Philadelphians hitting the streets for annual spring cleaning blitz

Saturday morning, when Mayor Nutter launches the city's annual neighborhood spring cleaning blitz at the Cobbs Creek War Memorial, he needs only to look across the street to see what he's up against.

Looking down at Cobbs Creek from the bikeway near 67th Street in Southwest Philadelphia, the mayor will take in an eyeful of urban flotsam.

He'll see a creekside littered with old tires, a sofa cushion, empty motor oil bottles, clamshell sandwich containers.

He'll see piles of hardened cement, a roll of old brown carpet, a stack of broken ceramic tiles, plastic bags flying from branches, and a dam of green and clear bottles lodged against a fallen tree in the creek.

"This is unbelievable," muttered Tracey Gordon, a block captain for the nearby 6500 block of Windsor Street, as she surveyed the mess.

Gordon has complained so much about the derelict condition of Cobbs Creek Park that the city has made the site one of the 250 projects slated for the cleanup. "Littering is a mind-set," Gordon said. "It's a sickness that we need to cure."

No doubt, by the day's end, the area will look a lot better. More than 10,000 volunteers are expected to take part in the fourth Philly Spring Cleanup, fanning out across the city to other litter hot spots.

But the challenge, for the mayor and the city, is making the one-day improvements stick.

Nutter has used the bully pulpit of his office to spread the gospel of cleanliness. But changing the litter habits of Philadelphians is like trying to get a teenager to straighten up his or her room and keep it that way.

Even the mayor concedes that Philadelphia, while cleaner, is far from spic and span.

"It just stuns me when I see people open their car doors and empty out their ashtrays, or put something down the sewer," he said. "The city is our home and you should have pride in your home."

While growing up in West Philadelphia near 55th and Larchwood Streets, Nutter said, every Saturday he had to clean the sidewalk and steps in front of his family's house. "That was my job," he said. "It was just instinctive."

"A clean city is a safer city," he said, "and also a city with pride in itself."

Philadelphia has gotten recognition for its efforts. On Friday, the national Keep America Beautiful antilitter campaign, along with its local affiliate, Keep Philadelphia Beautiful, recognized Nutter with an award for the city's "robust" cleanup initiative.

"We've been keeping an eye on Philadelphia for years and have recognized that they're doing a stellar job," said Gail Cunningham, a senior vice president of the national nonprofit. Philadelphia, she noted, holds the record for the most trash picked up in a day: 2.6 million pounds at the 2008 spring cleanup.

Moving forward, however, city funds for fighting litter are being squeezed. The Streets Department's sanitation budget is down by $7 million from the last fiscal year, while funding for the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services, which also provides some cleanup services, is off by $1 million.

"We've been challenged with our budget," said Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson. "But we've made inroads in engaging citizens in different ways."

Tolson said the department has tried to be more responsive to helping neighborhood groups that want to help themselves. "If they clean up, we'll pick up," she said.

As part of its antilitter efforts, the Nutter administration has:

Linked the city's new "311" customer service hotline to departments that deal with complaints about trash or illegal dumping. Last year, the Streets Department responded to 4,239 calls about illegal dumping.

Worked with community groups that clear vacant lots or clean parks on their own to haul away the refuse for them. Last year, the city made more than 320 of these pickups.

Lent or supplied cleanup tools - gloves, trash bags, shovels, rakes - to more neighborhood groups: 725 last year vs. 384 in 2008.

Installed 990 BigBelly solar-powered compacting litter bins, using state and federal grants.

Launched through a state grant the "UnLitter Us" public awareness campaign.

Installed five surveillance cameras in "hot spots" for illegal dumping. Since July 2009, the city has fined 65 violators $300 apiece.

The fine for littering is $50. Since July 1, 2010, the Streets Department has written a total of 29,235 litter violations.

Tolson said Nutter also has followed through with his promise to increase recycling. She said about 19 percent of the city's trash is diverted from landfills to recycling programs - up from about 7 percent in 2008.

She added that instead of paying $68 a ton to haul off trash to a landfill, the city gets paid $50.35 a ton for recycled items. That's not enough to balance the budget, but it does free up spending for other things, she said.

In neighborhoods, the impact of the mayor's message varies.

Tracey Gordon, of the Kingsessing section of Southwest Philadelphia, sees a difference. Gordon, a Democratic committeewoman who is also running for City Council in the second district, said the 311 call system has been particularly useful.

In the last two years, she's called the 311 hotline six times about illegal dumping and trash along a stretch of Cemetery Avenue near Mount Mariah Cemetery. And six times, the city has sent crews of nonviolent offenders to work off community service sentences by cleaning the street.

Today, the block looks as bad as ever with piles of tires and trash. "We have a long way to go," Gordon said.

Her neighbor and fellow antilitter steward, Craig Melidosian, complained that high-profile communities and parks get far more attention than outlying areas like Kingsessing.

He said the parkland along Cobbs Creek has been subject to "extraordinary neglect," while areas along the Wissahickon Creek and Schuylkill are well maintained.

Many neighborhood groups have noticed the increased willingness by the city to help them with cleanup projects.

A few months ago, neighbors in South Philadelphia cleared a derelict lot at Front Street and Washington Avenue. Michael Toklish, president of Friends of Jefferson Square Park, who helped with the cleanup, said the city sent a trash truck to pick up and remove the rubbish they cleared.

"Any time you need help, you can get it," he said. "It used to be impossible before."

Luckily for the mayor, his antilitter efforts are getting a boost from the overall green movement, as well as a growing recognition that the city can't pay for everything.

In Southwest Center City, the South of South Neighborhood Association (SOSNA) worked with the Streets Department to buy a BigBelly litter basket on its own for $4,500. The group is raising funds for two more.

"You learn the limits of government in these tough times," said Andrew Dalzell, a SOSNA employee. "People have realized that it's up to them to keep their block clean and keep the neighborhood clean."