Effort to beautify city attracts hundreds

By David Taber

City officials estimate over 400 residents turned out from all 7 wards and picked up 3.25 tons of trash that day as part of Somerville Clean Up Day. 

“This is the nicest weather we have had in all the years we have been doing this,” Alderman-At-Large William A. White, said of the annual event, which the city has hosted for 22 years.

Ward 6 Alderperson Rebekah Gewirtz and Paul Bockelman, who represents Ward 6 on the School Committee, coordinated efforts for Davis Square and the surrounding area from the tables in Statue Park.

“A lot of people feel like they can use Statue Park as an ash tray,” Bockelman said.

Lisa Mcfarren, of the canine advocacy group SomDog, agreed.  “I have picked up three bags of cigarette butts so far,” she said. 

Around the corner and up Holland Avenue a couple of blocks, Jonathan Winikoff worked with his two young children, Sarah and Sam, to clean up the area around a row of hedges next to the sidewalk.

“We pass this corner every day on our way to the train, it makes us upset because it is always so dirty,” Winickoff said. 

He said they each pick up a piece of trash everyday when they pass the hedges, but the clean up day seemed like a great opportunity to get the upper hand against litter. 

After the clean up portion of the clean up day, which lasted from 10 a.m. to noon, was done, the city hosted a barbeque at Nunziato Field and the first ever Somergreen festival at The Growing Center community garden next door. 

Over 20 activist and community groups and green businesses, as well as the producers of a National Public Radio show called Living on Earth, set up informational tables at the festival to raise awareness about their respective projects and services.

“It’s a great opportunity for people to come learn about the different groups working to help the environment and beautify the community,” said Peter Kwass of Groundwork Somerville, an environmental education group that co-sponsored the Somergreen festival.

Kwass said the main project Groundwork Somerville is working on is an effort to promote gardening in city schools through a program called Growing Healthy School Gardens. 

“The idea is to get kids engaged in growing healthy foods so they will want to eat those foods and get healthy,” Kwass said.    

Comments

[Derek]

If I were the vengeful type, I'd sit at statue park waiting for the first "cigarette butt flicker". I'd follow him home and dump the butts on his yard. There are a lot of litters in our society -- which is clear from the 6050 pounds of trash collected -- but I think smokers are among the most brazen.

[Also...]

Smokers and dog owners!

[Derek]

At least dog crap bio degrades nicely! I actually don't notice a lot of doggie land mines, and I travel all over the city by bike so I am in a position that I would. Is it really a big problem?

[Ron Newman]

By the way, this week's fire under the Longfellow Bridge (which shut down the bridge, Storrow Drive, and the Red Line for hours Tuesday night) was caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette.

[Dr. Mrs. McCarthy]

Thank you Firemarshall Butters.

Please make sure you file your official report with the Commonwealth.

Over and out.

Dr. Mrs. McCarthy

[Dr. Mrs. McCarthy]

Butters,

I'm bored. Let's play a game. When I say a word, you tell me the first thing that comes into your mind. OK? Ready, set go............

Rectum..............

[Dogs.....]

Just check my front yard after one of the radical dog owners walks by. Sometimes on the sidewalk. And although it may (eventually) biodegrade, I don't really enjoy coming out of my house and stepping in or smelling dog poop. And by the way, while it's biodegrading, it's also ruining my grass. Double whammy!

[Ron Newman]

automobiles

[They're Free]

Ronald wrote, "By the way, this week's fire under the Longfellow Bridge (which shut down the bridge, Storrow Drive, and the Red Line for hours Tuesday night) was caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette."

That's great work. You know what's going on in the community and you're sharing it with us. That's all we ask of here.

Again... Nice job.

[Justin]

Nobody should have to come out of their house and see, smell or step in dog poop left by some inconsiderate jerk. And I say that as a dog-owner myself who is sick and tired of picking up after the small minority of irresponsible dog-owners that seem to think that picking up is beneath them.

I am curious, though -- what is a "radical" dog owner?