Tire tracks in the grass?

On Sunday, in all the icy rain, I walked from the football field on Wilbeth to Sylvan.  I turned right, and when I got to the corner of Palmetto and Sylvan, I saw this mess.  I just stood there for a minute.

I have come to accept that people throw cans, bottles and fast food wrappers out their car windows, especially when stopped at a light.  But who throws an entire bag of garbage out like this?

And do you see the dumpster right there?  Wouldn't the garbage look better inside the dumpster?

Well, in the time it took me to whine about it, I could have cleaned it up.   

So I did.

It doesn't take very long to pick up trash.  This probably took two minutes, and now it's in the past. 

The thing about trash, if people see it, they think, "Well, nobody cares about trash in this neighborhood.  I guess I can throw my garbage here too!"  And they do.

However, if an area is clean, it tends to stay clean for a while.  Looking back at an area I just cleaned,  seeing the transformation, is heartwarming to me.  But driving by a week later and seeing it still looks good, well, that's the best feeling of all!

My hope is that more people will join in and pick up trash with me.  If you're walking your dog and see a bottle, pick it up.  Your dog will not mind.  If you're going into the grocery store and see a fast food wrapper in the parking lot, go ahead and pick it up.  There will be trash cans near the entrance.  You won't have to carry it around with you.

While I was cleaning up the trash on the road, a neighbor came out and thanked me.  I mentioned the tire tracks in the field.  I asked him if there was an accident, and he said kids were doing donuts in the grass!  Can you believe that?

The litter problem is something I can help fix, but I don't know what to do about kids who have nothing better to do than destroy the lovely green space.

I walked over to the field, and I could see the "donut" he was talking about.  There's another field on the other side of the complex, and it has tire tracks too.

Not only is it destroying the property, but it's dangerous for the drivers, and anyone who may be walking down the sidewalk.

The Akron Police should catch these kids and make them clean up all the litter.  Not only would it give them something to do, but maybe they would learn to take a little pride in their neighborhood.