The amount of litter piling up on the East Side has led Councilwoman Carol West to reach out to community leaders to try to put a stop to it.
West said she wants to increase residents' awareness of the growing problem.
"Our roadways are just a mess," she said.
While some residents regularly clean up the trash strewn along roadways and littered throughout open spaces, it always comes back.
Every month volunteers from St. Joseph's Hospital, 350 N. Wilmot Road, and the Eastside Neighborhood Association walk along East Broadway between Harrison and Houghton roads and pick up garbage that has gotten loose in the city.
For a couple of days after the cleanup, the road is litter-free.
But over time the garbage piles up and the cleaning starts again.
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"I think it's a big, big problem that we have here on the East Side," said Frank Salbego, president of the Eastside Neighborhood Association.
West is encouraging neighborhood leaders to get organizations involved in the adopt-a-street, -wash or -park program through Tucson Clean & Beautiful. The program, of which St. Joseph's Hospital is a part, involves a monthly cleanup of the adopted area.
"Everybody's thinking, that's somebody else's litter, I don't have to clean it up," West said.
Another problem is illegal dumping in undeveloped areas.
Salbego said residents in his neighborhood occasionally have to call the city to have debris removed that's been dumped in the open space near his community, south of Broadway and north of 22nd Street between Houghton and Harrison roads.
Salbego said the city has responded quickly to such calls and that he supports West's effort to spruce up the East Side.
Dolores Fife, president of the Broadway/Northeast Neighborhood Association, agreed that littering is a problem in her part of the community. For her, though, the main challenge is getting people to do something about it.
The problem is, it's a neighborhood of working people with kids, "and people just don't have the time," she said.
Farther north, the Desert Palms Park Neighborhood Association pays kids to clean up litter in the paved wash that slices through the community.
The board pays kids between 10 and 12 to pick up litter in the wash. If the kids don't keep the wash clean, they don't get paid. The biggest problem is keeping the kids interested in cleaning the wash, said Joan Cummins, the president of the Desert Palms Park neighborhood group.
"We have the money and we plan to pay for it; it's just finding the people to do it," she said.
Usually as the kids reach their teenage years, their interest in cleaning the wash declines.
The kids also paint over graffiti that frequently appears on the walls of the wash.
Cummins agreed that littering is a problem throughout the East Side.
"We're able to control it in our neighborhood," she said. "It's just when you leave, it's kind of depressing."
She said areas with an organized neighborhood association stand a better chance of curbing the garbage that makes its way out of cars and garbage cans.
The neighborhood association provides a sense of community and a means for talking to city officials about ways to get streets, washes and parks cleaned up, she said.
The East Side residents said litter usually comes in three forms: fast-food wrappers, cigarette butts and beverage containers.
Even Cummins and Salbego — both of whom have organized or participated in cleanups — said it's a constant struggle to keep community members involved.
Salbego said it's usually five or six "die hard" volunteers who show up month after month to pick up trash along Broadway.
"There's never enough. You can use as many you can get," Salbego said.
● If you see someone littering, you can call the Arizona litter hot line at 1-877-3-LITTER.
● To participate in the adopt-a-wash, -park or -street program, contact B.J. Cordova with Tucson Clean & Beautiful at 791-3109 or visit www.tucsonaz.gov/tcb.
