By Molly Farrar
“Davis Square looks like a dumpster,” an anonymous Reddit user said in a viral post last month, with photos showing the shining brick plaza covered in wet trash after a rainstorm.
With the city’s public works department understaffed, litter clean-up and other maintenance appear to have fallen by the wayside at the iconic square, home to Somerville Theatre and The Burren.
But Nick Hancock, a new Somerville resident, saw the viral post and thought “this is literally something we can work on, something that we can fix,” he said in an interview with Boston.com.
Davis Square Litter Crew, his new litter clean-up group, meets each Sunday at 2 p.m. to collect any trash “bigger than a cigarette butt” in the square’s plaza, nearby parks, and bus stops, Hancock said.
“It’s just a great time just getting people to put in as much as they’d like, and a lot of the times that’s like a whole hour,” Hancock said. “We get a whole bunch cleaned up and made looking pretty.”
After Hancock saw the post on Reddit, he first picked up some trash alone and shared it with the same online community that had commiserated about the litter in hundreds of comments. There was an explosion of interest to support him, either to help pay for materials or attend with him, he said.
During the first meeting last month, a group of 11 volunteers picked up Davis Square and Seven Hills Park for about an hour. A group of seven picked up three bags of trash during their most recent Sunday meeting, Hancock said, including a lot of small alcohol bottles.
“It was fantastic,” Hancock said. “I’m surprised that we have follow-up people who are coming regularly to our cleanups. I’m very happy about that — didn’t quite expect it. I would be doing it whether people come or not. That’s just something that I enjoy doing right now.”
Asked about the litter problem in Davis Square, Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne said in a statement that part of the city’s efforts include “expanding outreach to support our unhoused neighbors – which includes a significant increase in both health worker and community police officer check ins, which we refer to as compassionate patrols.”
The original viral post blamed people “that hang out there everyday and have zero manners,” while some commenters pointed to a growing homeless population and described seeing open drug use in the square. The homeless population has reportedly surged in the neighborhood, which was already a gathering place for people with and without housing, according to The Boston Globe.
The city added that trash will be picked up more frequently in the square, and that there will be more street sweeping.
“Davis Square is one of our most iconic public spaces, and as with all areas of the City, we take pride in maintaining it,” Ballantyne said in a statement. “There’s more to do, but we’re in it for the long haul, and I’m committed to keeping Davis Square vibrant, safe, and welcoming for everyone.”
During a Davis Square Litter Group’s meeting this past Sunday, volunteers came across needles. Hancock said it was the first time they had to handle anything dangerous, and the group contacted 311 to get the needles removed.
At-Large City Councilor Jake Wilson joined the group on Sunday.
“I’m really happy to see the community step up like this and help out in an area where we need to see this sort of thing happening,” Wilson, who is running for mayor, told Boston.com. “I can’t tell you how many people expressed gratitude, not just to me, but to the others who were there at seeing us out there picking up litter in Davis Square.”
Wilson said the city’s public works department became chronically understaffed amid long contract negotiations.
“We lost so many really good staff in that two and a half years they were waiting and working without a contract and waiting for improved compensation that it is going to take some time to rebuild our workforce,” he said.
Anyone interested in joining the clean-up group should bring garden gloves and a grabber, as well as sun protection, Hancock said. With more volunteers, the group could pick up the litter that gathers near busy bus stops in the square.
Hancock is moving to Union Square, where he hopes to continue a litter pick-up group.
“I’ve been talking to friends, and they had heard about this organization, which was crazy to me after only three weeks,” Hancock said, “But people walk by us as we’re doing our little cleanup, and people are always thankful and saying something nice and being very appreciative.”