Southie Trash Talk: Residents brainstorm about litter campaign

Tired of windblown trash vortexes, dog poop and a general sense of ewwww?

Well then, we have just the thing for you!

Here's what happened: in the past 2 weeks (coincidental with the melting snow), Southie's social media circles have been abuzz with ordinary neighbors of all stripes who are fed up with litter.

Over at the SaveKStreet blog, it's been stated frankly: 
"Has anyone else noticed that the streets of our neighborhood are overflowing with trash? Up and down every Southie street are piles of trash."

OK. OK. So these things happen. The question is what to do about it? 

A bunch of Southie neighbors who shared their frustration via Twitter decided to be proactive -- they got together via Planet Southie's "tweet up" (affectionately dubbed #SouthieTrashTalk) and excitedly agreed to help start a resident-led clean up campaign. Here they are this morning, hash-tagging it out:

#WillTwitterSaveSouthie? This AM's #SouthieTrashTalk w/ @kennycooks @Anna__Wh1te @SaveKStreet @planetsouthie @veemdog pic.twitter.com/NCD7dNvYPI
— Planet Southie (@planetsouthie) March 8, 2014

Some of the ideas that have been floating around:

Wanna talk about neighborhood issues? Help plan a Greenovate Meet-Up!

Neighborhood Meet-Ups are
popping up all over the City!

Focus of February 27 Meeting:
This Spring, Planet Southie will participate in an opportunity to bring together neighbors to discuss a question about "sustainability" in our community.  For example, "How should Boston address parking demands?" or "How best can we balance budgetary constraints with the need to maintain street trees in the City?" What's the question? That's up to you!

Background
Based on feedback from the Climate Action Plan Community Leadership meeting in December, and the new Mayor's Transition Team’s Environment Public Hearing in January, the City of Boston is launching the Greenovate Ambassador program to help facilitate communication between Bostonians and the City around sustainability.

Ambassadors (including Planet Southie) will work between the City and the community to help solicit ideas, facilitate discussion, and understand objectively what the collective community wants to see in Boston. They will be the glue between the community and City Hall.

Our role
Brian, Patrick and Stefanie had a productive call with the City regarding the Greenovate process.

#WillTwitterSaveSouthie? Look what happened last week

Fed up with feeling unheard in the development process, one neighbor turned to Twitter. Look what happened!

The South Boston resident who started @SaveKStreet explains, "This was my second tweet and I sent it on my way to work. That morning I had a 3 hour meeting first thing in the morning. When I got out and checked my phone I could not believe what I saw. Twitter (relatively speaking) blew up. I had retweets, favorites, mentions and followers." 

@planetsouthie Developer at 151-155 K St is trying to build 3 townhouses on a tiny lot with zero open space against zoning. Need your help!
— Save K Street (@SaveKStreet) February 6, 2014

@PlanetSouthie and several others retweeted. 

Hey #Southie ! Care about development & quality of life issues in #SouthBoston ? Follow @SaveKStreet and act. Please RT! @maureencaught
— Planet Southie (@planetsouthie) February 6, 2014

Just 8 hours after @SaveKStreet's first tweet: Success! 

@planetsouthie @kennycooks @SaveKStreet did you hear the news? The project has been stopped. #kstreethasbeensaved
— Caught in Southie (@maureencaught) February 6, 2014