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Trash-talking mayor urges a cleaner city
Thursday, July 05, 2001 By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Talk about a tough place to start an anti-littering campaign -- Point State Park, jammed with thousands of people on the Fourth of July.
But David Mazza of the Pennsylvania Resources Council joined yesterday with Mayor Tom Murphy to do just that -- to try to make Pittsburghers more aware of the unsightly effects of scattering paper cups, plastic bottles, cigarette butts and other trash.
"We want to de-bug the Burgh," quipped Mazza, meaning get litterbugs out of the city.
His Philadelphia-based Resources Council is the state's oldest nonprofit environmental group. It was founded in 1939 and coined the "don't be a litterbug" slogan in the 1960s, Mazza said.
"We are looking to change social behavior. We want to make litter unacceptable," he said.
Even though the "litterbug" slogan dates back almost 40 years, people have gotten away from seeing litter as a serious problem -- something Mazza wants to change.
"Obviously, there are other serious problems, such as crime, drugs and teen pregnancy, but litter is a quality of life issue," he said. "People don't want to live somewhere they perceive as dirty. We have a beautiful airport, new stadiums, new housing and a new convention center, but families and businesses won't come here if they think it's a dirty city."
Mazza said his group has received $250,000 in grants from private foundations, the state, city and county and will use the funds to conduct an ongoing public education program, using signs on sides of buses, radio and television messages to urge people not to litter.
He said he hopes the campaign will be long term, depending on his group's ability to raise further grants from corporations and government.
Murphy addressed the huge crowd from the main stage in Point State Park last night.
"Do you know what the biggest complaint I get about the city?" he asked the crowd.
"Taxes!" shouted one man.
"People say the city is dirty," Murphy continued. "I ask you to pledge not to litter. Don't throw that candy wrapper or potato chip bag into the street. Pledge not to be a litterbug."
Murphy, with his 10-year-old son T.J. by his side, said Pittsburgh "is becoming an environmental success story" nationally, known for its new riverside trails, clean air and water and a new "green" convention center that will use energy in a responsible fashion, but he added, "We will never become fully successful if we don't have a clean city."
Duane Ashley, director of the city Department of Parks and Recreation, said he thought people were cooperating at yesterday's event by not throwing papers around but putting them into trash cans and bags.
"By all accounts, looking at the park, this campaign is working already," he said.
Yellow trash bags were passed out to people as they entered the park and they were encouraged to put their coffee cups, wrappers, plastic bottles and other trash in the bags so city crews could pick them up.
"Litter isn't good because it's messy," said 8-year-old Faith Carney of Saxonburg, Butler County, who was with her parents, Ed and Dawn Carney, getting a "Don't Be a Litterbug" pin at the Resources Council tent. "It's not pretty. It belongs in the garbage can."
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