Blighted and run down areas of Beacon Hill targeted
Get ready to roll up your sleeves, put on your gloves and get to work because the city's Clean & Green Seattle project is coming to Beacon Hill this Saturday, March 15, from 9 a.m. to Noon.
The "Clean & Green Seattle" project is an initiative designed to bring together community members with city departments to help make neighborhoods cleaner and safer. The event will start at Dr. Jose Rizal Park, located at 1008 12th Ave. S. at 9 a.m. with Mayor Greg Nickels scheduled to kick off the event around 9:30. The focus of this particular Clean & Green Seattle event is cleaning up the neighborhood and instituting conservation measures.
"Clean & Green Seattle projects are a great way for a community to come together," Mayor Greg Nickels said on the city's website. "We are a city of vibrant neighborhoods, and Clean & Green helps people, city departments and community organizations to solve problems."
Some of the activities during the event will be spreading mulch, refilling the sandbox at Dr. Jose Rizal Park and clearing black berry bushes. People can also organize a clean up of their own, like picking up litter, painting over graffiti, or working on the Beacon Hill p-patch.
"We're encouraging people to come to the kick off event first and then disperse to the individual projects in the neighborhood," said Steve Louis, Greater Duwamish District Coordinator. "It's not a one-day thing. We'll do a kick off event and then the city will work on the issues identified in that boundary area. There are things we can't do in a day."
The boundary area being targeted is from the Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge to South College Street and from Dr. Jose Rizal Park (on 12th Ave. S.) to 17th Ave. S.
Louis is asking people that live in the neighborhood to keep their eyes peeled for potholes that need filling, street right of way issues, streetlight outages, or other areas needing attention. Tools, gloves, and litterbags will be provided along with refreshments and giveaways like conservation packets. Participants will also have the opportunity to recycle fluorescent light bulbs and batteries and learn how they can be more environmentally aware and conserve energy.
Clean & Green events are a multi-department function bringing together many aspects of the city's government ranging from the Parks Department to the Department of Transportation and Public Utilities. Since August 2007, there have been 72 major Clean & Green Seattle events in Seattle where city workers and volunteers have collected more than 313,808 pounds of litter and debris, reclaimed more than 12,648 pounds of recyclable materials, used more than 89 tons of asphalt to repair potholes and streets; and repaired more than 3,817 streetlights.
For more information, or to report areas that need attention, contact Steve Louie, Greater Duwamish District Coordinator, at 206-233-2044 or via email steve.louie@seattle.gov.
Peter Kearns may be reached via editor@sdistrictjournal.com.
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