43 East and West Broadway Stores Sign Litter Pledge

Below is a draft of a letter that the South Boston Youth Ambassadors plan to send to the South Boston Chamber of Commerce.

To: The South Boston Chamber of Commerce
From: The South Boston Youth Ambassadors
Re: October 10 Broadway Clean Up and Shopkeeper Litter Pledges

Dear Chamber Members,

Thank you for inviting us to share more information about our work. Here is one example. On Sunday, October 10, Youth Ambassadors participated in a Broadway littler clean-up spanning the Broadway T station to L Street. Additional participants included over 15 other South Boston residents (including Sister Susan Morris, members of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association and members of the neighborhood volunteer group Planet Southie).

As you know, we have been doing West and East Broadway beautification and clean-ups for quite some time. We are continually saddened and frustrated to see that as soon as we clean up a sidewalk, new trash appears a moment later. It feels especially sad when we see trash littering one of the tree beds that we have just worked to clean, weed, plant and mulch. We share this frustration at our weekly Youth Ambassadors meetings. At a recent meeting we wrote a simple pledge for shopkeepers to sign. The pledge states the following:

I pledge that I will take responsibility to remove the debris in front of my store.

We did not know what to expect from shopkeepers in response. While some of us were cleaning up the sidewalks on October 10, some of us visited each shop along West and East Broadway between the Broadway T station and L Street. We teamed up with adults (like Sister Susan) and entered each store. Once there, we explained what we were doing and politely asked if there was a manager available who might be able to sign the pledge. We were thrilled and surprised by the positive response. Employees at 43 stores signed the pledge. Please note that some stores have been unable to sign the pledge yet because they were not open that morning.* They are (in no particular order):

1. Broadway Dunkin Donuts
2. News Broadway
3. Blue Tierra Chocolate Café
4. Burger King
5. Shell
6. Shenanigans
7. Figaro’s
8. Bailey’s Too
9. Café Broadway
10. Queen Spa
11. Schuberts
12. Donut Donuts
13. Hub Video
14. The Playwright
15. Drogan’s Ice Cold Beer
16. Terrie’s Place
17. Cranberry Café
18. Rite Aid
19. Boston Beer Garden
20. Metro PCS
21. Nick’s Pizza
22. The Blackthorn
23. 7-11
24. Lee Chen’s
25. McGoo’s Pizzeria
26. Amsterdam Café
27. Gaelic Day Spa Salon
28. Three Clover Pizza
29. Tedeschi’s
30. Pat’s Trattoria
31. South Boston Chinese
32. Radio Shack
33. Land of Pizza
34. Gulf
35. Doughboy Donuts
36. District Six Police Station
37. J & J Discount Mini Mart
38. Kim’s Market
39. Broadway Pizza
40. Edible Arrangements
41. Broadway Lock Co.
42. Motivated Fitness
43. Dewberry Dogs

Above is a photo of some of us with the Playwright manager while he signs our pledge. Please let us know if you have any questions or would like to learn more. We would like to explore ways to collaborate with the South Boston Chamber of Commerce in our ongoing efforts to build a cleaner community for all of us to share and feel proud of.

Sincerely,

The South Boston Youth Ambassadors

* Any store wishing to make the pledge is welcome to email planetsouthie@gmail.com to do so and will then be added to the list.