L.A. Parker: A clean Trenton should be a way of life
A personal loathing exists for White trash.
Hate Black garbage. and Latino litter. It’s not about race or ethnic identity — just refuse.
A battle Trenton can ill afford to lose is being lost, especially in Chambersburg.
For the record, live in The Burg. Love The Burg, especially the 100 block of Franklin St. where diversity rules and maintenance of properties seems better here than many other challenged city streets.
Our street likely ranks as one of the city’s most clean thoroughfares thanks to residents who understand pride and how brooms work.
Put your left hand here.
Put your right hand here. And sweep. Perform that ritual in front of your stoop enough and Presto-Change-o, and just like that exhausted Negro spiritual that many hang there future on— a change is gonna come.
No magic exists for being clean, one either understands this beautiful quality or suffers the consequences. Cleanliness can be contagious as pointed out by this recent event.
An instant depression occurred during a walk on the 100 block of Franklin St. in mid-December.
Trash lined the curbs. Some items had been covered by snow and appeared after the melt off.
Other litter had accumulated afterward. Plus, a street sweeper had not showed for a week. One of the city’s most clean streets looked deplorable during the alleged most wonderful time of the year.
Returned home. Grabbed a rake, shovel and large black plastic bag then started a my side of the street cleanup while hotly cursed words infused cold air.
Nine years in Chambersburg has offered instruction about human behavior, including a tenet that parallels the broken window theory — trash begets trash. In this case, leave a tossed beer can or plastic water bottle on the street long enough and others will pile up.
In the old days when Italians inherited Chambersburg, sweeping sidewalks became a daily life art form. Keeping up with the Italian neighbors required brooms and water hoses as residents washed sidewalks.
These hose downs occurred with such regularity that a personal joke inquired if Italians were growing concrete.
Anyway, this tempered cleanup produced unexpected support.
A Latino neighbor rushed out of his house. He had on plastic gloves and offered his help. We cleaned the block in minutes, exchanged fist daps and walked away happy with our accomplishment.
We were one with the universe, united by the concept of clean and community. Mind you, many people caught up in making ends meet, struggle, hunger, drug addiction and violence could give a flying finger about being clean. Yet, grabbing a broom could offer perspective and represent the beginning of something significant.
Come on. Everybody who lived in a household with a mama that made a pot of pasta fagioli to feed a family of eight or remember days when cornbread and a pan of black eyed peas made encores throughout the week, knows the mantra — we were poor but we were clean.
Our clothes were washed. Shoes reflected a sense of pride. Education meshed with all the other maintenance. We looked good and felt even better. A discarded can or wind blown potato chip bag had a street shelf life of mere minutes.
Street maintenance does not require unanimity, only enough people who buy in. On Franklin St. it’s Kim, Dean, Fred, and Armida who represent.
Being clean offers no political platforms. One either accepts their responsibility of being clean or suffers slings, arrows and cross-eyed judgements.
Clean has no price tag. Clean up initiatives require energy and inspiration. Remember bravado launched when Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora claimed power?
People bought in to his effort although he developed a role as Pied Piper, as if cleanups could not occur without his office, city employees, etc.
That’s understandable for overgrown lots and properties. Cleaning a neighborhood or community, being clean represents a block by block effort although no way exists for my energy being offered for cleaning other streets.
The photo that accompanies this column represents a way of life for residents. We have achieved this level of cleanliness with help from parking enforcement officers, police, street sweepers and street maintenance employees.
And pride.