Dirty Square

Here's the dirt on Harvard Square: City Councillors think it's filthy.

The Council voted unanimously this week in favor of an order asserting, "Harvard Square is absolutely filthy, with litter all over and trash barrels overflowing each evening now that the summer has come and there are crowds."

The Council asked the city manager to "find a way to empty barrels and clean up sidewalks late in the day so that the residents and officials of the city are not embarrassed by the condition of the city."

Earlier in Monday's meeting Councillor Alice K. Wolf, who introduced the order of the cleanliness of the Square, said, "The place is a mess, it's filthy."

"I don't want the rest of the city to be like Harvard Square," said Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55.

Ralph E. Dunphy, deputy commissioner of public works for the city, said that a three-person crew cleans Harvard Square in the morning seven days a week, with brooms and vacuums, sweeping the sidewalks and emptying trash barrels. He said the crew makes two passes on weekends, emptying the trash cans a second time in the late afternoon.

Dunphy said that summer crowds could well lead to overflowing trash barrels by nighttime, even if the Square was clean in the afternoon. But he said late-night cleaning poses logistical difficulties. "Crowds get in the way," he said, asserting that a garbage truck would find it difficult to maneuver amidst the crowds of pedestrians and street performers, and might be disruptive.

The department of public works ordinarily only has a few people on emergency duty late on weekend nights, he said.

"We do the best we can," Dunphy said, urging users of the Square to throw their garbage in a barrel and not on the ground. "We understand how important it is."

The cleanliness of Harvard Square is not a brand-new issue. Harvard Corporation member Henry Rosovsky wrote of the "ever-changing urban squalor of Harvard Square" in his book The University: An Owner's Manual. At the time, some city leaders were upset at what they took as a disparaging remark. Now, however, they apparently agree

"We do the best we can," Dunphy said, urging users of the Square to throw their garbage in a barrel and not on the ground. "We understand how important it is."

The cleanliness of Harvard Square is not a brand-new issue. Harvard Corporation member Henry Rosovsky wrote of the "ever-changing urban squalor of Harvard Square" in his book The University: An Owner's Manual. At the time, some city leaders were upset at what they took as a disparaging remark. Now, however, they apparently agree