Scenes from Springfield’s Cleanup Day
by Bill Dusty
With the numbers not yet out on the citywide cleanup conducted by volunteers of Keep Springfield Beautiful on Saturday morning, May 2, below are some photos of the event, which ran from 8:00am to 1:00pm. Despite a number of news stories on the cleanup effort that day, judging from some puzzled forums posters on Masslive, more than a few folks remained in the dark about the event. Even so, the trash kept coming on Saturday until the dumpsters allotted for the cleanup could hold no more….
Volunteers gather at the Rebecca Johnson School, in Mason Square, to get their cleanup assignments.
Dumpsters at Duggan Middle School were quickly filled up by folks coming in with loads of garbage.
Springfield City Councilor Bruce Stebbins gives KSB volunteer coordinator Karen Powell a hug as he arrives to help out with the cleanup.
Volunteers on Dickinson Street take care of business.
Meanwhile, over on White Street, these volunteers did their part to help clean up the streets.
Members of the civic group Springfield Forward, who cleaned up in the Forest Park neighborhood, chat with City Council candidate Victor Davila after he arrived to help out.
Leaf bags were used to get piles of leaves cleared out on Magazine Street.
After a couple of hours, the cars started showing up in droves at Duggan Middle School.
The situation eventually got out of hand, with long lines of cars beginning to fill up the parking lot at Duggan and also clogging up Wibraham Road.
Cleanup Day is supposed to be about cleaning up streets, lots, and other exterior properties. Unfortunately, for many folks it’s just a convenient way to empty out their cellars and attics without having to pay a bulk trash fee.
Springfield’s graffiti remediation chief, Mike Cass, eventually had to take matters into his own hands by standing out on Wilbraham Road and directing traffic to clear things up.
Plenty of television sets were dropped off at Duggan.
KSB President Melvin Edwards talks with volunteers at Rebecca Johnson School.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno stands with KSB volunteers and organizers. The Mayor’s help was crucial on the day as he made sure DPW workers were available to help out.
For many more photos, click here to go to the KSB Web site.
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Posted by Bill Dusty
on May 3rd, 2009 and filed under Cities & Towns, Feature Stories, Latest Posts, Society.
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4 Responses for “Scenes from Springfield’s Cleanup Day”
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Maybe some kind of sticker or pass should be handed out at the cleanup assignments tables to prevent people abusing the free trash service?
Another consideration was to start charging a fee for bulk drop-offs – something less than normal bulk fees, but enough to cover the cost of the bill for delivering TVs, monitors, etc. The electronics recycling operation at the WGBY parking lot, held downtown on the same day, charged a small fee for drop-offs.
Bravo to the KSB team for such a wonderful, positive event, a wonderful turnout, and to all the volunteers who made the day a success.
Not a bad idea to charge a small fee for bulk items as I believe it costs $$ to run this project, even with all the volunteers.
Great job KSB! Thank you!
“Unfortunately, for many folks it’s just a convenient way to empty out their cellars and attics without having to pay a bulk trash fee.”
Bill
Please know that the trash Dept. downtown was encouraging people to do this.