Whether in my car or walking in Waltham, I cannot help but notice that our streets and sidewalks are becoming more and more unkempt. There are many intersections and sidewalks that are not clean, and I notice more often that there are long periods of time before any cleaning occurs, if at all.
While Waltham continues to push the revitalization of its downtown area, I am always disappointed and saddened by the amount of trash I see in these areas. Moody Street, in particular, is littered with trash and the sidewalks and streets are just plain dirty.
Waltham is better than this! The City needs to set an example by taking care of its own property. If the city cannot bother to keep its public areas clean, why should out-of-state landlords follow suit? Regardless of whether you are a resident of Waltham, a visitor or someone just driving through, we need to set the example that our city and its people care about cleanliness.
We can and should do better. Proper city planning has been missing and this is directly impacting our streets and sidewalks. With proper planning, the City can budget for hiring adequate staff to promote and facilitate a clean community environment. With proper planning, we can purchase the necessary equipment to help keep our sidewalks and streets clean.
Unfortunately, we have seen the negative impact of poor planning during last winter’s snow removal fiasco. We are now seeing it by the dirtiness of our streets. Let’s start planning properly to clean up Waltham and make it a city of which we can all be proud to call home.
Tom Stanley
