Boris Weinstein is on a crusade to clean up his litter-filled city neighborhood, one bag, one person, one block at a time.

Starting small, he's looking for volunteers with passion to help him clean up Shadyside, where he lives.

	Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Boris Weinstein, of Shadyside, looks back as he searches for litter in his neighborhood. Click photo for larger image. Related article Spring shows its dirty side

And he's getting them. By Thursday, 12 days after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette printed his Weekend Perspectives commentary outlining his plan, he had 18 recruits out picking up the beer cans, crushed water bottles and sandwich wrappers that spoil the tree-lined streets of one of Pittsburgh's best-known districts ("First Person: I am picking up litter," April 2, 2005).

"We do not need money," the retired public relations specialist said of his plan, which one volunteer likened to the "Adopt a Road" program on highways.

Weinstein, who came up with the "For Pete's Sake" slogan that went on city trash cans in the 1970s during Pete Flaherty's terms as mayor, has divided Shadyside into 17 zones. As people call to volunteer, he asks where they live and then gives them areas near their homes. They must go out frequently, though not necessarily daily, to keep "fresh litter" from turning into much-harder-to-pick-up "old litter," Weinstein said.

"The people have to buy into the concept that people who can have to pick up for people who don't care," he said.

Interestingly, three of the volunteers don't live in Shadyside. One man lives in Bloomfield but bicycles around Shadyside. Two women live in Oakland near the Shadyside border.

Weinstein, a spry 75-year-old, assigned himself to an area that includes Copeland Street, Bellefonte Street, Filbert Street, Ivy Street, Elmer Street, Telegraph Way, Telephone Way, Urn Way, Myrtle Way, Culloden Way.

He focuses on portions of the zone during his one- to two-hour outings, during which he eagerly crows over grabbing hard-to-reach items behind fences or in gutters. Thursday, he had his eye on Ivy Street.

Progress is easy to measure. When he goes out to a section and is able to count the pieces of litter accumulated since his last visit, he knows he has that area under control.

"My passion for litter is easily 25 years old," Weinstein said. The For Pete's Sake garbage can slogans were probably the start, he added.

Later, he tried to organize a three-way partnership of communities, a supermarket chain and a rental company to do periodic cleanups.

"I was naive, thinking big," Weinstein said. "I couldn't sell the concept to any media or any clients. I realize it was unrealistic now that I know the nature of litter. I was not thinking in terms of daily pickup. I was thinking once a year or twice a year and that does not clean up litter."

Now, he said, "I think small. If we can do the job in a community like Shadyside, then I believe there is an opportunity for that to be improved on and replicated by other communities."

His volunteers share his vision.

"I loved his theory that people who volunteer are going to pick up stuff others dump, will do more than our share," said Phil Powell, whose company makes promotional items.

"It'll get to a critical mass and everything will be fine. In my section, a neighbor has agreed to come on board. I can see the benefits already."

That neighbor is Rochelle Solomon, who works for Direct Advantage Marketing.

"I think it can bloom into something that I've dreamed of along with Boris Weinstein," she said. "If we can get people to adopt a territory or zone, that's number one. Then from there, you could even get to the point of knocking on doors and asking 'Will you adopt this block?'

"I think it is going to bloom. I feel someone has finally opened his mouth, come out and said, 'It's spring, let's do it now.' It should be a way of life."