Is This Trash?
I love living in Chicago, but there is one thing I’ve noticed: city government doesn’t do much to curtail loose trash. Certainly, in such a large city with high population density, there is going to be trash on the street. All the more reason to try and mitigate the problem whenever necessary.
Let’s start with what I consider low-hanging fruit: the hand bills that are shoved into door frames, iron gates, or left on cars. I see people walking up and down my street every day with a shoulder sack full of these things, advertising Chinese food, waterproofing, or cleaning services. And, since most of the buildings are multi-family, dozens of them wind up in your gate or, to the point of this post, on the ground in your flower beds. Not to mention the rubber bands that have to be pulled off your door knob.
Now, I understand the desire of local businesses to get my attention (and they certainly have.) But why is this not considered littering? 
There’s more shit on the ground than gets into homes, and I can’t help but think that my neighborhood is getting trashed simply because someone doesn’t want to buy a name and address and affix postage. At some point we need to make a value judgment. Are we comfortable with waste in our front yard, or do we want to take small steps to clean things up?
There are people who will say that banning flyers will hurt business. That’s a poorly constructed argument, if not pure bullshit. If nobody can use flyers, then everybody will find a different way of communicating their message. As long as restrictions are fair, businesses will not suffer. In fact, I would not even insist upon a ban, but would be happy with citing companies for littering. Maybe the fines could pay for more trash cans on the street corners. Either way, Chicago would be a better place to live without these flyers blowing down our sidewalks.
