SPOTLIGHT: LITTER PATROL

THE PEOPLE BEHIND SHUC’S LITTER PATROL ARE DEDICATED caretakers of Squirrel Hill’s environmental health and communal spirit. In the following essays, three participants recall some of the highs and humorous lows of the Litter Patrol’s history.

If their messages inspire you to get involved—and we hope they do—your next opportunity comes on Sunday, April 24th during the annual Spring Cleanup. Join the community from 9 AM to 12 PM as we do our part to beautify the neighborhood, street by street. For more information and to sign up in advance, go to shuc.org. You can also contact Barb Grover at barbgrover1@gmail. com or 412-521-9526.

A HISTORY | By Barb Grover

The Squirrel Hill Litter Patrol began in 2005, the result of one woman’s 50-year passion and commitment to our neighborhood: Bicky Goldszer. Prior to starting the Litter Patrol, she had organized National Night Out activities to strengthen neighborhood crime watch and police-community partnerships. She worked with local and state elected officials to address concerns of residents.

In 2005, Bicky, Ann Rose, and Ceci Sommers—good friends with a serious concern for the litter on Forbes and Murray—decided to “Do Something!” They knew the litter detracted from the vibrancy and aesthetics of Squirrel Hill and was a hazard to wildlife and the health of residents. Flyers were posted around the neighborhood recruiting residents to remove litter from around their homes (an Adopt-A-Block concept). Our Patrol soon recognized a lot of interest in cleaning up litter.

A BIG THANK YOU goes out to the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition (SHUC), whose leadership has supported us under its non-profit umbrella. That support allowed us to obtain grant money from various entities (e.g., Sen. Jay Costa’s office, Keep America Beautiful, Pittsburgh’s Love Your Block and Beautify Our ‘Burgh). Many residents joined our efforts, as did local principals,

teachers, and students. We expanded our efforts by hosting a Spring and a Fall Community Cleanup. College and university environmental groups joined us at our Community Cleanups and at various times during the year for a special assignment. These were places in our neighborhood that required young, athletic bodies that could scramble up and down hills and lift heavy bags. For several years, we collaborated with a Litter Patrol group in Homewood on their cleanups. We believe this collaborative effort under the leadership of Boris Weinstein helped inspire other communities, as well as the city and the county to commit to supporting annual regional litter cleanups. We received support from Giant Eagle, Costco, Starbucks, European Wax Center, Classic Lines Books, Dunkin Donuts, Jewish Association on Aging, Mineo’s Pizza, Bagel Factory, Coffee Tree Roasters, Riverstone Books, Little’s, Commonplace Coffee, Games Unlimited, The Refillery, and Cold Stone Creamery.

As activities in our neighborhood expanded beyond Community Cleanups, so have the responsibilities of the Litter Patrol. We work with teachers at some elementary schools to support environmental projects such as creating mugs with environmental themes, installing vegetable gardens on school property, and planting trees. We clean up Murray Avenue before and after the Lunar New Year parade and each of the Night Markets.

In March of 2019, the Squirrel Hill Litter Patrol organized a Good Neighbor Campaign that involved Martha Raak, Lois Liberman, Barbara Jones, and Vicky Fuller personally delivering letters to local businesses. The letters asked them to participate in actively keeping the business district clean, clear of trash, and free of winter snow. Those businesses that agreed to more closely monitor their access area were offered a window sticker designating them as good neighbors, as well as some specially priced advertising in the SHUC magazine. Those who participated showed remarkable improvement, but we would be delighted to have all businesses take responsibility for a litter-free and snow-free sidewalk right outside their door so we don’t have to initiate another Good Neighbor Campaign. All in all, for the Litter Patrol it was a learning experience in community outreach.

Several years ago, we saw some progress on reducing the litter and decided we could cut back to just a Spring Cleanup. After over 15 years, cigarette butts are still our number one type of litter, and we haven’t been able to “put ourselves out of business” yet. You can help us do that.

A PERSONAL HISTORY | By Ann Rose

We did not know in 2005 that the group we were starting would become so meaningful to each of us. Bicky Goldszer, our leader, was a galvanizing force of nature; Ceci Sommers was a wizard at PR; Barbara Grover was and still is a meticulous organizer and an ardent environmentalist; I was an enthusiastic picker-upper of litter, and brawn to their brains. Our mission that day at Pamela’s was to plan ways to clean up Squirrel Hill, the neighborhood that we all loved.

We agreed that cigarette butts were a big problem. Ugh! With the help of Keep America Beautiful and the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition (SHUC), we acquired a number of Cigarette Butt Receptacles (CBRs) and placed them around the business district. Members of the group counted cigarette butts before and after the installation and found that they did indeed help. We also passed out small plastic boxes for smokers to use until they found a receptacle for their cigarette butts. One man, when offered the box, declined by saying, “My butt’s too big for that box.” We are now on our second round of CBRs. They are still functioning despite having coffee spilled into them, papers stuffed into them, and being partially pried open, perhaps by smokers looking for a viable butt.

We decided to sponsor at least one neighborhood cleanup per year. Because publicity before the event is crucial, Barbara Jones devised an unorthodox way to get the word out. “One of my favorite activities volunteering for the Litter Patrol was to link arms with Murray the Squirrel and walk up and down Forbes Avenue. Murray could barely see out of his furry costume, so I had to hold his paw and guide him up and down curbs, around corners, and help him across the street,” she said. “The squirrel, being a friendly critter, would wave to passersby. Children ran up to him, asked to shake his paw, and, most importantly, wanted their picture taken with him. I wore a sandwich board that had all the essential information about the cleanup printed on it. I handed out flyers to whomever showed interest in our activity.” On one occasion, Barbara and Murray wound up inside the Christine Frechard Art Gallery during a champagne and hors d’oeuvres reception!

