Recently, I was walking my dogs through the neighborhood and I saw something that will forever change my opinion about a neighbor.

It was early Saturday morning, sunny and warm. My husband and I were walking our dogs down the street — giving the dogs a chance to exercise and relieve themselves.

One of my neighbors who like me, professes to believe in the revitalization of urban neighborhoods, was getting out of her SUV. She had brought home fast food for breakfast. In one hand she had bags of food and in the other she had one of those cardboard drink holders with three plastic topped paper cups.

I think she was holding too much stuff when a bee came upon her. She panicked, and dropped a large cup filled with orange juice to the ground. She laughed and said, “Oops, I lost that one.”

We asked if she was okay and went along our merry walk. So, I was surprised when I went out for my early afternoon dog walk and saw the cup, it’s straw and contents still on the asphalt. I was still surprised when the cup, top, and straw were still out there later that night. I was finally shocked to see the same items littering the street on Sunday morning.

One of the things that makes urban neighborhoods look awful is litter. It clutters our gutters, our sewers, our lives. Sometimes it’s difficult to discern what makes one neighborhood ‘tony,’ while another languishes. Litter is one of those often unnoticed but large factors. I never litter (you can tell when you see the inside of my car), and always pick trash that wanders in front of my house. I think it’s what we have to do to maintain our neighborhoods and our homes. Unfortunately, I think, this weekend, I lost one ally in that fight.

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