Last Saturday a group of neighbors gathered to remove years of trash dumped at a vacant lot on Primitive St. Mike from the city's storm water services was there, and lent a hand getting the bags of trash up the steep incline of the ravine and into the city-provided dumpster. He also came bearing much-appreciated water, juice and donuts.
Another Mike - City Councilman Woodard - stopped by to check out the progress and wish us well.
Of course we had picked the hottest day of the year to date for our work, but at least it wasn't raining! It was super muddy and gross, however, and we were all pretty glad to climb back out of what is now being called the "swamp dump," after a long morning of work, and look down at the fruits of our labor: a far-from-pristine, but much better looking piece of land in Cleveland-Holloway.
If you are wondering what kind of junk was down there, it was primarily plastic bottles and containers, drink cans, and glass bottles.There were also quite a few tires and several appliances: vacuum cleaner, microwaves, television, etc. A couple of doll heads were also salvaged. About 3/4 of a large dumpster's worth of garbage.
Neighbor Matt Dudek (Mallard Ave), who was primarily responsible for organizing the clean-up, would like to give a big thank-you to Laura Webb Smith of Stormwater Services for coordinating the details on the city's end and getting us the dumpster. The city also provided work gloves and heavy-duty trash bags.
If anyone has any pictures of the crowd working, send 'em in!
