Don't Let Litter Trash the District

Dear Mayor Fenty:

Please get serious about littering. It's disgraceful that the anti-littering laws in the nation's capital are so rarely enforced. Every day, residents and visitors, as well as our neighbors from Virginia and Maryland, drive and walk through our city dropping hundreds of pounds of litter -- with no consequences. We all know how dirty the Anacostia River is, and those of us who volunteer during annual river cleanups congratulate ourselves when we remove tons of trash. Much of that trash comes from our streets through storm drains. Walk along some of the busy intersections within a few blocks of the Anacostia, such as Pennsylvania Avenue SE, and you'll see storm drains clogged with litter. After a heavy rain it magically disappears -- into the river.

Litter isn't just unsightly, it's expensive. The District's Water and Sewer Authority has "skimmer boats" running daily on the Anacostia, collecting trash. That's a costly operation. As our streets become increasingly littered, some residents request more frequent street cleaning, but why should D.C. taxpayers have to pay to pick up after the litterers?

You can start by making sure that our litter laws are enforced. As it is now, even if a police officer wants to write a littering ticket, he can't -- because no such ticket exists. You should direct the police department to develop a littering ticket and issue it to the drivers of any vehicles from which trash is ejected, including trucks with uncovered loads. Many states impose fines of $100 to $300 for littering from a motor vehicle, and in some cases also require community service (picking up litter, of course). Penalties for littering in the District should be in line with those of other jurisdictions. Washington's cleanliness should be an example to the rest of the country and the world. I'm counting on you to make it so.

-- Kathy Chamberlain, vice president, Hillcrest Civic Association