The “broken windows” theory holds that a city’s disregard for the presence of broken windows in its neighborhoods is an early indicator of urban decline. I would also suggest that tolerance of trash-strewn commercial parking lots and public property is as well. It is therefore with a sense of public— and personal— interest that some citizens will personally pick up trash [that is] indifferently let fall by fellow citizens. However, a humble, but essential tool in this effort is the trash container.
For sure, maintaining trash cans for public use can be costly, messy and time-consuming. Thus, a business might decline to provide them, believing that the patrons dwelling in its area are not the quality of people who care. But we must assure such businesses that indeed we do and that their normal maintenance of our urban environment is expected.
The point of this letter is that, after years of providing trash containers at its entrance, the CVS store at 4570 Atlantic Ave. appears to have discontinued them (and there appear to be none within the entrance of the store either). Noticing the trash strewn on its property, for a number of weeks I have called this to the attention of persons appearing to be CVS management and asked why this is so. I hope that I am mistaken in my impression that they were simply indifferent. Imagine my surprise when I then carried my recovered pieces of CVS trash next door to the U.S. Post Office at 4580 Atlantic and found that it too no longer maintained outside trash containers. Welcome to urban decline.
Jeremiah Flanigan
Long Beach
