But city officials in public works says the reason they cannot clean on the weekend has nothing to do with money.

"If you put people out later on in the day, the square are so crowded with people that you can't make much progress," says William H. Frazier, city supervisor of Sanitation.

The lack of Public Works crews on weekends isn't the only cause of the dirt and litter in the city, according to Frazier. People who litter are equally to blame.

What the city really needs to combat the trash is a new, stronger litter law, Frazier says, And Wolf, at least, agrees with him.

"Unless people are careful and throw their trash in the barrels, there's going to be a continuation of the [current situation]," Wolf says.

As of now there are no plans for a complete revision of the litter law. But Wolf Says the ordinance against illegal posting of paper flyers and advertisements--which often fall down and blow around the squares--will be strengthened and that may alleviate the problem somewhat.

While the most intense scrutiny of the city's upkeep occurs on the weekends, the refuse does not go away during the week even though crews run daily, Reeves says.

But with all the discussion of dirt in the city by councillors and officials, some neighborhood activists say trash is not nearly as dire a problem for them as it is in the urban areas.

No one has complained recently about trash in the streets, says John R. Pitkin of the Mid-Cambridge Neighborhood Association. Although the streets in the neighborhood might not look as clean as they could, they have not been swept since November, Pitkin says.

"I'm not saying I'm in favor of dirt or anything, but in the residential areas it's not any worse then it's ever been," he says.

While the challenge of keeping the city's main thoroughfares and neighborhoods clean is not an old one, officials say Cambridge still has not yet come up with an adequate solution.

The answer, according to Wolf, is that the city needs "a combination of city government and people to keep it cleaner."