The Things I See When I Walk My Dog (6)

Philadelphia is one of the dirtiest cities in America. Travel + Liesure told me so. I would like to disagree.

I've been to New Orleans. It is a dirtier city. There is trash on Bourbon street and the sidewalks are covered, it seems, with an impermeable layer of gummy filth. New Orleans has Katrina to blame, and wonderful parades that are worth the clutter of their wake. They have a debaucherous reputation too, one that sees college kids and middle aged partiers freeing their bladders without guilt on the streets while hurricanes spill from their plastic cups.

Much of this is tourist New Orleans. The dirty side of an otherwise attractive city.

Philadelphia's filth is not driven by some wild tourist culture or flamboyant celebration, our filth comes from trash cans that overflow with daily waste and an uncleanly manner that feeds a reputation. I see it everyday when my Samoyed puppy thrills in the chase of a windblown plastic bag that floats by and gets caught up on a dated parking meter. I see it everyday when I reach into the throat of my 6 year old Malamute and retrieve the shards of chicken bones he's pulled from their hiding places in the Logan Square grass.

I give too much credit and too much blame in this little post.

Still, I say with certainty, this garbage is a problem. It is one problem of many but it is striking, and visual, and a critical thread of a complex public image.