This is an entry in my series Things I learned. Here I learned the value of sending many emails and not to be afraid of dog poop.
In December 2017 we moved into our current apartment. Back then, there was a path nearby, that looked promising, but ended after 5 meters. There was a sign covered by a black plastic bag. After some years, the bag had fallen apart and revealed a sign for a shared pedestrian and bike path:
If this path would exist, we could use it as a shortcut, saving 250m on foot or bike:
In the summer of 2021 I asked my contact in the city administration (Stadtverwaltung), who’s involved in planning bike infrastructure in our district, about this. At first he said that due to a school being planned in the area to the north (the grey area in the screenshot above, inside the blue dotted path), he couldn’t give me details, but forwarded the question to the responsible department.
Half a year later, we didn’t have any update and nothing was being built. But by coincidence, a friend and me found some plans for this city quarter from 2003 (19 years old!) where this path was already included:
That was in January 2022. It took a bunch more emails and another one and a half years, till August 2023, that the construction actually started. By then the new school had already opened.
I found it somewhat amusing that the first thing they did was to damage the poor blue sign that had been standing there uselessly for 6+ years. At least it had the company of this parking forbidden sign, which had seen things:
By October 2023 they even finished the 3 lamps:
When the path was finally done, we started using it quite often. A year later in August 2024, my son started going to school. And since he went to the new school to the north of the path, we’ve been using this path twice daily.
Part 2
Since I feel like having some responsibility for this path, and use it so often, I noticed a growing problem: While many people use this path, some drop their trash there, which mostly ends up in the shrubs on the side. And people walk their dogs here – and some leave their dog poop behind, on the path.
My first attempt at fixing this problem was a trash collection done with some kids who live close by or go to the same school. In November 2024 I registered this as an AWB (the city organization usually responsible for keeping the city clean) Putzmunter event, which at least ensured that the trash bags we filled would get picked up the next day. I borrowed some tools from KRAKE, who also provided me with gloves and trash bags (I could’ve picked those up from AWB, too). With about 15 people, from toddlers to grandmas, we collected trash along the path and around the school, filling three trash bags. We also collected pieces of a TV and a can of nitrous oxide (laughing gas):
But this didn’t have any lasting effect. AWB kept ignoring the path. Trash started collecting again, a week after our cleanup. And once some dog poop was on the path, more showed up quickly. There were no trash cans at either side.
What do to? Send more emails! This proved successful again. Someone admitted, maybe by accident, that AWB wasn’t responsible for cleaning this path. When I asked a few times who then IS responsible, eventually they let me know that they’re going to take the responsibility from January 2025 onward. By early February they finally cleaned up the leftovers from New Years. They also installed trash cans on both sides of the path, one with dog poop bags:
Unfortunately this did not solve the dog poop problem. That kept showing up, mostly on the right side of the path, next to the shrubs. My contact at AWB didn’t have any recommendations for dealing with this.
One day I finally decided to try some direct action: I found a sturdy enough stick and pushed five piles of dog poop into the shrubs. And for about a week the path was dog poop free!
My theory for now: There is a breed of dog owner that’s willing to pick up their dog’s shit as long as everyone else does it. But if there is already dog poop lying around, they’ll just leave theirs as well. “Why should I clean if others don’t?” would be their rationale.
I’m planning another cleanup event once spring is arriving for good. We’ll then have to instruct every helper not to step foot into the poop-hiding shrubs…
PS: If you’re a dog owner or have dog owner insights, let me know if there’s a more sustainable tactic.