Does it vary by the day? I'm convinced that there's a good thesis waiting to be written about urban litter.

[Posted by publiceye on Sun., Feb 12, 2006 at 4:28 PM]

Wow, my first comment from Richard Callow.

It seems to vary with the season -- the more time people spend outside, the more litter there is. It's not very predictable, though. Even with the cold weather we've been having, there are houses on 20th where you can barely see the yard or sidewalk through the debris. Not surprisingly, eight properties on the block are owned by the LRA.

[Posted by Brian Marston on Sun., Feb 12, 2006 at 4:44 PM]

Well, I'm not sure it's my first comment here, but it's possible. (I'm not much on the concert news -- but, I've been fascinated by urban litter patterns for years.) Well before I found FOUND, I had my own great collection of windswept stuff.

St. Louis is a lot cleaner than any US city I've lived in, except DC and except Sunday mornings. For some reason, downtown collects an ungodly amount of business paper (old insurance forms, cash reports, computer print outs) on Sundays.

To do this right, we need a map of local prevailing winds and -- I suspect -- the shelter schedules and the commercial cleaning schedules.

[Posted by publiceye on Sun., Feb 12, 2006 at 5:10 PM]

"LRA"? Is that city government? I'm not hip to your lingo.

[Posted by cyr on Sun., Feb 12, 2006 at 8:17 PM]

LRA = Land Reutilization Authority
http://stlouis.missouri.org/sldc/lra.html

So yeah, the city. TLAs aren't just for computer geeks. Government dorks love them too.

[Posted by Brian Marston on Sun., Feb 12, 2006 at 10:27 PM]

Ah. Now I get it.

But the city wouldn't let a property it owns become an eyesore would it? (Okay...that was sarcasm.)

[Posted by cyr on Sun., Feb 12, 2006 at 11:52 PM]

Hey now, the reason most LRA properties got that way was because a private owner didn't maintain them, and failed to pay taxes for 3 years. And then, nobody wanted them at the Sheriff's sale. It's true, sometimes LRA does bid at the Sheriff's sale, but usually on properties for which there is a development planned.

Anyway, my own front yard for some reason seems to gather all the trash that flies down my block. At least, I hope that's it. Recently, trash cans placed on street corners in my neighborhood (Benton Park West) have helped a lot! But, it has to be a priority of the alderman to get something like that done.

[Posted by Joe Frank on Mon., Feb 13, 2006 at 10:47 AM]

Given how long you (PE) have lived downtown, and the varying conditions of downtown you have been through, you must have quite a collection.

Chicago is much cleaner than St. Louis. I could not adjust to the high level of street and sidewalk cleanliness there.

[Posted by Michael Allen on Mon., Feb 13, 2006 at 10:49 AM]

...I swear, I have photos from about 5 years ago right around that same area, with alleys just FILLED with trash.

[Posted by Robert Powers on Mon., Feb 13, 2006 at 11:48 PM]

It's bad down here in south St. Louis too. I'd like to see anti-littering laws strictly enforced and large fines levied.

http://stlouislitterbugs.blogspot.com/

[Posted by the crying indian on Wed., Feb 28, 2007 at 6:08 PM]

I live there many years ago and it has always been that way i think the people there really don't care about anything,so they just say fu..k it ! trust me the inside of the houses look worst!

[Posted by Flo on Mon., Oct 27, 2008 at 9:29 AM]