Jeremy Cluchey

While littering may not seem like a major issue, for years now it’s something I’ve longed to hear DC’s leaders address. In many neighborhoods around the District, trash is ever-present — in the streets, in yards, on the sidewalks, everywhere. In addition to being unsightly and disrespectful, there’s strong evidence to suggest that litter has a direct effect on the safety of a neighborhood, not to mention its quality of life and even property values.

As near as I can tell, the issue is not that people actively want to litter — it’s that too many people simply don’t realize it’s a problem. It’s ingrained. I recently saw a five-year old girl throw her candy wrapper on the street right in front of her parents, who said nothing. It was bewildering. For many city residents, it’s just how they live.

This post over at the Prince of Petworth blog really brings this problem home. A reader submitted a video of a city employee sitting in a DC Office on Aging van and repeatedly throwing trash out the window into the street. I really hope this gets a response from city officials:

How can we address this? To my occasional chagrin/secret delight, my wife regularly asks people directly to pick up the trash she just watched them discard on the street. This can help raise awareness in small doses. It can also, we’ve learned, provoke a nasty response from some of the more indignant litterbugs. For a while now I have been considering organizing a “neighborhood sweep” in Mount Pleasant, where we live. Maybe it’s time to try to get that moving.