Saturday, January 26, 2013

MLK Day of Service, January, 2013

Today's project was a clean-up on 121st Street, much as we did last year.  This year, we continued where we left off, and covered 5th Avenue to 8th.

It was a pretty nice group of residents, few, but dedicated and ready to do a bit of physical work.  Chuck and Roxy Ross were there, as were the Kuhls, Dale Blanton came, Barbara Kiers was relentless and expert in her work, Josh Young was there, a woman named Kirsten was there, and I was there.  Barbara Watts came by later to say hello.  I think I saw everyone, and I hope I didn't forget to mention anyone.  Ana Garcia gave up her Saturday morning, as did several of our Public Works guys.  Some of our police came to provide guard duty, and a contingent of the CNM PW guys came.  Even their PW Chief was there at the start.  And they brought a cherry picker (yes, a cherry picker), and a grinding/mulching truck.  Extremely helpful.

Some people could not join us today, but they made or will make donations.  Donations are welcome, and checks can be made out to the Village, with a notation of MLK Day of Service contribution.  Donations like this are tax-deductible.

We raked and cleaned, we pulled overgrowth, we eliminated some plants that are invasive and will crowd out other plants, and we identified some larger trees that need to come out.  The CNM guys will put it on their schedule and get it done.  If they need any help, I hope they call us, because they sure were helpful to us.

The difference in the look is not dramatic, but it's noticeably cleaner and tidier.  The more important effect is to raise consciousness and spur people to take more of an interest in the medians.  If we can get a median plan developed, the improved medians are now ripe for further development.

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