Why is Urban Quality of Life Improving? The Case of the Battle Against Dog Poop on Our Streets

Fran Lee played an important role in "greening" New York City. To quote the NY Times, "Lee, a preternaturally outspoken consumer advocate whose ardent campaign against dog waste helped bring about New York City’s pooper-scooper law in 1978, died on Feb. 13 at her home in Jerusalem. She was 99."

Big City quality of life has improved as we have figured out big and small ways to minimize the nasty externalities from living and working in close proximity. Traffic congestion is the last urban challenge rich cities face. Crime and pollution are both down sharply.

In this photo, you quickly see that she was engaged in greening the community and active in fighting the "brown" status quo. In a city filled with free riders, she stood up and took a leadership role.



The "greening" of post-industrial cities is a major theme in our improved standard of living over the last 100 years. If you were to visit NYC in the year 1910, you wouldn't like it too much. The absence of a Starbucks would only be one of your problems. Our major cities have made enormous quality of life strides over the last 100 years. Since our national income accounts (GNP), ignore such non-market factors; we tend to under-state "progress". Fran Lee helped to bring this progress about and I thank her. Walking the streets of Rome recently, I can tell you that Italy's major cities could benefit from importing a few tough ladies like her.