Wallyhood was out of town this weekend (visiting our friends, the proprietors of the the gorgeous Guemes Island Resort, if you must know), so we didn’t get to participate in Saturday’s much ballyhooed Wallingford Clean-up. Nevertheless, we asked that a section of street be set aside for us on our return, and we did take reports from several who attended. Heidi of East Wallingford reports:
Thanks to the members and neighbors who joined in the cleanup last Saturday: all our adopted streets got nicely cleaned!
A later stroll on 45th got us all exited about how clean the main street of our neighborhood would be after the big cleanup day but then we realized there had been no cleaning of 45th… Bummer.
We even thought about getting our supplies to tackle the 45th garbage but it is quite a task and we were sort of spent after hours of picking up. Maybe we can set up a ’45th Street only’ clean up soon with the people who adopted 45th street. We are more than happy to help los senores ….. and ……..!!!!
Ah yes, 45th Street. It can be a…challenge. Well, then, how did the clean-up based at the Neighborhood Office go? An anonymous reporter sent:
I took the sidewalk in front of QFC. The cigarette butts and trash were embedded in the years of leaves and dirt crusted on the edges of the sidewalk. My poor 65 year old back is in great distress today. As I worked away I was thinking back to my youth, right here in Wallingford. I attended Interlake Grade School (now Wallingford Center). In those days (I know I sound like one of those old fogeys) one would not dream of dropping trash on the sidewalk. It just was not done. We had pride. When I was a young woman, I lived in San Francisco. The Embarcadero was a slum area. Layers and layers of filth on the sidewalks. I was there several years ago and noted and again last week that the same Embarcadero has been completely cleaned up. It’s pristine. So here I am scraping off the cement-like dirt on the streets of my, and your, beloved Wallingford and wondering what happened to our pride.
I wanted this to be an uplifting experience but I’m afraid I became more and more cynical and depressed as I worked on. Two women, about my age engaged me in conversation. One man had his young son come up and thank me. Otherwise there was a steady stream of fit, young, and middle aged people walking by. I wondered to myself why they weren’t also pitching in to clean our wonderful Wallingford Village. Living in Wallingford, in my opinion, is a privilege. When I returned my gear to the Wallingford Community Office I learned that 6 people had showed up to work this end of Wallingford. I know there was another contingent working in South and perhaps East Wallingford. My son, daughter-in-law and their children were participating in one of those areas. But due to poor turn out, I’m afraid I’m feeling a bit dejected today.
Ugh. We don’t want our neighbors feeling dejected. Fortunately, our anonymous reporter went on to say “I’m not one to stay in the problem and started thinking of solutions,” and went on to suggest some idea (cigarette tax to help pay for clean-up; voluntary fund to pay cleaners, perhaps the jobless; get drinking establishments to take responsibility for their patrons’ waste).
We, too, prefer to look for solutions, so we’ll offer the use of Wallyhood as rallying point and bully pulpit. We believe that 45th Street will be whatever the businesses that populate it want it to be. If they really want it to be clean and welcoming, it will be.
Here’s the plan:
- We’ll help choose a 45th Street Clean-up Day (led by Los Senores, quiza?). We will help rally people to participate. We would like to see 45th Street businesses participate as well, either by donating employee time or by donating nourishment and refreshments for the volunteers (or both). We will help enlist them!
- Every business on 45th Street should include clean-up of the area around it, including the gutters, as part of the daily checklist for their employees. It doesn’t take long if done often. This is most important for the bars, of course. Perhaps the Wallingford Chamber can help spread the religion?
What say ye? Who’s going to donate beer, vittles or coffee for the volunteers? Kate’s Pub? Al’s Tavern? SeaMonster? Goldie’s? Changes? Murphy’s? Smash? Fuel? Molly Moon’s? May?
To help us decide who we should pursue for participation, we’re adding this poll. Please let us know who we should enlist:
(Nod to Heidi for suggesting that businesses include clean-up as part of their daily checklist)
Back in my college days I worked a couple of retail jobs where cleaning up the sidewalk/gutter/street was a part of your daily duty. It only makes sense for a business to keep the sidewalk clean.
To be fair, that horrid bus stop in front of Bartell’s/QFC would probably take multiple pick ups a day to keep on top of it. That section is bio-hazard nasty. Thanks to the lady who did all the hard work cleaning up. We were out of town as well, otherwise we would have been there.
THANK YOU to the people who picked up trash. We had an appointment for most of Saturday, but I did get out and walk in the evening and noticed all the filled garbage bags from the volunteers. Name the next date and we’ll be there. It’s good for the kiddos to help keep their neighborhood clean!
