Litter

At a time when some top officials in the Goode administration are questioning the wisdom of hiring a platoon of inspectors to enforce the city's trash laws, the Pennsylvania Economy League (PEL) has come out with a study showing why such a move is so important. PEL compared sanitation enforcement in Philadelphia with seven major cities that have been making serious efforts to reduce litter. All relied heavily on enforcement - rather than intensive cleanup efforts - to keep their streets clean.

The township has been awarded a $10,293 grant under the state's Clean Communities Program to get youth organizations to pick up trash and recyclables, according to Deputy Mayor Ehrlen Jacoby. "The Clean Communities Program is a statewide litter prevention program enacted in 1986 that all municipalities in the entire state can participate in by sending in an application," said Sandra Huber, bureau chief for the Division of Solid Waste Management for the state's Department of Environmental Protection and Energy.

Deborah and Eric Gaskins share a dirty little secret about Fairmount Park. You know the glorious drives winding along the Schuylkill? Those trash-free gateways to Center City, resplendent with rolling lawns, splashes of spring flowers, trees budding pink and regal Canada geese? It's a facade, like storefronts in a TV western. The picturesque front, the Gaskinses say, hides the dirty secret of West Fairmount Park and its surrounding West Philadelphia neighborhoods: Garbage - dumped wholesale in pockets of the park, and piece by piece on sidewalks and streets.

In a tattoo-conscious NBA, the Indiana Pacers scrawled one across the collective bodies of the 76ers. It might have been a broom. It very definitely had sweeping implications. Not even the most sophisticated 21st-century plastic surgery will be able to eradicate or cover up this mess. On a night when one of the best home crowds in the league suffered temporary insanity and littered the First Union Center floor in the final frustrating minutes, the Indiana Pacers won, 97-89, to take an overwhelming, 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven, second-round playoff series.

About 50 children joined Montgomery County and Norristown officials yesterday in their pledge to "bend over backward for the borough," a campaign to clean up the down-at-the-heels seat of this affluent county. Several area youth organizations, brought together by the Norristown Police Athletic League, participated in the cleanup of Simmons Park, a long-neglected spot at Oak and Arch Streets that is in one of three Keystone Opportunity Zones in the borough. The children, armed with bright-yellow plastic bags, attacked litter in the overgrown park at 10 a.m. Then they trekked about a mile to the steps of the county courthouse, where they attended a brief ceremony praising their efforts.

As a teacher at East Pikeland Elementary School in Chester County, Irene Feist taught more than the usual curriculum: For 21 years, she tried to inculcate in her students that they can help save the environment simply by not littering. She raised her children the same way, constantly reminding them not to throw trash from the windows of her car. Now 61 and retired, the Charlestown Township resident is leading by example the effort to clean up the mess created by those who either were not taught or just never learned that lesson: At least four times a year she goes out with trash bags and an orange vest and picks up litter on both sides of Coldstream Road, between Charlestown Road and the village of Kimberton.

She stands about thigh-high to the city's leader, but Destiny Hill made her point just as emphatically: Let's clean up Philadelphia. "All year, my friends and I have been picking up trash with our after-school program," the first grader at the Henry C. Lea Elementary School in University City said as she introduced Mayor Nutter at a news conference yesterday in LOVE Park. Her braided hair set off by shiny gold clips, Destiny then went straight to the meat of her speech and drew cheers from the roughly 200 people assembled: "I have learned that there is trash to be picked up. Please help me and my friends clean our city.

Most days, Mary Cook supervises pit clerks at Caesars Atlantic City Hotel- Casino. But yesterday, the Atlantic City resident was picking up trash on vacant lots along Caspian Avenue in midtown. Cook joined more than 1,500 casino employees, government workers and residents in the city's fourth annual Clean Up Day, and that was double the number who took part four years ago. With the theme of "less litter, more glitter," T-shirt-clad teams scoured downtown, midtown and the Inlet, filling trash bags with debris, painting weather-beaten buildings, and planting flowers and shrubbery on vacant lots.

Before he opens his store each morning, Brent Toll retrieves a broom and worn shovel from the doorway of his shop and sweeps up the litter on the sidewalk out front. Sometimes he wonders if it's worth the trouble. There's no call on Kensington Avenue anymore for the Arrow shirts, Drakkar men's fragrances, fine suits, ties and dress slacks on which Al's Toggery Shop built its 65-year reputation. But Toll knows he'll be ticketed again if the litter piles up. So he sweeps up behind the homeless who root through garbage cans each night, and cleans up after others who toss down crumpled cigarette packs, cups, bottles and paper bags as they stroll.

Each day when Novaline Tanksley walks the streets of South Philly, where she lives and works, this is what she sees: A candy wrapper tossed here. A cigarette butt thrown there. Fast-food wrappers, dog droppings and garbage everywhere. For years, the thoughtless trashing of Philadelphia streets made Tanksley frustrated. It made her mad. Finally this summer, she got so mad, she took action. In an age-old revolutionary printer's tradition, Tanksley, who runs a printing shop in the 1500 block of South Broad Street, harnessed the tools of her trade to get the word out to the people.