Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

Never heard of it. Just looked it up. Looks interesting. Thanks.

Maybe not a popular opinion, but: Encourage your neighbors to call the police when things happen. Call them yourself, too.

I lived in a bad neighborhood for about 20 years, and have had family living in the "same" bad neighborhood (about 10 blocks away), and the difference in crime is night and day. The main difference from what I can tell, is that nobody on my street called the cops, ever. If I didn't call, the cops/fire department wouldn't show up.

For example, we had a mentally ill meth addict wandering the streets, breaking into vacant houses, vandalizing property, etc... One day, I find him starting a fire in some brush outside our house. My neighbor's way of dealing with this? Get out the hose and put the fire out. That's it.

I called the fire department, who alerted the authorities, who detained him.

Later that day while driving around, I saw half a dozen piles of ashes where he (I assume) had set fires before wandering off to start a new one. All within a 1-2 block radius.

I honestly think I was the only one who finally called the authorities on him, because everyone else in that neighborhood is so apathetic (or maybe so suspicious of the police) that they refuse to call 911.

He could have set a house on fire and killed a family. I'm speculating, but I imagine he wouldn't have even got the first fire started in a neighborhood that is vigilant and willing to call the cops.

I recently passed day 1,300 of picking up at least one piece of trash per day. It's not my only civic contribution, but it's deeply rewarding. I've also switched from jogging to plogging.

Some results:

It's gotten me on TV a couple times.

It's led to working with my city councilman, whose team recently started organizing group pickups.

Someone considering a Senate run contacted me for advice on sustainability.

I'm working with a few corporations to organize nationwide pickup events -- mainly fitness places you'd probably know the names of.

As a regular in my local park, the drug dealers there have become friendly with me, leading to long conversations about life.

I'm friends with entrepreneurs in the field.

People often thank me and we talk.

It reinforces my diet. I avoid packaged food, which I find increasingly disgusting, largely for what the packaging does to the world and the entitlement, willful ignorance, and salt/sugar/fat/convenience addiction does to our culture.

Most of all, I feel connected to my community.

On the downside, my view of human nature can get dark when I consider how much people pollute.

The "success" of this was contingent upon there being a Vietnamese community in the neighborhood that took care of the statue and the space around it. To be clear, using another culture's religious icon to keep trash from piling up on your street is exceedingly disrespectful.