Ceres is being trashed and it needs to stop.

If you stop and look as you drive or walk down the streets, check out and see how much is really out there.

Whenever I'm walking I try to pick up what I see. That's just who I am. If I see trash lying feet from a garbage can, I will pick it up and drop it in the can.

My hunch is that 90 percent of the trash is caused by youth who haven't been taught better. My assessment is based on the fact that most of what I pick up are candy and snack wrappers, soda cups and lids, and fast-food wrappers. I'd say the other 10 percent is due to adults who throw down cigarette cartons after they're done with them, and garage sale signs that aren't removed after a sale and blowing off of utility poles (another eyesore being practiced here).

Can you imagine how things would look if we all cared. Aside from that fact that I don't understand the mindset of people who throw down trash, it drags down the whole community environment. It's akin to urinating in the pool that you swim in; everyone is contaminated by it.

Here's a novel approach: Start caring. We can all do healthier things like walking in our neighborhoods and carrying along a plastic bag for garbage. Or at the very least we can "adopt our block" to make sure the sidewalks and gutters and streets in front of our own houses and businesses are cleaned up. This should be an ongoing effort, not just signing up for the annual Love Ceres effort.

Parents must teach their kids that it's illegal and not okay to drop a candy wrapper on the corner rather than carry it home and dispose of it there.

Residents of Ceres should NOT be nailing or stapling any signs to utility poles. For one thing, it's a misdemeanor. Second of all, that sign will wind up being rained off or blown off the pole and will be part of the trashscape.

Police should start citing people for littering if they aren't already.

The city of Ceres is to be commended for helping taking on a clean-up Ceres effort. For example, the city, through a contract with Howard Training Center, arranged for the trash clean-up of El Camino from Pine Street to Service Road. The crew picked up enough debris to fill 15 dumpsters by the time it combed two-thirds of the stretch.

The city also will be issuing warnings to property owners of trashy vacant fields along Whitmore Avenue west of Highway 99 and along Fairview Drive.

Ceres has so much potential. But if residents don't start caring and change their practices, it will not break free from this abysmal state of blight, which in turn breeds crime and gang activity. It's proven that communities that don't stay on top of code enforcement and graffiti and trash are throwing down the welcome mat for the criminal and gang element.

The city has also been contacting land owners who allow their properties to look trashy. But really should it come down to the thteat of a citation for someone to care?

Come on, Ceres, cast off the trashy appearance.

How do you feel? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com