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Thursday, 22 December 2011 11:01

Written by Diana Nelson Jones

Walkabout’s 2011 Person of the Year is the neighborhood litter de-bugger. Of all the things people can do to help their neighborhood, picking up garbage is the simplest, least expensive and one of the most valuable.

Consistent among the corps of anonymous people who go out to pick up what heedless jerks throw on the ground are Lynn Glorieux and Nick Kyriazi in East Allegheny/Deutschtown.

That's Lynn in the photo, and you will read more about her and Nick and their gift to their North Side neighborhood in next Tuesday’s page 2 “portfolio” walkabout column.

The king of de-litter community, Boris Weinstein, passed along the names of some other people throughout the city and I got ahold of two, Missy Rosenfeld, who sits on the Clean Pittsburgh Commission, and Kelly Hogle, both of Carrick.

Besides picking up litter around their homes, they have joined the crusade against illegal dumping with Joe Divack of DumpBusters.

"I've been picking it up a couple years now," Kelly said. "I try to do it at least twice a week, mostly main roads around my house like Beck's Run and Madeline [Street] and near Volunteers Field, a baseball and softball.

Of the dumpsites she has been on, she said, "they really are an atrocity. Construction, mattresses, tires. I can't understand how people can do it. I don't get  how they can do it in the first place and why more people aren't out there picking it up, just for an hour. When you're done it looks so much better.

"The culture has to change," she said. "I don't understand how we keep getting voted most liveable because it's a filthy mess."

Hillsides make it easier for these miscreants.

Missy said a neighbor of hers "saw a guy dump construction materials over the hill and she gave me the license plate number. One day I came around the corner and saw that truck parked by a local bar.

“I went in and asked, ‘Who owns that pick-up?’ A guy said ‘I do,’ and I said, ‘That’s great. You know what? You were seen dumping your materials and I have a picture of you on my phone. You have 24 hours to go get it and you’d better never come back here to dump.’

“Everyone at the bar was really quiet, total silence," Missy said. "I said, ‘Let me guess — you don’t even live in Carrick do you? How dare you dump in my neighborhood. Take it where it belongs.’”

Excuse me, but I've gotta have a Norma Rae moment right now....

yee-haw!!

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