SF Beautiful, a non-profit founded in 1947 in response to efforts to remove cable car lines in favor of diesel buses, has a new target in its sights: All that trash on our streets and sidewalks. The organization yesterday announced the creation of Coalition for a Clean San Francisco — an attempt to get the city "a good cleaning" by highlighting what it views as the particularly dirty spots. To call attention to the issue, SF Beautiful has put out a call for residents to submit photos of trash-strewn sidewalks and streets.
"Do you think that San Francisco needs a good cleaning?" a blog post announcing Coalition for a Clean San Francisco reads. "Is the city dirtier in your neighborhood than it ever has been? Tell us more! If you have specific areas of San Francisco that you think need a good cleaning because they haven’t been cleaned in a long, long time, email us!"
The city's dirty streets have sparked conflict before, perhaps most recently when a tourist wrote a letter to Supervisor London Breed's office talking trash about, well, garbage. “I was embarrassed to be an American because of the way San Francisco is presented to the world,” tourist David Cochrane, referencing litter on city streets, wrote on July 25. (An intern with Breed's office responding that Cochrane should "write a letter to the editor of whatever town you’re from if your panties are in a bunch” was later let go by Breed.)
Those behind the campaign have started a Facebook page to collate evidence of the city's untamed refuse. Think overflowing trash bins, littered sidewalks, and lots and lots of couches.
Just what, specifically, SF Beautiful hopes to accomplish with this is unclear. However, the organization has led several successful campaigns in the past — such as, as detailed on the group's site, "[initiating] the legislation that legalized sidewalk tables and chairs" — and laughing Coalition for a Clean San Francisco off as just a Tumblr for trash would be a mistake.
And anyway, you'll finally have something to do with all those garbage photos you keep taking.
