Littering Probelem... What to do? (renters, home, landlords)

[Banx]

there is absolutely nothing you can do... zero, zilch. you are completely helpless in this scenario. this is just the natural order of things and this is the way it was meant to be. trying to stop litter here in Humboldt Park is like trying to stop the world from turning.

[Brisklaw]

Don't frat boys do community service projects? Get some of them from Northwestern to pick up the litter.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by Brisklaw

Don't frat boys do community service projects? Get some of them from Northwestern to pick up the litter.

every day forever?

[lenniel]

It most certainly is a function of education and income level. If you drive through Lincoln Park and then drive through Humboldt Park, it's pretty obvious just by the amount of litter in the streets/yards of where the educated people live. Same thing on the northside...Drive through Ravenswood, then cross a few streets into Uptown and you'll see the same thing.

I really don't see any other explanation but I'm interested to hear from some of the liberal social theorists.

[Chi-town Native]

really, what you can do is keep your own property clean & pick up the litter immediately so that it sends a signal that people care.

I completely agree that littering is almost a ground zero of anti-social behavior - it's also downright stupid in an evolutionary sense, in the sense of not polluting your own environment.

Even the friggin' dumbest animals know not to **** where they drink...

[Milwaukee City]

I have a strategy that works, I call it the "call out". Anytime I see anyone littering I "call them out on it". Usually I yell " Hey! what do you think you're doing pal?" and usually people are caught by surprise that they actually have no idea what you are talking about but when I confort them about littering they 99/100 they will pick up the trash. However this is only a short term solution but what ever happened to the days when you couldn't do anything wrong in your neighborhood without someone calling you out on it and it getting back to your family or community.

I usually call people lazy_____ and I even use this tactic with the homeless people as well. Plus I let my alderman know that we need the street sweeper to come by again. If you start taking care of your property others will notice as well. I would clean up trash no matter where you are, I pick up trash where ever I see it not just between the property lines.

Good Luck.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

I have a strategy that works, I call it the "call out". Anytime I see anyone littering I "call them out on it". Usually I yell " Hey! what do you think you're doing pal?"

Make sure you're ready for trouble if you do that in Humboldt Park. In any event such individual confrontation is a sisyphean labor.

[nikitakolata]

Well, I am glad I posted, because I wouldn't have thought to "target" children in fixing a littering problem. I don't exactly know how I will do that, since I don't have kids and I'm not even sure what school most of the kids in my neighborhood go to, but I'm going to look into it. Littering really bugs me and it just plain grosses me out. I have been very tempted to go down my entire block and pick up all the trash, but I can't do that everyday for the rest of my life, unfortunately. My husband and I keep our house looking really nice, so at least I can try and lead by example.

I have written my alderman a few times, but he definitely does not care about littering. I know there are bigger problems in Humboldt Park, but at the same time, I feel like we need to start somewhere. Maybe if the residents cared more about their immediate home environment they would start caring about the community as a whole more? I don't have the answers, but I am way too intimidated by the gang members around me to confront that issue. Littering is more my speed, I guess.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

I have a strategy that works, I call it the "call out". Anytime I see anyone littering I "call them out on it". Usually I yell " Hey! what do you think you're doing pal?" and usually people are caught by surprise that they actually have no idea what you are talking about but when I confort them about littering they 99/100 they will pick up the trash. However this is only a short term solution but what ever happened to the days when you couldn't do anything wrong in your neighborhood without someone calling you out on it and it getting back to your family or community.

I usually call people lazy_____ and I even use this tactic with the homeless people as well. Plus I let my alderman know that we need the street sweeper to come by again. If you start taking care of your property others will notice as well. I would clean up trash no matter where you are, I pick up trash where ever I see it not just between the property lines.

Good Luck.

That's kind of like yelling at SUV drivers from your Prius. You may technically be in the right morally but.... I bet you've found a few retalatory McDonalds bags and empty Ni-Hi 2-liter bottles on your parkway in your time haven't you?

I've a feeling that a typical Humbolt Park resident is going to be indifferent at best and hostile at worst if nikitakolata comes outside shaking her fist and calling them lazy bums. She'll be better off targeting the children and setting a base for an anti-littering campaign within the community -- or moving to an area where they don't litter so much!

[quigboto]

Originally Posted by nikitakolata

Well, I am glad I posted, because I wouldn't have thought to "target" children in fixing a littering problem. I don't exactly know how I will do that, since I don't have kids and I'm not even sure what school most of the kids in my neighborhood go to, but I'm going to look into it. Littering really bugs me and it just plain grosses me out. I have been very tempted to go down my entire block and pick up all the trash, but I can't do that everyday for the rest of my life, unfortunately. My husband and I keep our house looking really nice, so at least I can try and lead by example.

I have written my alderman a few times, but he definitely does not care about littering. I know there are bigger problems in Humboldt Park, but at the same time, I feel like we need to start somewhere. Maybe if the residents cared more about their immediate home environment they would start caring about the community as a whole more? I don't have the answers, but I am way too intimidated by the gang members around me to confront that issue. Littering is more my speed, I guess.

I too, bought a house in Humboldt Park and am amazed by the amount of trash I have to pick up out of my front yard daily, and in my drives through the city, how many times I see wrappers, cups, etc. simply discarded out the windows of cars or dropped on the sidewalk...this in a city that has trash barrells and dumpsters everywhere!! I definitely believe this is a socio-economic issue. There's litter everywhere, but its definitely worse in economically depressed areas, maybe equal parts lack of education/ apathy due to lack of ownership or something. The thing that kills me is the "No Yuppies" crowd claims to have such neighborhood pride, but they can't even pick up their own trash. I would sell my house back for 0 profit to these loudmouths and let them have their craphole neighborhood all to themselves if I could. After 4 years HP is still a dump and with the local's attitude, it will never get better. Most of my neighbors are decent hard working people and I get a long great with them, but there are so many bad apples...
Some idiot took a crap against my garage door yesterday, Thats' the second time its happened this summer.
I wish I'd never bought a house in Humboldt Park.