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Not much Southie Pride these days, based on the number of piles of dog poop on East Broadway

Librarian on the Run narrowly misses a pile this morning, then notices somebody else wasn't so lucky, then counts five heaping piles between G and L streets:

I've lived here for almost 10 years now, and for all the Southie Pride talk people love to spout off, I continue to see examples that it's mostly a bunch of dog sh*t.

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Everyone I've spoken to who lives there is proud of their double-parking, the appearance of the sidewalks, putting crap in the street to save parking spaces, and overall grittiness of their neighborhood.

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Must be talking to the local holdouts.

I agree, they seem to think the way to opposing the yuppifying of their neighborhoods is to slum it up and burn it down.

Dog shit and trash galore from the small "I don't give a frak" crowd seems to be growing. You almost want to smack some sense into them and say You live here too.

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Except you don't. The few people I've caught and called out weren't people who grew up here, but they at least had the conscience enough to be embarrassed.

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Do they know that the Latinos are going to be the next immigrant takeover of Boston, overwhelming with the number of people and voters? Any persistent Southie pigheadedness will only reflect poorly on us of the previous immigrant takeover. Don't make us look bad in people's memories.

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This problem is all over town. This was a contributing factor to our decision to fence our yard last month. That, however, just pushes the turds onto the sidewalks.

My neighbor pointed out recently that every day, somebody would drive up to our Rozzie nbhd, let out his german sheppard unleashed. Dog would pick a spot at random to do its business, and get back in the car. Off the driver would go, without cleaning up ...

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I'm not as familiar with Roslindale as I am with South Boston, but I'm going to guess that fewer people drive their dog to the curb on Broadway, let their dog out to take a dump on the sidewalk, then drive away.

In South Boston's case, I'm willing to bet it's local people walking their dogs who don't clean up after them, chuck empty coffee cups on the ground (despite an abundance of trash cans on Broadway).

I do see one guy regularly sweeping up along Broadway. I don't know if he's a city employee, volunteer, or work release guy. But it's the same guy every time...balding with long hair on the sides. *HE* has Southie pride, but he's only one guy and Broadway is a long street.

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It is.

As much as people love to rag on yuppies, they know crap like this (no pun intended) isn't going to help their property values.

If you're ever around Southie around noon on a weekday, it's about when the welfare wave hits the streets for a few hours. It's also when the curbs and sidewalks get trashed with litter.

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As one of the Yuppie/New Southie types who does not own a dog, I would tend to agree that this is not a "yuppie" issues. From my perspective (a first floor window on Dorchester St), it's much more the early-twenties offspring of the Old Southie crew who don't care about their neighborhood or, as another poster pointed out, think that kind of grit and trash give the neighborhood "character" or something. The yuppies might complain about the NPS Rangers at Thomas Park telling them to keep their dogs on leashes, but I think for the most part, they get that cleaning up after a dog is part of the cost of ownership. And don't get me started about the project people throwing their torn-up lottery tickets in my flower planters.

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Growing up in Revere, people pretty much let dogs poop where they wanted and were very lackadaisical about picking it up. I'm afraid that mentality is still with some of your older townies. If anything it's the "yuppies" that are more responsible when it comes to picking up da poo-poo. I can proudly say that I keep bags on me everywhere I take my dog, because a Mastiff leaves some pretty large movements.

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Have you looked at your property tax bill lately? The feces have actually made the property values rise.

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I agree that this a small way people say "screw you" to everyone. Laziness can't be it because people will throw trash on th eground right next to a barrel. It makes no sense otherwise. I use to live in Southie and have since moved to another neighborhood on Boston. While it's still not great I could not believe the amount of trash that would pile up each week for the street sweepers.

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Lee Litif is a city worker matching that description.

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Dogs suck!

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People suck more.

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You suck! Juvenile, yes, but I actually prefer my dog to most humans. Maybe that's why I do all my postings from my parents' basement.

