If a car window was smashed on the street near your house, is it your responsibility to clean it up?
Asked by
Kraigmo (
9421)
November 5th, 2009
I’ve noticed if there’s a break-in in front of people’s houses, in many cases, they don’t bother to sweep up the broken glass. Probably because they feel they had nothing to do with the problem. But its in front of their house on the street. Shouldn’t they sweep it up? Isn’t it a sign of a trashy mindset to just wait till the city comes along and deals with it? Or not?
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9 Answers
I don’t know if they have a responsibility to do it, but it sure would be nice. If it happened where I and/or family & friends parked, I’m sure I would do it.
Yeah I agree with @augustlan, it’s not your responsibility but I would clean it up just so I didn’t have to drive or walk through it myself. (Might not do the best job though!!)
It wouldn’t even occur to me to wonder whose responsibility it is. If it is front of my house, I would clean it up right away, unless it was a crime scene or something.
I agree responsibility or not, sometimes you just have to do what needs done. As to why they don’t- who knows? They could be lazy, trash etc. Or they could just be so busy from working two jobs, taking care of the house and kids that the glass is low on their list. Hard to know unless we were to ask them.
What if your neighbor has a bad back, is elderly, or has some other reason for not wanting to clean up the street? It’s dirty. You can get hit by a car. It’s the city’s responsibility, and if you have a problem with it, then you need to call your city’s department of streets and sanitation, or whatever it’s called there, and complain. It’s not on your neighbor’s property, so it just isn’t his responsibility. Although it would probably carry more weight if he were the one to make the call.
It isn’t necessarily their responsibility (unless they broke the window to begin with) but it is common sense – nobody wants to step on a piece of glass and having glass scattered in the street in front of your house looks trashy, However, as @IchtheosaurusRex says, unless you ask them you don’t know if they leave it because they can’t do anything else, or if they don’t care. And by the time you have walked over to their house to ask, you may as well have brought a broom and dustpan and cleaned it up yourself.
It’s just plain stupid to leave it there. It communicates that it is a bad neighborhood. Also, the sick person who did it can drive by and “re-live” their crime every time they see the broken glass. We have apartments and we will clean up stuff like this and graffiti from our neighbors property if they don’t do it quickly. It makes everyone look bad when stuff like this is left around.
It may not be your responsibility, but if you have any self-regard you will do it for selfish reasons, so that your neighborhood doesn’t attract miscreants.
I’m not sure it is their responsibility but it is good community etiquette and manners. I wouldn’t want all that glass sitting outside my house anyhow.
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