When conditions of neglect and disorder afflict the shared places of a people—its sidewalks, gutters, parks, streambeds, and bus stops—respect for neighbors and duty to future generations require that those people make known the causes which impel them to act. We hold as plain truths that clean surroundings protect health, enhance safety, and dignify all who live, work, play, study, and worship among us; that neighborhoods flourish when residents participate in their upkeep; and that civic life depends upon habits of care that none can outsource and none should ignore.

Experience has shown that litter and illegal dumping do not arise from nature, but from human choices and systems that have failed to prevent or promptly remedy harm. When waste accumulates, storm drains clog, pests proliferate, waterways suffer, and the burdens fall heaviest upon those with the least power to redress them. It is therefore the right and responsibility of neighbors to organize peacefully, to teach better practices, and to repair what can be repaired—so that public spaces may again be healthy, welcoming, and just.

We recount, not in anger but for instruction, the grievances that have brought us together: that public bins are too few or poorly placed; that scheduled collections are sometimes unreliable; that some commercial and residential actors neglect their obligations; that construction sites and curbside deliveries leave debris; that single‑use products and unsecured loads scatter across blocks; that enforcement is uneven; that education about proper disposal and recycling is inadequate; and that, too often, residents conclude that one person’s effort cannot matter. These conditions, left without remedy, erode trust, depress community pride, and shift costs to children who did not choose them.

To correct these wrongs, we, residents and friends of the Greater Brookland Community, do mutually pledge the following:

1. Personal Stewardship. We will carry bags or containers as needed, secure our household waste, and reduce what we discard. We will model these habits for our children and visitors.
2. Volunteer Service. We will meet regularly to remove litter, clear drains, and report hazards. Our clean‑ups shall be open to all, conducted safely, and recorded to guide future work.
3. Mutual Aid. We will share tools—grabbers, gloves, buckets, and vests—so that every willing hand can contribute. We will welcome new neighbors and recognize those who serve.
4. Civic Partnership. We will coordinate with city agencies, schools, houses of worship, and local businesses to align schedules, improve bin placement, and report repeat problem areas.
5. Education and Accountability. We will encourage better packaging, responsible deliveries, and construction site housekeeping. Where laws exist, we will seek their fair and even enforcement.
6. Environmental Justice. We will attend first to places of greatest need—near schools, bus stops, senior housing, and waterways—so that no block bears a disproportionate burden.
7. Transparency and Data. We will tag locations in need, track the work completed, and share results so our efforts become smarter and more effective over time.
8. Joyful Participation. We will cultivate a spirit of welcome and gratitude, remembering that public work builds public friendship. We will celebrate progress, however small.

Therefore, in the presence of our neighbors and with goodwill toward all who share these streets, we do constitute ourselves as the Litter Gitters—a voluntary association for the care of our common home. We ask our fellow residents to join us, our local institutions to support us, and our public servants to partner with us. With firm purpose and friendly perseverance, we shall keep our blocks clean, our drains clear, our parks inviting, and our waterways alive—knowing that the simplest act, faithfully repeated, can renew a neighborhood.

In witness whereof, we set our hands and invite the signatures of all who would serve with us.