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I'm not one of those "blame the yuppie" guys, but this problem has become much worse over the past 15-20 years. Worse because more people just brought more dogs. Used to be dogs just went out all day and crapped where they wanted and it still wasn't this bad. Now you've got all dogs on a leash and most owners picking up after them, but there's enough jerks that you've got to shuck and jive down the sidewalk to avoid it. Throw in some precipitation and all bets are off, nobody wants to pick up runny dog $h*t.

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don't forget the yearly spring melt: When the sidewalks and curb snow finally melts to show us 6 months of frozen dog feces. If it doesn't see it's shadow, is it spring yet?

Personally, I don't think it's the yuppies. I've caught people doing it and they didn't strike me as a Yupster.

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As a proud West Side Southie resident (my mother grew up here and I bought my place more than five years ago) who works from home a few days a week, I can tell you this is a neighborhood-wide problem. And despite all the "yuppie" arguments here, I can tell you that old-time townies and newer residents are equal opportunity offenders; I see it all the time from my office window. If they leave a nice package outside my building I'll either go out and bag it up or try and move it (along with all the other crap left around) into the street on street cleaning days. There's plenty of us around here who have Southie pride and do what we can to keep Southie clean. But some people -- newcomers and old-timers alike -- just don't give a damn, and they suck.

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If you've had small children, you know the feeling of anxiously scanning the ground in front of them as they run in a park.

A $50 fine, never enforced, is not enough. The solution is to make the offense of not cleaning up after your dog an arrestable misdemeanor, with up to a $500 fine and ten days in jail. And then put some undercover officers out in the parks in the mornings and actually arrest some people.

Too many dog owners think they are entitled to have their dogs shit all over the place.

This was a big issue for the late Jimmy Kelly.

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Southie Pride died a generation ago. If you want to find it now, you'll have to look in Pembroke and Whitman - that's where they moved.

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The fact of all this is that there are too many dogs in South Boston. I don't care if you've lived here a week or fifty years. If you're a dog owner, you're probably guilty of this. I've heard all the excuses from 'responsible' dog owners. I'm not impressed. The fact is all over the sidewalks and streets. This also goes beyond dogs. But that's a matter for another forum. One last thing. The post about 'Southie Pride' being elsewhere is a telling passage. If there are so few of us, then are the long timers to blame for all the conceived ills here about?

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Its really not a socioeconomic issue, somebody stepped out to do that last poop run before bed/work and only brought one bag. Dogs can surprise you and take two or three dumps in a short span of time and if you're not prepared you just slink away. I havent owned a dog for years but I remember being caught without enough bags many times, I'd even go looking for windblown bags in the shrubs to pick it up. All dog owners have done this. Nobody does it to make a statement, its just people being kinda hopeless and lazy.

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We're not talking Toosie rolls here. There's plenty of big, long, swirly logs no matter the street you walk on, from serial offenders.

I walk to work daily, and You always have to keep an eye on the pavement in front of you, because if you forget to....

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i believe its probably old local folks that always had dogs before the cleanup law,im southie born and live here now but i see yuppies always pickin up,and i see lazy old grampas leave it,like screw it the rain will wash it away

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The problem is in the Back Bay after many years and on the increase. There is a new twist as well. We have consciencious but really dumb dog owners too. These jerks pick up the poo in little blue baggies which they deposit in your empty garbage and recycling on collection days, in the alleys and in the streets for cars to drive over. Top that!

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I've seen the little blue dog poop bags 'politely' plopped down on the curbs of people's property all over the Back Bay. It as if to say, see I've done my bit to clean up after my dog, now you take care of the rest... I'm much to busy/important/special to dispose of my pet's shit appropriately.

Actually, if you think Boston is bad for abandoned bags of dog crap, try Houghton's pond in Milton. It's the worst I've seen anywhere. You can't walk 30 steps along the woodsy trails without seeing another discard blue bag of dog crap. Nasty.

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I've had the same problem with people walking up my driveway to use my trash can for their baggies.

One local dog owner leaves the bags on the sidewalk after cleaning up.

But my favorite was the woman who, after I asked her to please walk her dog somewhere other than the grass by my driveway, told me she thought it was better for the soil not to clean it up.

