Two public pleas expressed at the City Council meeting this week — one for Port Arthur cleanliness, the other for orderly streets — were surely related.

Attorney Carl Parker, whose firm used to represent city government, spoke about wholesale disregard of city laws, such as zoning ordinances. Another resident, Enoc Briones, addressed the council about homelessness and disorder related to burglary and theft.

Although just two spoke, they spoke for the multitudes in Port Arthur, a city that suffered for code enforcement and cleanliness long before Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey swept through town.

The storms exacerbated but did not create the conditions for general disorder in this city. That came decade by decade with the loss of effective leadership. Perhaps Port Arthur has bottomed out.

When roads are rife with potholes, becoming their own traffic hazards; when trash and debris clogs the city’s ditches, threatening public safety, when ramshackle housing and unkempt property is allowed to remain standing and unaddressed; when some residents are allowed to violate city rules without sanction; that’s when neighborhoods decay and the seeds are planted for social and community disorder.

When city leaders focus first on their own benefit and political advantages, not on the public good, that’s when citizens lose confidence in the future. The people of this community see problems go unresolved every day.

Want to know why Engine 503, the old locomotive presented to this city as a gift 60 years ago, has resonated as an issue? It’s because beyond its steely presence, it symbolizes a slow and relentless rot in parts of this community.

It speaks to the city’s railroad history, sure, and that’s why Port Arthur wanted the locomotive here, a fixture for generations in a visible park on a busy street. But the gradual decay and decline of the landmark has taken place over the years in the public eye, with city leaders unable or unwilling to effectively fix the problem.

Want to know why city streets continue to vex residents? Because Port Arthur people bump and rumble over them every day, with no apparent resolution near. It’s the locomotive, all over again.

Want to know why trash along the roadsides and debris in city ditches vex residents? It’s because those problems are imminently fixable, if the city would pay attention. People in Port Arthur’s Port Acres neighborhood know too well the result of inattentive leadership; some homes were flooded a second time recently because of drainage issues related to clogged ditches.

Ultimately, Port Arthur voters must take charge if they want things to change. They need to take stock of what passes for elected leadership in our city, and ask who among these people is a change agent.

If it’s nobody, then voters must make a change.