If there is trash being dumped on Haverhill's downtown streets, the blame — all the blame — lies with the irresponsible people who put it there.
That should be clear.
But it should be just as clear that if Haverhill is going to be a clean city, attractive to visitors and potential purchasers of all those new condos in the works, it is going to take the effort of the entire community. And sometimes that means cleaning up after somebody else, even if the mess is their fault and it's not your job.
An incident this past week offers a perfect illustration: Employees of downtown businesses arriving for work this past Wednesday noticed trash bags left in the road in a number of locations on Merrimack Street — apparently dumped during the night from trash barrels by vandals. But nobody moved them out of the street or called the Highway Department, and by noon some of the bags had apparently been hit by cars, spilling a rancid mix of plastic bottles, straws, coffee cups, fast-food containers and other waste out on the street.
It was not a trash collection day — those are Tuesdays and Fridays. Nor is it the job of local pedestrians or downtown workers to move trash bags out of the street. But because nobody did, a small irritation became a big problem.
City leaders are making efforts to keep the city clean, with regular street sweeping, with new anti-littering laws and with a crackdown on smokers who toss their cigarette butts onto the sidewalk or in the street.
But neither the Highway Department nor the police can be everywhere all the time. If Haverhill is going to be a clean city, it is going to take pride, energy and participation.
Community pride won't allow trash to sit on the street unattended, no matter who put it there or whose job it is to clean it up.
