City life can be anonymous, and that anonymity allows some neighbors to indulge in bad behavior.
That bad behavior in downtown Boston often seems to involve trash.
Sometimes there is a neighbor who becomes so frustrated with trash scofflaws that he tries to solve the problem himself.
That’s what has happened on Cambridge Street in the block between Strong Place and Anderson Street. Someone on that block or around the corner has been dumping trash at any hour of the day with no concern about when it is scheduled to be picked up. Pierre Sosnitsky, who runs the popular neighborhood bistro, Pierrot, said it’s been going on for months. “It’s in front of the restaurant,” he said, “where the trash does not belong. I called the mayor’s office, but they don’t care.”
There is one person who does care. Sam Sichko lives around the corner from the trashy block. He’s been on the case. He said the trash dumpers became more flagrant in late August and September with a significant amount of trash sitting on the sidewalk for 36 to 48 hours. As one city official said, trash attracts trash, so the pile grew. Sam said the trash was affecting Pierrot’s business. After all, who wants to sit along a window with trash outside?
Since Pierrot is usually full every lunch time and evening, it appears that most of Pierre’s patrons are ignoring the sight. But that doesn’t take care of the problem.
Taking care of the problem, though, is hard to do. Sam is not without resources. He is a lawyer who used to be a naval officer. One would think he’d be able to solve lots of problems. He contacted Mike Ross’s city council office and the city’s Inspectional Services Department.
Sam sent photos to Michelle Snyder in Mike Ross’s office. Michelle contacted Latifa Ziyad in ISD. Latifa sent out Sgt. Tankle from Code Enforcement. Sgt. Tankle issued tickets. The problem continues.
Landlords can get fined for repeated violations but that barely affects tenants’ behavior. And the culprit could be a condo owner, not a building landlord. Perpetrators often dump trash in front of other people’s building, even in another block. They even black out names on envelopes and catalogues so they can’t be identified. It is hard to know which neighbor is sullying our common ground.
It is the sense of common ground, signified so aptly in our state’s name, that the trash dumpers violate. We’re not the state of Massachusetts, a static thing. Instead we’re the commonwealth, in which we all have a stake in one another—not that we always behave in ways that show it. It’s embedded in the philosophy senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has been referring to—the social contract. She didn’t invent the concept. It was philosophers like Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau whose writings influenced 18th century leaders like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and the other well-educated and well-read founders.
To be a nation, a state or even a neighborhood, we have to agree that we’re going to respect one another, look out for one another, follow certain rules, behave in certain ways. Such ideas were behind the founding of our nation.
That’s why trash matters. On the one hand it is just trash. On the other, when someone doesn’t follow the rules, it is a tear in the contract. Do they not know the rules? Do they believe they don’t have to follow them? Are they rejecting the civilization we are creating in downtown Boston? Maybe they are just slobs. Or are they more dangerous?
Density is wonderful for walkability, for convenience, for having everything you need within five minutes of your home. But living in close quarters requires a greater sense of responsibility to the community than you would need if you lived somewhere in the wilds of Idaho. That social contract is more important.
Some of our neighbors will break the rules, make our lives less pleasant, and believe that their pathetic whims are more important than the health of the community.
Those of us who live with people like that: Are we naturally more tolerant of errant human behavior than those who hide away in Idaho? Are we less interested in the social contract, so it doesn’t matter if people break rules? Or are we undaunted optimists who believe that through vigilance surely we can make people change?