"Before and-after" photos clearly demonstrate that anti-social behaviour and vandalism have reduced after the "cleaner, safer, greener" activities of the citizens and the council. This positive view is also shared by local citizens: the participants at a public meeting after the three-month clean-up thought that their engagement had been worthwhile. The utility company and the councillor Paul-Gerhard Weiss also thought that this initiative has been positive and needed to be extended to other neighbourhoods.
When local people take responsibility for their street they not only take better care of public spaces but they change the outlook of other citizens, as well. As Frank Weber, head of Department for Cleansing (and responsible in the city for local prevention policies) suggests: "When local people collect litter, they visibly take responsibility for the environment and become a role model for others". Last but not least, clean-up days in the local neighbourhoods create social capital and improved social cohesion. When young people decorated the flower pots in the Ludwig Straße with mosaics, some local citizens gave them drinks and chocolate to thank them for their engagement.