I grew up in another community in the bay area also once proudly maintained, until people stopped caring. Parks declined, trash and public dumping became the norm and garbage is strewn across parking lots and gutters. While I can understand some communities lack funding for keeping things clean, it's also obvious these same communities do very little if anything to clean things up.
As our community has grown a lot in the last 15 our family has resided here, we are noticing a growing sense of lack of ownership of the community...a "that's not my job" mentality. I care about this community. I want others who visit to feel a difference when they wnter our community that we care for each other, our homes and our public areas.
I notice people unwrapping cigarettes and tossing plastic wrappers to the ground (which I have picked up as the smoker stands reading their phone), I have pulled over to load a couple of stray shopping carts blocks from the store to which they belong amd returned them only to drive past the same place and find literally 20 more.
The discourtesy, the negligence and the lack of respect by some is sorta gettig to me. The junkmail left blowing around the street. People spilling sticky coffee drinks and leaving the mess for a tired mom with a toddler to run through, spitting, using foul language, talking on the phone, not holding doors, leaving dressing rooms trashed.
I could go on for days. I'm trying to help where I can but I can only do so much alone. It feels like people really are trashing our town and I am not angry but feel saddened.
Can we please remember to put trash (including cigarettes and coffee drink cups) into the trash, leave grocery carts in the parking lot or return them (or purchase a portable cart on wheels) and for goodness sake, hold the door (gasp...even if the otjer person is more than one step behind you-gasp!). Can we clean up after ourselves and stop behaving like the rest of the world is our littler box?
Please?
Thank you!