I will never understand why businesses don’t clean their sidewalks. When I worked retail – and there was a bus stop in front of our store – any trash, cigarette butts etc was our responsibility and sweeping was part of the opening responsibility. Which is also why I never understood why so few businesses shoveled snow in December. retail 101 – get people into your store, remove all obstacles.
What about some sort of lighthearted contest for the retailers? There could be a prize for whichever retailer had the cleanest sidewalk each week. The ‘prize’ could just be a simple printed out ‘award certificate’ that they could display in their window, some sort of funny/amusing ‘trophy’ that they would get to display for that week, and perhaps some sort of other public recognition — like a mention here? (The ‘trophy’ would then move to whomever won it next time.)
Maybe weekly would be a little too often for some group of ‘judges’ to keep up with. That could be worked out and adjusted as needed.
Perhaps ‘score’ could be kept, pitting the north side of 45th against the south side — a running tally could be posted at the Wallingford Neighborhood Office and printed on the award ‘certificates’ and the trophy.
A little lighthearted competition, a little goofy fun, and a little free advertising might help entice some of the businesses and their employees.
I do agree with others — I always see the cleanliness of the front of a business as a reflection of the managers of that business.
I second the big THANK YOU THANK YOU to those that were able to get out and do something. (My health keeps me from doing such, but I am willing to help in other ways when I’m able. For example, if someone with design talent created the certificates, I would be willing to print them out if someone provided the name of the weekly winner. )
– ae (hailing from “lower” Wallingford)
Wallyhood, sign me up!! (I’ll send an email with my contact information). While I did participate in the Spring Clean (I’m the “son”) with my small clan, I always thought it rather ineffective to have a once-a-year cleaning event like this. Maybe it rallies the troops and inspires people to stay involved throughout the year but it sounds like participation was discouragingly low this year. I would be interested in regular participation — I voted for “The simple pleasure…” but I’m also motivated by beer! Keep the ideas coming!
Great idea on the plan to keep things rolling, Wallyhood!
As for businesses cleaning up in front of their stores, yes, it’s good business. And, according to the city, it’s also their responsibility:
http://www.seattle.gov/economicDevelopment/biz_district_guide/Sidewalk_Cleaning.htm
The U-District has hired CleanScapes to clean their streets and sidewalks every day, which has made for a big improvement.
Also, the city supposedly provides street cleaning on all arterials. According to the web site, “small business districts on arterials are cleaned once a month.”
http://www.seattle.gov/economicDevelopment/biz_district_guide/street_clean.htm
Has anyone every seen a street cleaner on 45th? In almost 20 years in the ‘hood, I don’t recall ever seeing one. If they do exist, how do they get to the curbs when there are cars parked there? Maybe someone at the Chamber of Commerce would like to give the city a friendly reminder to 206-684-7508 and/or ask that they clean 45th more often?
I really like the idea of starting some sort of “Clean Wallingford” certificate or sticker to help motivate the businesses (as “ae” suggested). Maybe earning a sticker should be as simple as getting the owner/manager to add it to the daily open or close task list. Then maybe “feedback” would come naturally from folks coming in or passing by (and of course from the Wallyhood community!).
I send a big THANK YOU to all the picker-uppers and especially to the woman picking up all the bits of ground-in trash by QFC.
I live near a busy intersection and pick up the trash that people drop off as the stroll along, or wait til it is their turn to go through the intersection, or leave behind when they have a fender-bender (yeah, that’s nice. leave your bumper for someone else to pick up). It makes me sad that people are so disrespectful. And why do cigarette (and cigar) smokers think it is ok to just drop their butts on the ground? It really is a bummer to head out to do yardwork on the parking strip but end up having a “Neighborhood Clean-Up For One” instead. (Sorry for the ranting)
Plus, let’s remember 40th! That thoroughfare is part of Wallingford, with many bus stops and gross gutters. Obviously, nowhere near as in need of cleanup as 45th, but still part of the ‘hood and we don’t want to forget our southern friends (or those on the edges of the UDistrict, Fremont, and Greenlake–and all the other edges).
Also, ps. thank you to all the bus-stop trash-can adopters out there.
I live on N 50th, and I clean up the area in front of my house on a regular basis. The street is still very bad litter wise. I’ve seen the recycling and trash trucks barreling down 50th with debris spilling from them left and right. So, it’s not only careless people littering, but also overloaded city trucks. I’ve also seen these trucks on I-5 with recycling flying out of them all the way down the freeway – what they would be doing on the freeway to begin with, I don’t know.
On my street, many people don’t bring their trash/recycling containers in from the curb all week. So, trash and recycling gets spread from wind, animals, etc.