Photos by N. Bower

By Karen Talbot

April 12, 2023: Michael O'Connor is a five-year resident of Bronxville who has a unique hobby of picking up litter on the west side of the village.

He started doing this in July of 2021 when a massive amount of rain made the Bronx River overflow its banks. After the storm, Michael noticed that a lot of litter and trash had accumulated between Palmer Road and the entrance to the Bronx River Parkway north on Paxton Avenue.

Because he hates litter, he took it upon himself to pick it up. In total, he picked up 200 pounds of trash!

Since then, he has made a point of spending one or two hours, usually in the afternoon, four to five days a week, picking up litter. His service to the community gets him away from his computer and into the fresh air, which he finds very satisfying.

He finds small items, including cigarette butts (the most common item), plastic bottles, coffee cup lids, soda cups, paper napkins, and candy wrappers.

His regular routes are the Paxton Avenue area, the pathway behind New York-Presbyterian Westchester Hospital, and the pathway between Palmer Road and Pondfield Road on Parkview. He also picks up in the front of the shops on Palmer Road across from the hospital, which the merchants love. The park by the train station on Parkway Road also gets a cleaning.

O'Connor thrives on being busy, so this is the perfect hobby for him. He often encourages others to do the same thing.

Look for the man with a large yellow bag strapped around his shoulder and a handheld grabber. Sometimes he even takes his young cat, Goldie, in his backpack.

He and his wife, Janine, have two grown children. Until now, only they and his good friends know what he does. We can all learn a lesson from Michael, who spends so much of his time helping the village of Bronxville in this way.