his/her store neat and clean -- well, they will receive a sticker for their window. The sticker will announce that this place of business is participating in the town's City Pride program. Then, too, the store's name will be added to the town's website as a supporting business. Maybe, even too, a photo of the restaurant-front showing a before and after shot of how much improved the adjacent sidewalk is.
But what about home owners -- or even renters? They, too, can help develop city pride by cleaning up the sidewalks in front of their homes or apartments. And their names can also be added to the town website as volunteers working for the town's benefit. Maybe even owners or renters can be enticed to clean up adjacent city-owned parking lots. And a sign identifying the volunteer(s) can be posted at each parking lot's entrance.
You want to make this city-pride clean-up program contagious. You want it to attract others to volunteer. The volunteer vest would make it known that the person neatening up the sidewalk is not a paid city employee, but instead a volunteer spending time and effort to benefit not only his own property, but the entire neighborhood. See photo 2.
Sometimes observers may like to join in the effort. Maybe they will ask the volunteer about the program. The volunteer will have in his pocket a card with the name, email address and phone number of the manager whom observers can contact to learn how to join in the effort.
Make the volunteers feel like an elite, social group. The manager at least once a month will organize a social gathering for all the volunteers. Perhaps they can be offered free coffee and goodies, maybe donated by a business participating in the City-Pride program.
Take photos of the participants. Send the photos into local news editors, encouraging them to run a story about what the volunteers are doing. Also, add some of the photos to the town website. Post the photos in the window of the chamber of commerce, perhaps under the heading, "These folks are helping to build City-Pride."
The long range goal reaches beyond a Clean-Sweep day. The goal is to grow the city pride that will move property owners voluntarily to clean up the sidewalks, parking lots bordering their own homes and businesses, not for just a single day, but for long term. My five step plan shows a path that can lead my town and your town to reach for litter-free neighborhoods -- reflecting a growing city pride.
Be sure to see Links to other city plans for fighting litter.