Barbara continued, “During Covid we have limited ourselves to standing at corners and handing out flyers that told people how to sign up virtually to do their own neighborhood cleanup within a one-week window of time. Quite a few responded to the request.”

At 9:00 AM on the big day of our annual cleanup, we usually get an enthusiastic turnout of volunteers. Young families with children in strollers, tweens proud to be out on their own, grandparents and grandchildren, churchgoers still in neat clothes, men in yarmulkes with their families, fit college students, dog walkers, and, best of all, school groups are among those who show up. Local politicians and hopefuls, police mascot McGruff, Murray the Squirrel, and neighborhood “characters” usually grace us with their presence. They pick up and recycle or discard the expected items left behind in a busy and diverse neighborhood. But who can explain the underpants left near the library?

Of course, the volunteers make the neighborhood look better, but they also keep untold pounds of trash from being washed into the storm sewers and into our streams and rivers. Getting a little dirty and sweaty with friends and neighbors can be a bonding experience as we work to improve the community we love.

When Bicky and Lou Goldszer moved to Florida, Barbara Grover took over as head of the Litter Patrol. Barb has been successful in attracting groups that want to perform community service by picking up in Squirrel Hill. She makes sure that they have an assignment and equipment. In 2019, Bob Danenberg and I agreed to accompany a group of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) students to their spot, the on-ramp to the Parkway East, a notorious eyesore. As soon as we met on Forward Avenue, these intrepid young people began gathering up every speck of litter. This tenacity did not waver when we reached the motherlode of Squirrel Hill trash, a weedy area to the right of the road. It contained all the usual items that people throw out of their car windows

plus some more troubling items: empty purses, packages with the mailing labels washed away, and a dog skeleton. The CMU students proved their worth that day as we filled at least a dozen huge garbage bags. Bob and I are sworn to secrecy as to what we did with the trash, but we found a place where it would be properly collected.

For years, our group partnered with our Homewood equivalent by working at the other’s cleanup. The city’s Public Works’ head, Guy Costa, picked up litter with the rest of us, as did litter luminary Boris Weinstein. After working all morning in the rain on one occasion, Squirrel Hill volunteers enjoyed a hot lunch prepared by Homewood residents. The food nourished us, as did the conversation about community improvement with a group of Homewood women. We had so much in common.

Early on, Bicky Goldszer emphasized that children need to appreciate the importance of taking care of the environment. Carole Wolsh and Alex Greenberg took on this challenge by visiting schools and involving students in projects and contests. Carole told us their plans for 2022: “The Squirrel Hill Litter Patrol is working hard this year, 2022, to promote awareness of environmental issues. We are working with teachers and students at Community Day School (CDS) and Minadeo. Students at CDS will decorate mugs with environmental themes, and prizes will be awarded. At Minadeo, students will decorate small pots and plant marigolds and watch them grow. Our mentor, Bicky Goldszer (of blessed memory), inspired us to continue to carry on this work, and we look forward to doing it for a long time.” And so, we all continue with the volunteer work we love. Please join us.

Getting a little dirty

and sweaty with friends and neighbors can be a bonding experience as we work to improve the community we love.

AN UNEXPECTED HISTORY | Bob Dannenberg

First, a bit of definition: As a sub-group of the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition, the purpose of the Litter Patrol, from its name alone, is generally obvious: to pick up litter, and to try to beautify our surroundings by eliminating litter. One dictionary defines litter as “trash, such as papers, cigarette butts, cans, and bottles, left lying in an open or public place without properly disposing of it, such as in a trash receptacle.” Litter is also defined as “garbage lying on public streets, sidewalks, or roads. A disorderly accumulation of objects; a pile.”

Speaking of “piles” … it was the Lunar New Year parade, February 17, 2019 (Year of the Pig). The Lunar New Year parade begins at the corner of Murray and Phillips and then proceeds up the hill toward Beacon Street, ending at the intersection of Forbes and Murray Avenues. The Litter Patrol’s planning for cleanup of the parade begins well before the event. Our job is to canvas the parade route prior to the start, and to clean up after, which is the larger effort. I had agreed (along with others) to do “cleanup” along the lower portion of the parade route, basically along Murray Avenue, from Beacon to Phillips.

As I’m standing at the corner of Murray and Beacon watching and enjoying the Rolls-Royce lead car, marching bands, colorful dancers, dragons, ribbons, and performers in the parade, and admiring all of the different groups participating, along comes the City of Pittsburgh Mounted Police Unit. Easily five or six officers

atop large, stately horses, making a beautiful and exciting display of the city’s mounted police force.

As the parade continues along, I’m standing there with my blue bags in hand and gloves at the ready to pick up litter. What I didn’t realize is that those beautiful horses I mentioned before, well, they tend to leave their calling cards all over the parade route, and no one was on site to clean up the “piles.”

Accordingly, Mounted Unit cleanup was unexpectedly left to the Litter Patrol. Knowing I only had blue bags and gloves for cleanup, I didn’t think that would work to manage the piles. In trying to determine next steps, I happened upon a box left next to a city garbage can and immediately leaped into action. I tore the flaps off the box to use as hand shovels to “scoop up” the piles, and then disposed of the scoops into the blue bags, ultimately filling the box I had located to the brim. (Perhaps the parade that year should have been the “Year of the Horse.”)

Admittedly, litter often brings with it a certain quality of “product” and odor, but never had I expected this particular product and scent to be in the mix. (Needless to say, I didn’t have my mask with me that day (i.e., pre-pandemic)).

Clearly, cleanup after the Mounted Unit was a bit beyond the anticipated trash haul, but we had to take it in stride. It’s all in a day’s work to keep our Squirrel Hill neighborhood clean and beautiful.