I took the picture below on April 6th, the day after Philly Cleanup. I wanted to send a message to the mayor saying something like, you forgot this place. The location is across from a bunch of chain strip-mall stores (Home Depot, Walmart, etc). The amount trash was/is unbelievable. Its mainly plastic, but there were also furniture, carpets, electronic goods that looked like new except it was ruined because of exposure to rain/sun. One homeless guy was attempting to sell some of the goods by opening up a store front on the road’s divider. Also visible are train tracks which aren’t used anymore. I don’t why they aren’t used because it would solve so many of the city’s problems at once if they were. But, I live in a city that tends to cater exclusively to car-drivers. And of course the wealthy…which brings me to my second picture.
The picture below is of a mural in one of the wealthier neighborhoods. I like art that is beautiful and is accessible to everyone without an admission price or membership - which is one reason I like street art alot (especially legal street art). But this area is spotless. There are garbage bins everywhere and the townwatch people are big busy bodies. I don’t have any grand conclusions…but I wish this city was a bit cleaner. Everywhere.






Whoa! That is a heck of a lot of trash!!! I think our culture has a lot of adjusting to do.
Comment by Green Bean — August 22, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
That IS a lot of trash, somehow though, I am not surprised that the wealthier areas of town are cleaner. That is how it was in St. Louis, in the “hood” areas, there was trash and everything was unkempt, but in the “high dollar areas” there seemed to be more trashcans than people. Just goes to show priortities.
Street art is really cool, that is a beautiful mural.
Comment by Jennifer — August 23, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
I don’t understand the trash. The thing I don’t get is that many of the people are unemployed and when I am not working (either voluntarily or involuntarily), I have this crazy compulsion to deep clean everything, even areas outside.
We do have alot of adjusting to do. I think we’re going to do whether we like it or not. I’d rather people do it out of their own free will so they are not resentful of it however.
Comment by Beany — August 24, 2008 @ 12:14 pm