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The reason there is soooo much dog crap on South Boston's sidewalks couldn't be more clear: all (and I mean, literally, ALL) of you new, trendy, posing, GWH-obsessed, suburban-reared yuppie transplant scumbags who now claim to be...ahem.."from" my neighborhood own dogs. You don't have children; you're far, far too self-involved for such a sacrifice. No, you people own dogs. But a large part of your self-obsession is career and gym-driven; you spent an absurd amount of times on yourselves during the day. Now, what is a self-obsessed yuppie to do about Fido, all alone in the overpriced trendy loft? Well, it's dog-walkers and Doggy Day Care, of course. Nothing's too good for Fluffy. Only problem is, these dogwalkers are stunted adult stoners who don't live in my neighborhood and dont. clean. up. after. your. yuppie. dogs.

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harsh. this guy obviously stepped in it today.

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seriously folks. I grew up in Southie i lived here when it was all southie pride and what not, that pride left awhile ago when the city decided it was time to break apart a nice commmunity.
I myself always stuck-up for the new comers, saying id rather live next door to a yuppie than a junkie, not thati have no love for junkies i have a few in my family i care about and wish they would stop, but wouldnt trust them with my comic book collection.
But you have the nerve to sit behind a computer and complain a town that the people who lived here before made so great with so many great traditions. honestly for me besides outside the projects i cant tell a yuppie from an original southie person whos lived hear there whole lives unless i know them.
And yes the dogshit has become more of a problem the last five years, and with more and mroe newcomers moving in it leads me to believe its not always odl southie residents.Its teh kids who litter the street with coffe cup and scratch. If i got caught by an older person littering i would get yeld at, now that was the old southie, the only southie thats left is the real old timers and sorry to say it but the less priviledged part of southie that cant leave and their to busy getting fucked up to walk dogs.(theres still alot of good under priviledge people in southie too). Not to sound racist but im all for immagrants coming here working but when you lazy popping out kids collecting welfare and selling heroin thats not right,everyone in teh projects dos that no matter what color butAll the heroin is coming from the spanish kids and it gonna get to your kids eventually. Its scary yeah i know. That why i left southie.
Thats another thing your complaining about Dogshit while there are kids dying in the street cuz the Southie they grew up in is gone, and robbing helpless old lady's one broadway and leave them for dead. Not to mention the racial violence in the project.
Southie was good town yeah there was still violence like anyother town) but everyone knew everyone. Now its not.
Newcomers have no idea what Southie was. Yeah its not the same it used to be some for the better some for the worse, but im not gonna let u sit here and talk about what kinda hell whole it is, because of dogshit. You don't like it then leave. Dont judge southie by what the few horrible people do, thats like saying all blacks are gangstas because a few of them are. Thats discrimination.

sorry for the rant but it jsut made me mad not the fact that your talking about southie i could care less about southie today. But saying its coming from the old southie scum, like southie was a bad town. sure it wasnt perfect but its nowhere near as bad as it is now.
Also about the dog shit, my aunt owns a house on the lower end and she has had more problem as the years go by with dog shit. More condos go up more people move in more dog shit. Shell sit out there and yell at the people to clean it up. She says most of them come form the condo up the street. Not saying your lying maybe it is older resdidents leaving it in your area, but also like i said how do u know the differnce. i meet plenty of peopel today i think are new to southie and they say they grew up here, we look the same.
Stop putting blame onSouthie residents to make yourself look better thats why most people didnt want you here. Me i like the diversity i dont mind but dont talk about my town.

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Fenway Bark has reached out to the South Boston Bark Park, Castle Island organization, Councilor Linehan and Senator Hart and offered to put a percentage of sales at Fenway Bark toward waste stations and waste bags throughout major dog walking areas in South Boston. Nothing more is required than to purchase products and services at Fenway Bark and an agreement in place on who is a member of various organizations and the percent of contribution that will go back to keeping South Boston clean. South Boston Bark Park has rejected the offer in writing but is asking the City for help (I assume that means tax dollars). I recently found a connection to help get something done at Castle Island. And I received no feedback or action from Councilor Linehan or Senator Hart. To that end, private business trying to help solve a community problem without raising tax dollars fell on deaf ears.

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Or lift your leg.

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