Accountability. I took a drive through Councilmember Cindy Bass’s district this morning to check up on the section of W. Indiana Ave that, one week ago, looked like this:
After Charles Ellison and Ya Fav Trashman (Terrill Haigler) chimed in, Councilmember Bass responded, indicating that she’d get the Streets Department to take care of the issue. I had low expectations, because this is Philly, and as our cleanup MC sings in “Rats and Roaches”:
If I drop litter on the sidewalk it’ll stay for weeks
But maybe I shouldn’t be so cynical. Because there’s not only trash here. There’s also a bunch of people who care about the fact that there’s only trash here. And those people are having an effect. Here’s the follow-up video I took on W. Indiana Ave today:
Now, the video I took a week ago showed only the stretch of this street that was most outrageously buried in litter. Had I pointed the camera out my passenger window, you still would’ve seen an unacceptably filthy street, and had I cruised around the surrounding blocks, almost all of them would similarly have been unacceptably dirty. I’m not being dramatic — look:
At the time I’m typing these words, Ellison and Haigler have both chimed in again, and largely because of their support, the video’s been viewed over 150 times. As amazing as all this is given that I have such a small platform on Twitter, I’m still haunted by the thought that if just a handful more people who watched the video had touched their thumb to a little square symbol on their phone screen, the mess would almost certainly be taken care of by this time next week. Last week proved that our elected officials can be responsive when prominent influencers like Ellison and Haigler apply pressure on Twitter. But the more favorites and retweets these videos get, the more likely they are to respond because elected officials are terrified of Twitter mobs.
The effect of folks like Haigler can be seen in official City actions, too — not just Twitter-induced Street Department cleanups. Here are two pieces of encouraging waste management news from the past week:
“Philly is expanding street sweeping in April, and you can ask officials about it this week” — via Billy Penn
Councilmember Gauthier introduced a “resolution authorizing the Committee on Public Safety to examine potential solutions to address the widespread illegal dumping taking place in Philadelphia” — via Lauren Vidas over at Broad and Market
Granted, street sweeping is only one piece of the puzzle for a city riddled with abandoned furniture, tires, construction materials, etc., and Philly Twitter has already raised concerns about the details of this singular puzzle piece:
Moreover, many months — if not years — could pass between the introduction of a bill authorizing the examination of potential solutions to illegal dumping, and the implementation of any actual solutions churned up by the examination. But, hey, steps in the right direction are steps in the right direction. And my guess is those steps are largely due to the energy being generated by Haigler’s activism, and by those who, like Ellison, are using their voices to shame the city into action.
In 2022, clean streets in neglected neighborhoods are literally the click of a button away. So click the button. And tell your friends to click it, too.
Another fun thing to do with friends: follow There’s Only Trash Here on Instagram. I stumbled upon them because I saw that they performed on Saturday at Tabernacle, which is a “community based queer run venue in North Philly” that I’ve yet to check out:
Philadelphia is a beautiful city with a beautiful arts scene. It’s both comical and dystopian that our underground music scene has spawned a band with a name like There’s Only Trash Here. But that’s where we’re at, and I can’t help but feel like the project of beautifying Philadelphia’s streets is inseparable from cherishing the beautiful art being created by those who live in them. So let’s support our local artists and clean up our streets.
Action. It’s great that our Councilmembers and Streets Department are stepping up their game on the trash front, but the problem is so pervasive that I don’t think even their best efforts are enough. It’s gonna take all of us. So I plan to keep doing my little cleanups and attending the not-so-little ones that Haigler organizes. Here are some before and after shots from today’s effort, near the corner of 30th and Sedgley:
Not a perfect cleanup, because I think it was private property behind that fence, so I didn’t want to linger too long. I chose the spot because the mural was pretty, and it sported a Marcus Garvey quote, and it was near an school.
Also, I’m gonna start playing around with Tik Tok while doing these cleanups, because, well, why not. Here’s a silly prototype of the kind of video I have in mind.
Oh, and of course, bag count receipts:
A note on the University City Townhomes.1 (Please follow that footnote for an important update regarding the factual content of this section.) This Saturday, March 19th, a rally is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at 40th & Market. The rally, co-hosted by a bunch of groups including BLM Philly and Philly DSA, is a protest against the demolition of an affordable housing complex known as the University City Townhomes:
Here’s the post’s caption:
Help stop a mass eviction of Black community members this Saturday!
Join us on March 19th for protest and party to save the UC townhomes! 12 pm - 5 pm
Come out by 1:30 pm to 40th & Market for a rally and march to send a message to the developers and the city that we won't stand by and watch a 40 affordable housing and Black communities be destroyed.
The University City town homes 3900-3999 Market street owned by Brett Altman has provided low income housing to more than 70 families for almost 40 years. Altman has announced a pending sale mass displacement and demolition of the property will happen this July.
UC Townhome residents, some of whom have been living at the conflicts for more than 30 years are expected to leave by July 8th 2022.
My only intent here is to provide some relevant context, because as I understand things, the UC Townhomes will no longer be demolished in July, so the residents should be safe for now. If you follow this Broad and Market link, you’ll see that last Thursday:
After multiple amendments and months of conversations, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (D-3rd) called Bill No. 210788-AA up for a vote. Titled, “Affordable Housing Preservation Overlay District,” the bill would establish a temporary demolition moratorium and change the zoning of a block of land bounded by Market and Ludlow Streets and 39th and 40th Streets.
Sitting on that “block of land” are the UC Townhomes. Gauthier’s bill passed by a vote of 15-1. On page seven of the bill, the meaning of “temporary demolition moratorium” is clarified:
So, if you or anyone you know is concerned about the residents of the UC Townhomes and/or is planning to attend the rally this Saturday, just be aware that City Council has already taken action to at least delay the displacement at issue. And I recommend checking out the other provisions of Gauthier’s bill, as it’s geared toward preserving affordable housing in University City moving forward.
Alright, that’s all for today — time to go back outside.
P.S., I got a kick out of this. Swipe left twice, to the video. Ok bye
I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I made a major factual error while writing this section, and that the error was pointed out to me by a random stranger on Instagram. It’s true that city council passed a demolition moratorium for the UC Townhomes extending until March 2023, but it’s *not* true that this demolition moratorium buys current townhome residents extra time. See here for more details.