Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 wants to clean up the city.

Reeves says he is appalled by the amount of trash that litters Central and Harvard Square on the weekends. Something, says Reeves, needs to be done to keep the city garbage-free.

Trash, dirty streets and litter, say city leaders, lower citizen pride in the city and can hurt local businesses--which no one wants to do in a recession-bound economy

"It's just depressing. It effects everyone," says City Councillor Alice K. Wolf. "Go into Harvard Square about midnight on Saturday night. It looks like a refuse dump."

Both Wolf and Reeves say the litter problem is worst on the weekends in Harvard and Central Square because of the substantial increase of pedestrian and auto traffic. But Reeves maintains this is no excuse for a dirty city.

"It seems to me one of the few basic expectations of municipal government is that it be able to pick up the household garbage regularly, and that the streets be cleaned, most particularly the heavy traffic areas of the city," he says.

The problem of more trash on the weekends is a result of the clean-up schedule set by the Department of Public Works, Reeves says. Crews clean on Friday during the day and on Saturday morning, but not late in the afternoon or at night on Saturday. No city crews clean on Sunday. "Saturday night the paper is there and we do nothing on Sunday ... and Sunday is a shopping day," he says.

A dirty city is not only ugly, Reeves says, but it also hinders the marketing of certain business areas, like Central Square, that are trying to improve their images.

Reeves says Central Square is an area the city is trying to market as one of Cambridge's finest places to dine. But trash and refuse on the streets and sidewalks do not let Central Square businesses "put their best foot for ward," he says.

Reeves says that since he and Central Square business leaders began bringing attention to the litter problem at a recent city council meeting, the area's appearance has improved, at least temporarily.

But on any given day, the square can still become filled with trash, and Reeves wants to be sure that the square stays clean.

Reeves says the city can try to solve the problem by mandating the allocation of funds for weekend cleaning in next year's budget, to be released later this month.

"If one made the point in the budget that one didn't intend to pass a department of public Works budget that didn't include weekend cleaning, the message would be made loud and clear."

Public works has a staff fully capable of dealing with the additional weekend clean-up demands without hiring new personnel or greatly increasing spending, according to Reeves.

Getting the area clean, he adds, would be a boon for businesses and bring money into the city. "In terms of a cost-benefit analysis, if we can get Harvard and Central Square clean at all times Whatsoever, the benefits would be worth it," he says.