Filthadelphia

January 2003

I love this city. I do. However, I won't blink to tell you the amount of litter in Philly is perfectly sickening. Fox Philadelphia's news show has a spot called "what's bugging you," and one of the suburbanites asked about the city quips sternly, "it's too dirty!"

And sadly, she's right. Quasi-governmental agency Center City District's seemingly primary goal is to keep the streets -- of Center City -- clean. Out here where I live in Southwest Center City (or the Graduate Hospital Area), we're just beyond the boundaries of where the people in the cute little teal outfits are required to go on their riding sweepers.

Who is to blame? Everyone. Apathetic block captains. Garbargemen who pay no mind to residential appeal. People who don't clean up after their dogs. Careless smokers. People who put their trash out days before trash day (thus inviting critters and vagrants to rip it apart). Plain old litterbugs.

Is it beyond the point of no return? Not necessarily, but no one (read: City Hall) is initiating anything about it (e.g. having a "city cleanup" day or scavenger hunt or collect-a-trash contest). There are ways about it I guess, but Philadelphia has a long way to go before it sees days as clean as, say, those which Toronto, Portland or Seattle do.

This is a small cross section of the dirty side of Philadelphia. The pictures were all taken in January 2003 on a walk through the Graduate Hospital Area.
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