It takes a village

Every Sunday morning the "Rosenberg 3" sets out for the Ave. Alan and I walk and talk while Cupcake searches for a fallen pizza crust or two. It's become one of our favorite weekend traditions. I love Delray Beach. We have lived here since my children were babies. This morning however, I was disturbed by the condition of the Ave. It was a "hot mess". I felt like I was walking down Fraternity Row the morning after. The grass was carpeted in cigarette butts and the sidewalks littered with beer bottles and bottle caps. Garbage was sprinkled here and there.

I have heard this is one of the busiest weeks in Delray Beach. Schools are closed up North and our town is bursting at the seams. If you're in the tourist industry, I am sure this is a good thing and I can appreciate that for the economy. If, as a town, you want to allow businesses to stay open late and make money entertaining people til the wee hours of the morning, it is my humble opinion that you should require them to clean up after themselves. Have them sweep up the cigarette butts and tend to their corner of confusion. Dont' we teach our children to put their plate in the sink after dinner?

Whose job is is to clean up from Saturday night? Is it the responsibility of the restaurants or the city to pick up all of the collateral damage from a late night of partying? Why does our Sunday morning look like a bad case of Saturday night? It felt awful to walk up and down the Avenue this morning. I do it every weekend and this was extraordinarily bad. It looked like Fort Lauderdale after a week of spring break. What is the plan this city has in place to keep our streets beautiful in the height of "tourist season"? Do we hire night shift workers to clean our streets after the businesses close on especially busy weekends? We are a beach town with a nightlife. Plenty of tourist locations hire clean up crews to work at night. Do the businesses and the city cooperate and plan ahead for these kinds of situations?

Living in a tourist destination has its perks and they are obvious. But there is also a downside. This morning was a wakeup call that as citizens, we must do our part to stay true to Delray Beach... "a beautiful village by the sea". Some of us have learned to avoid the very street that tourists come to stroll, because in season, we are forced to circle the town just to find a parking spot, wait in line for hours to eat somewhere, or in this case, end up having an environmental hangover to deal with in the morning. I hear people say "see something, do something". Residents should speak up and be heard. Our tax dollars afford us that right. I posted this on a local website and some people were talkin trash (had to... LOL), but I also received support from a community who cares about the direction of our "progress". This post was meant to bring awareness, not war. It is because I love this town so much that I took the time to put my heart on paper #seesomethingdosomething #speakyourtruthevenifyourvoiceishaking #ittakesavillage