Accepting the challenge of litter

I know that I have written several times about community involvement in beautification and littering, but something happened last weekend that once again brought to my attention my longtime goal of establishing a culture change within our entire city as it relates to this issue.

I had the pleasure and honor of participating in the opening ceremonies of the Northern National ASA softball tournament at Shawnee. I was traveling east toward Shawnee via Highway 74 and just past Kingshighway when I observed a massive spill of papers along the side of the eastbound lane. I could not stop or risk the chance of being late to the ceremony and had to leave the ceremony immediately to head to Saint Louis for a granddaughter's birthday party.

Then, while at Shawnee and just before the ceremony, I overheard our Recreation Director Scott Williams talking about observing the same mess, commenting that he was going to take another staff member following the ceremony back to the ugly scene and pick up all of the papers. Scott is a great dedicated staff member but is also a proud and concerned citizen who wants our city to be clean and beautiful.

That is exactly the culture and mindset that I have been advocating for several years as it relates to the beautification and littering issue. It is not about council, staff, or an individual but rather about ALL of our citizens to commit to be a part of a culture that not only recognizes an issue but is dedicated to solving the issue either personally or reporting it to the proper city department.

We have a beautification committee that is hard at work on this issue. We are regularly recognizing businesses for outstanding work on beautification. We have a quality public works department that works hard with limited resources to maintain our streets and rights of way to an acceptable standard. We also have many concerned citizens dedicated to protecting and enhancing our quality of life.

However, we still fall short on the total culture change that would include all citizens dedicated and working toward the common goal of community beauty, cleanliness and solving municipal issues.

I dream that every staff member and every citizen becomes so proud of our city that each would contribute toward an ultimate goal of perfection in these areas.

Following is an explanation of what I mean by the above statement.

When anyone sees litter, stop and pick it up, which quickly solves the issue. If the situation is one that you cannot personally handle, then report it to the proper city department. This issue goes further than just litter. It could be tall weeds in an empty lot, weeds or any other issue along street rights of way, potholes, dead animals, etc.

It is our responsibility to establish this culture and continue to improve this phase of our quality of life. I invite all citizens to accept this challenge and opportunity.

Harry E. Rediger is the mayor of Cape Girardeau.