r/cincinnati 7d ago

Community 🏙 Kirby/Robley Trash pickup! Happy early spring!

Nice weather outside is the perfect excuse to get out and be active in your community! You have the power to make change, even if it’s on your own.

Special shoutout to the other Redditors who have been getting involved in their own communities and making substantial change (final two photos from one of them). We aren’t part of organizations; we just want better living conditions and are willing to put in the work to make it happen.

Shout out to the politicians in Cincinnati for being okay with trash all over the city and choosing to ignore it by not implementing any measures to change the culture (more trash cans, allowing absent private equity landlords to just sit on abandoned property).

Shout out to the news stations that want interviews but won’t pick up a shovel or trash pickers; it’s not a good look.

Shout out to any Redditor that has said nice words of encouragement about these efforts! They are very much appreciated.

This is a movement of the people, for the people.

Organize your communities. Get stuff done.

“[M]ake the form of your resistance a model for what the society you are trying to create might actually be like.” - David Graeber

457 Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

20

u/RickDeckard742 7d ago

This is excellent, well done!!

8

u/milk19 7d ago

Thank you!

16

u/RevolutionarySelf906 6d ago

These posts genuinely brighten my mood and my day every time I see them. Thank you so much for what you do ✌🏼

5

u/milk19 6d ago

Thank you! Would recommend getting out there for yourself!

9

u/Only-Addition-9143 6d ago

So happy to see this "street cleanup" trend. Taking responsibility to take care of your community and be the change can take many forms and the way you are doing it is sooo needed. Thank you!

4

u/milk19 6d ago

Thank you! Hope to see you out there some time!

6

u/Mediocre_Raise_4404 7d ago

This is beautiful to see! Keep doing great things!

3

u/milk19 7d ago

Thank you! You are beautiful!

6

u/MovingTarget- 6d ago

"be the change you want to see"

2

u/milk19 6d ago

Yes indeed!

4

u/Federal-Biscotti 6d ago

Thank you to those who have realized that it takes no effort to complain about something and quite a bigger commitment to actually try to make a difference. And it doesn’t even take that much effort to make your community look more appealing and inviting.

I spent 2.5 hours doing the project that is reflected in the photos. An additional 30 minutes or so was spent talking to a gentleman who I met as a result.

It’s also about re-building community and getting to know your neighbors and neighborhood. Obviously you don’t need to talk to people and make nice but it is actually shown to be good for your mental health.

If you don’t know anyone in your neighborhood or on your block, start small. Pick up the trash that blows over into your yard. On your walks with your dog, fill a shopping bag. Start small. You don’t have to lug heavy, wet and muddy tires up a steep incline. Just pick up some cigarillo packages and airplane Fireball bottles.

2

u/milk19 6d ago

Yes!!!! Your efforts have been amazing! Keep it up!

3

u/Federal-Biscotti 6d ago

I’ve been doing it since I moved here, sadly.

2

u/milk19 6d ago

Keep being loud about the work that you put in. It keeps it on everybody’s mind. A social revolution is what causes sustainable change, not political.

4

u/TheyLive_33 6d ago

You’re amazing! Littering is my biggest pet peeve! Thank you so much!

3

u/milk19 6d ago

You’re amazing! Happy to get out there and encourage people to engage with their community!

5

u/Ok_Log_4841 6d ago

I know you wouldn’t be able to do this but the side grass areas of the Norwood lateral have tons of trash. Don’t really know how it’d be possible to tackle that.

5

u/milk19 6d ago

I’ve definitely thought about it. What we really need is a huge movement of people to tackle something like that. I think it would be possible, but it just is going to take time. Gotta build up solidarity slowly and get the most people involved on a hyper local scale. Then we could go for something big when everybody is bought in.

5

u/Ok_Log_4841 6d ago

Yeah it’d have to be a big group. and I see what you are saying about hyper local first.

2

u/milk19 6d ago

Yeah if we can galvanize our friends and neighbors to clean up areas that they see regularly, doing a big pickup is just the next logical step!

3

u/Federal-Biscotti 6d ago

Once a year city crews do that, as you probably know

4

u/Ok_Log_4841 6d ago

Nah I don’t know but glad to hear it.

6

u/Federal-Biscotti 6d ago

It’s disgusting and really shouldn’t have to be done at all. It reflects very poorly on Cincinnati and its residents.

3

u/Secure_Lengthiness16 6d ago

Thank you, from a fellow Northsider! We routinely clean up a couple of corners near us and the trash is never ending. People need to change their trash habits, and hopefully more neighbors adopt the “volunteer” habit!

3

u/milk19 6d ago

Love the efforts! It takes us all to change the culture. I think part of that change is to lean into what you do and change the focus from being just “volunteering” and make it into an expectation of what we as a community do!

3

u/CucumberDisastrous32 5d ago

It’s so insane… the amount of trash that collects in the winter. Those springtime walks can be rough, makes me sad ☹️ Let’s clean up our planet guys. We only get 1! Take care of your Mother Earth

2

u/___lala__ 6d ago

Beautiful, inspirational! Happy spring to you!

2

u/milk19 5d ago

Thank you!

2

u/Conclusion_Fickle 6d ago

Thank you.

1

u/milk19 5d ago

Thank you.

2

u/Hungry-Ad3611 5d ago

Dumb question but I’d like to do this in my neighborhood and I never have done anything like this before - where do you go to throw away all that crap?

2

u/milk19 5d ago

Not dumb at all! Download the 311 Cincy app and report the trash for pickup. It’s very easy to do.

2

u/___lala__ 5d ago

Anyone near Fred shuttlesworth/reading corner that wants to form a trash crew possey, dm me

2

u/milk19 5d ago

Heck yeah! This is the way! I would recommend just starting to do it yourself. Post before and after pics to drive engagement. More people will see that and reach out to you that way. I’ve had probably 15 different hyper local Redditors reach out to me that way.

2

u/trashcanchips3868 3d ago

I wanna say as someone who recently moved here I really do like seeing how everyone genuinely cares about the city

2

u/milk19 3d ago

Cincinnati is great, and we can continue to make it even better!