A Man Spent 100 Days Cleaning One Block of New York City Per Day. It Transformed His Neighborhood: ‘The Story of Trash is The Story of People’
One man's New York City spree did not go unnoticed online.
While New York City is celebrating the local government’s response to pothole repairs, David Clarke (@trashtalk_nyc) from Washington Heights has been cleaning his block for 100 days. He says his personal initiative has changed his life and his block.
“100 days ago, I posted a video cleaning litter on my block,” Clarke shared on TikTok. The man gave out brochures in English and Spanish to local businesses, explaining that he cleaned their block. He asked these businesses to either follow him on social media or recommend other locations to clean.
“They thought I was crazy. I wanted to clean one block of New York every day so my neighbors felt loved and cared for. That choice and $40 in cleaning materials led to a journey that has spanned trash, drugs, politics, and gardening and has made my life and my street unrecognizable,” Clarke said. Cleaning a block of the city a day is no easy task for an individual. Even one man who offered a free clean for a senior in need had help from someone else to clear her yard. But Clarke isn’t doing it alone either. Some people support him through donations, and others occasionally volunteer to clean the city with him. Throughout his cleaning journey, he also made a profound discovery.
“My neighbors tell me that my block of Washington Heights was an area people avoided. Decades of underfunding, Columbia takeovers, and a city-wide crime wave led to dead trees and streets that didn’t seem worth caring for,” Clarke explained. When his TikTok went viral, he found a connection between litter, pride, and a sense of community.
His cleaning efforts did more than beautify his neighborhood
“I could have picked up trash my whole life, but instead, I wanted to give people a reason not to litter,” Clarke said. He said he spent $2,000 building fences and planting flowers around his block. In turn, citizens would be less inclined to put trash in those vacant, previously neglected spaces.
Cleaning gave Clarke the privilege of hearing incredible stories of his city and helped him understand its problems. Since embarking on his mission, Clarke discovered that pigeons are losing their toes because of stray hairs from beauty salons. In the Bronx, Clarke even dug up a manhole by accident, which got buried in trash and debris. Nevertheless, Clarke said that he has faced personal hardships throughout his cleaning journey.
“I’ve lost friends, quit my job, worked well into the night, and now, I get recognized three times a day just walking around New York,” Clarke shared. The city is notorious for a high cost of living, making a job loss painful for any New Yorker. It’s not a place where the homeless could flourish, contrary to one influencer’s belief.
“Even my body’s changed, and my life is as unrecognizable as my block. Now, we’re trying to figure out how to teach you to do the same thing. Because the story of trash is the story of people,” Clarke said. Although the video marked day 100 of cleaning, Clarke is not done. In his caption, he said that he will transition his content to “education and beautification for New York families.” Clarke isn’t the only one making waves on social media for helping his neighbors. Another woman came to a family’s aid with their grandfather’s “bottle house,” giving his property a breath of new life.
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