Something is bothering 19-year-old Stephanie Leung.

She's been a frequent visitor to Chinatown since she was a little girl, but lately she said she thinks Chinatown has gotten "really dirty."

When she goes to Chinatown she sees garbage on the streets and grafitti on the sides of buildings. And she's tired of people judging Chinese people as "dirty" by simply looking at the way Chinatown looks.

“People who do do it, don’t stop,” Leung said. She dislikes the graffiti and tags on the walls, because it makes Chinatown look dirty and it is very hard to clean.

“Chinatown makes people have a different (outlook) on Chinese people,” Leung said. "Chinatown is sort of dirty (and) it makes people that have different nationalities think that Chinese people are dirty also.

“A lot of people think that Chinese people are rude. The trash makes other people think that people in Chinatown don’t throw their trash away and just leave it on the floor."

Leung does see garbage collectors - the San Francisco Department of Public Works - come once in a while. The department is responsible for cleaning the streets and collecting trash. Sometimes they go daily, other times once every week.

Some shop owners in Chinatown are disgusted with the way Chinatown looks. Eva Chuk, 50, works in a toy collection store in Chinatown, and she said she believes Chinatown is a dirty place. Chuk said she dislikes Chinatown because of the way some people treat it, but she keeps her business there because she wants to keep her business going.

“Not a lot of people follow the rules," Chuk said. "People spit and throw trash all over the place. They should re-teach the people how to throw the trash away. Most of the people who litter will keep on littering and the people who start tagging wont stop tagging."

However, not everyone said they believe Chinatown is that dirty.

Joe Vaughn, 62, who visits Chinatown every week, said he doesn’t think the Chinatown streets are dirty in particular because it is a citywide problem.

“The streets are dirty, but it’s the streets of San Francisco,” said Vaughn.

He said he would like cleaner streets, though. “I like to see clean things,” said Vaughn.

The Department of Public Works has painted over Chinatown grafitti, but people keep coming back and repeatedly tagging buldings.

Shih-Wei Lu, who works at The Department of Public Works, said the tagging is making Chinatown look bad.

The more people work together to help prevent grafitti, the less people are going to tag, she said. Someone caught tagging or littering will be given a ticket, said Lu.

“I hope that people will work together to stop the tagging that is going on,” Lu said. “People should help keep the community clean."

Grafitti affects the business of the companies. It also makes Chinatown look bad and gives itself a bad reputation, business owners said.

Terry Kawi, 15, said Chinatown is a "little dirty."

When her friends talk about Chinatown they say it's "nasty” and "it smells.” She would like it if people would clean up after themselves because it’s a good habit and when Chinatown gets dirty, it gives a bad reputation to the Chinese.

A group in Chinatown called the Community Clean Team allows people to volunteer every two weeks to clean up. When Kawi was asked if she would join a volunteer group to help clean the streets of Chinatown, she responded with a “ Yes.”

There is also a Citation Walk, which is for anti-litter efforts. If you would like to join the Citation Walk, you can call Shih-Wei at 415-554-6930.