Recently (July 20, page two), South Boston Online ran an editorial entitled “A Neighborhood Plea”, which dealt with the problem of South Boston’s litterbugs.  We received a lot of responses.  Most of them agreed with what the editorial said; a couple of the calls we got can’t be reproduced in a neighborhood weekly newspaper.

     In any case, we decided to seek out parts of South Boston that were looking good – where the streets and house frontages were visibly neat.  The photographs shown were taken during a random walk that started on West Third, detoured onto Athens, Bolton, and Second Streets, proceeded south along C Street, turned left on Ninth, and ended up in the neighborhoods around Old Colony Circle.

     Note that these photographs were taken using a wide angle, in order to show as much area as possible.  However, none of these photos, nor any in the July 20 editorial, were “doctored” in any way.  They represent actual, unretouched South Boston scenery.

     Note also that all the views shown are of residential and commercial districts, stretching along well-traveled streets.  You expect schools, churches, and other institutions to be regularly swept and cleaned, so none of these were photographed.  Instead, the photographs show areas kept up by residents, businesses, and volunteers.

     It’s an impressive display.  Large areas of South Boston demonstrate care for the neighborhood and pride in living or working in South Boston.   Anyone who participates in maintaining these vistas is to be congratulated.

     It appears to us at South Boston Online that the old hometown can be made squeaky clean with small amounts of additional effort by every one of us.  And we mean just a few minutes a day – not more.  Picking up occasional litter (even if it isn’t yours) takes only seconds.  Sweeping a sidewalk a couple of times a week might take 10 minutes or so.

     But to the residents of the areas shown, we want to give credit where credit is due.  You’re looking good!