I write with a swell idea to help the city meet a federal order to cut runoff to the Chesapeake Bay ("Baltimore faces deadline to remove acres of pavement, reduce runoff," June 19). Give out brooms! Run TV commercials to teach residents how to sweep their gutters and place the debris inside the new green trash cans the city is handing out.
One of my old neighbors said that the tens of thousands of Millennials and other outsiders who've flocked to the city's old neighborhoods from Hampden to Locust Point don't know how to use a broom, and TV public service spots could show them how. Old residents can be the teachers — they know how to use brooms.
As an individual, I can't remove thousands of acres of pavement or create new wetlands, but sweeping the 12 feet of gutter in front of my house is do-able and would help with one-third of the federal requirements. As my favorite mayor used to say: "Do it now!"
Zippy Larson, Baltimore