al labruna: August 2010 Archives

Almost every town or city has large problems. Mayors and City Councils across the nation are struggling with refinancing public dept, improving public schools or repairing aging sewers. In addition to these difficult civic dilemmas, there are the endless smaller issues that can get overlooked every day.

These seemingly trivial signs of municipal indifference appear on every block: weeds growing in the sidewalk, filthy bus shelters, booming car stereos, waist high grass, and graffiti on everything. These little nuisances, like steady drips of water upon a stone, can slowly wear away the quality of civic life and send more families to the suburbs. Each drop reinforces the message of acceptance and apathy.

New York City is the grand illustration of how action against the small drips can make an immense difference a municipality's quality of life.

When Mayor Giuliani came to office in 1994, he labored intensively to fight the broken window effect. Graffiti was