All last week I drove the same route to and from Brooksvale Park where I am a Nature Educator. On Still Hill Rd. near West Woods School was a bag of trash in the road.
The first morning I swerved to avoid it thinking the guy in the nearby utility truck would pick it up. In the afternoon I saw it still there and though, "It's not mine."
On Tuesday trash was spilling out of the bag and it was closer to the side of the road. I thought, "I can't believe no one has picked it up!" and kept on driving. Later that day when I spotted it I thought to myself, "Someone walking their dog will pick it up and throw it out at home," as I had just passed 3 different dog walkers in 1/4 mile.
On Wednesday it was still there and I was ticked. I could almost understand someone in a rush to get to work, bring a child to day camp, get to their nails done and saying, "I don't live here, it's not mine" and driving past. But what about the people who live in that neighborhood? Don't they care how their streets look? I purposely left it there to again see if anyone cared.
My disappointment increased on Thursday when I saw that the grass had been mowed and the trash bag was still there. The funny thing? The trash was moved from the street to the "tree lawn" but still, no one bothered to take it away. I guess they thought, "Someone else will do it."
Sometime during the week I also saw town trucks up the road a piece, more dog walkers, runners and am figuring that police, fire and other service vehicles passed that way dozens and dozens of times. Everyone ignored the black trash bag.
On Friday I gave up hoping that somoene else would care and stopped, took a photo, scooped what had fallen out, picked up the trash and broght it with me to dispose of. It was now mine.
"If everyone swept in front of his house, the whole town would be clean."
I don't know who that quote is attributed to but I think it's time we all took it to heart and swept in front of our houses and that means sometimes cleaning up after those who aren't as considerate.
In the end, it's all ours.
The other one that bothers me is the huge uprooted tree stump by the sidewalk in front of Kohl's on Dixwell - been there since the hurricane clean-up from last year (just about a full year now). I've submitted complaints to the Hamden "help" desk, but the deadwood remains. It would literally take a a worker in a town truck five minutes to stop, pick it up and bring it to the transfer station.