CLEARLAKE– Clearlake resident Cathy Wilson is taking it upon herself to clean up the city. Wilson is organizing a “Street Cleaning Party” and is seeking volunteers to help with the effort.
The clean up day is being planned for Saturday, April 19. Volunteers will focus on the city”s largest commercial thoroughfares, which are Olympic and Lakeshore drives.
Wilson gave a report explaining her efforts before the Clearlake City Council on March 13. She said she was inspired by the Keep California Beautiful campaign, which is a state-sponsored program designed to encourage trash pick-up throughout the state.
“Kudos to you for wanting to get involved,” said Councilmember Judy Thein. “I applaud you for wanting to do this.”
The street cleaning party will entail picking up trash, and if volunteer support allows, sweeping sidewalks, pulling small weeds, cleaning street signs and knocking down cobwebs on buildings.
Wilson hopes to acquire enough volunteer support to field 10 teams of four people each. The teams will be assigned to a portion of the roadside and work their way back from Highway 53 to clean-up headquarters, which will be set up at Austin Park. Each group will have a small truck with them that will carry the team”s supplies. A sign will be on the back of the truck alerting motorists to their presence. “Safety is our top priority, so we want to make sure everyone is very visible,” Wilson said. “I was asked by some of our Girl Scout and Boy Scout leaders if their kids could help. I told them that we will have all children under 16 working in either Redbud or Austin Park with their troop leader or another adult.”
Wilson is also working with Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lori Peters in order to get local business leaders involved in the effort.
“I have made a flyer to take to each business on Lakeshore and Olympic drives to personally ask them to get involved with this project by cleaning up in front of their properties,” Wilson said. “I would like for them to pay special attention to their business signs on the street. This will free us up to work on the properties of absentee owners.”
Wilson is also working with the local refuse company to get the bags of trash picked up and the street swept following the event. She asked that the city repaint its crosswalks at the parks and other places with a lot of foot traffic. She also asked if the city could cut the weeds near the intersection of Highway 53 and Olympic Drive so that the trash in the area can be picked up during the effort.
“When all is said and done, I really hope the public will notice and realize that we are working together,” Wilson concluded.
To join the “Street Cleaning Party,” contact Cathy Wilson by phone at 350-2001 or via e-mail at cathywilson123@sbcglobal.net.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com.
