Down and Dirty

By John Strand
Staff Writer

A year ago, HPR spearheaded a downtown cleanup. You might remember. It was a good idea, and it addressed a need. Our message to folks was to put some polish on our potentially beautiful downtown.

We are continually perplexed, however, by the failure of our city leaders to implement a plan to keep downtown clean. Yes, Fargo is a great town. And, yes, Fargo gets all kinds of national recognition. But the truth is, Fargo’s downtown is filthy. There’s trash everywhere. Unacceptable.
So what to do about it? How about we place some of the blame - and the responsibility - on everyone.

For starters, our city leaders. How is it you can let our downtown, year after year, become a pigstye? Seriously. Do you not see the garbage? Do you not hear about it? Do you not care? Well, then, let’s address it. Put it on the agenda. Solicit ideas. Talk to your public works people and find out what’s what.

Just do it.

Next, all of us who live, work and play downtown. How is it we tolerate watching each other toss crap on the ground as opposed to putting it in an appropriate garbage receptacle? Peer pressure should kick in, and people should chide each other, chastise each other, and hold each other accountable. First, quit contributing to the problem. Second, help solve the problem. When you see a piece of paper at your feet, pick it up. How painful is that?

In July when the Downtown Street Fair rolls around, you’ll see a sudden magical effort to make downtown look pristine. There’s a very orchestrated effort to spruce it all up, to make it shine. Even after the event, there is a follow-up cleanup. That’s awesome. That’s commendable. That’s what we should be doing all frickin’ year long. Yes?

We just don’t understand. But maybe we do. Years ago there was a stand off about the notion of raising a special tax on downtown businesses for cleaning up downtown, snow removal, and the like. It created a division in our local government. So the answer seems to be doing only the minimal amount possible.

That’s unacceptable. If the mayor and city commissioners had downtown as THEIR front yard, we suspect things would change quickly. Well, Fargo’s downtown is the front yard of the city, home to our best restaurants, nightlife, and our cultural center.  Downtown belongs to all of us.  It should be our shining light; not an eyesore.

You’ve likely heard of the broken window theory. It applies equally to graffiti and garbage. The theory goes like this: If there’s a neighborhood that lets a broken window remain unattended, pretty soon others show up and they also are unlikely to be fixed. Same with grafitti: if some shows up and is not cleaned up, other graffiti quickly appear.

When there is garbage at our feet on virtually every corner downtown, what’s the problem with simply adding one more cigarette butt or one more candy wrapper to the mix? Where there is no garbage in life, folks do not dare litter. Here it’s so rampant, people have even quit trying to pick it up.

Yes, most of our city is clean, very clean. Great. We need clean neighborhoods and parks. But it’s high time to add Downtown to that list. Truly. Someone needs to decide this is a priority (our Mayor and City Commissioners for starters) and we need to address it.

We are tired of editorializing about it. It’s old hat. It’s time to be proactive. City leaders, get on it. Downtown residents and businessowners, do your part. If a place like Chicago can have a spotless downtown, so too can Fargo, don’t you think? If Fargo’s residential neighborhoods and parks are clean, so too should be our downtown, don’t you think?

It’s just not right to count on the wind to do our dirty work for us, is it? Or to count on the rain to wash away our grime.
Mayor Walaker, Commissioners Wimmer, Piepkorn, Williams and Mahoney, what say you?

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)