Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-12-06
WHERE IS OUR CIVIC PRIDE?

How long is the city going to tolerate the use
-, tho emptv lots in the vicinity of the post once
and public library for a dumping sroundE i"S
matter has been called to the attention OF the
.,,hor;+ies before. The Rev. Robert Schlotter'
uas,or of Grace Lutheran Church which Is 10
Gated In that immediate vicinity, has taken the
r,a,,sr in several times with city officials, out
,o,b,no has come of it. The library ofhciais
h.,o had the matter called to their attention.
INT they seem unable to get action, either. Is
,h.rs M nride in the appearance of the city at
all. that such a condition as this should be per-
mit,ed TO go on without any effort whatever u
stop It?
In the vicinity of Jefferson and Maple streets
> some OF the city's most prominent buildings.
These include the federal building the puo"0
,,hrarv and the Y. NJ. c. A. II we have any
pride in our city at all these are hciuueu
among the places to be shown strangers "he"
they visit us.
Rut 70 find the federal building and the IL
brarv. as attractive as they are in themselves
IN the midst of a setting of what Is Virtuaiiy d
citv dump, is disgusting and discouraglng L''le
wonder people lose interest in trying 10 make "
c;tv attractive when our principal buildings are
to be found amid such surroundings. inc h'"e
each individual can do toward making the Guy
presentable is more than offset by sueh con-
ditions as this in the most prominent ioca'ioh''
business men who ought to take pride In the
appearance of the city and do everything pos
sible to make 1t attractive are not entirely
blameless in this matter. Through either care
lossness or indifference they often use a vacuum
lot near their store or office to dump waste
paper. excelsior. and refuse in general. THIS Is
one of the troubles in the case OF the iots near
the most office and the public library. Again.
s,cb vacant places are used by children VINO go
about the CITY gathering boxes for frewood 10
anntv the contents of the boxes that happened
70 have some of the packing material left In
them when they get them.
This matter may seem trihing to a great many,
nut because it does seem trifins Is evidence OF
a very low standard Of civic pride. Perth Am
soy- .people go to other cities and come back
With glowing accounts OF the attractiveness Oh
other places. They wonder why Perth Annoy
cannot be as we'll kept as these other places are.
They decide that because 1t Is a manufacturihs
city, made up largely of poor mems homes. II Is
useless to try to make Perth Amboy like other
places.
But no matter how humble the homes may
be and regardless of the nature OF the industries
here. there is no reason why the empty lots In
the midst of one of the city's civic centers should
not be cleaned up and kept clean.
The setting in which we find the federal
building, the public library and the Y. M. c. A.
nearly every day of the week ( is a standing dis
grace to the people OF Perth Amboy. IT we are
TO neglect these larger and more important
things, how can we expect the rank and file oil
the people to take an interest in beautifyins
their own premises?
Perth Amboy may never become a city beauti-
full, but it can easily be made a whole lot more
attractive without the expenditure of an extra
cent if we, as a city, would show a little more
civic pride in the surroundings of our mos
prominent buildings.