La Vida Local
Irregular Notes on West End Life
By Rosanne Graef
Help Get the West End Ready for Spring
As I write, Daylight Savings Time is a week old and astronomical spring is just five hours away. When this edition of The West End News appears, we’ll be a third of the way through meteorological spring. Whichever way you look at it, the time has come for a new season which means getting boots, gloves, hats, and other winter garb out of sight for at least six months; removing draft stoppers, window quilts and inserts; washing and opening windows—that’s right, spring cleaning!
Bryan van Dussen, treasurer of the West End Neighborhood Association (WENA), has organized the neighborhood’s spring clean-up for a while. Asked why, he said, “I joined WENA when my wife and I moved here about nine years ago. Pretty much every place I’ve lived I’ve been involved in the local neighborhood association. I think they’re a good way to find community, give back and keep in touch with what’s going on around me. I think my interest in picking up litter goes all the way back to my grade school days. It just seems like such a common sense and relatively simple act to pick up trash. It’s an intuitive way for me to give back and contribute to my community.”
For van Dussen, the type of litter that’s most concerning and bothersome is “plastic, plastic, and plastic, and Styrofoam and cigarette butts, too. This stuff will be around for a very, very long time and has a high likelihood of ending up in our harbor.”
West End Spring Clean-Up 2023 is on Earth Day, Apr. 22
This year’s Spring Clean-Up is Saturday, April 22nd, which just happens to be Earth Day. What a wonderful way for West Enders to participate! Just come by the Reiche Community Center entrance on Clark Street between 10 a.m. and noon. Have a cup of coffee, pick up a bag and gloves, be assigned a street, and find out the collection points. Alternatively, use your own gloves and bag to pick up on your street or blocks. Then add to your regular purple city bag on trash day.
Trash is a huge and growing problem that won’t easily be solved. Most reasons for this are beyond our individual control, but that doesn’t give any of us an excuse to do nothing. The spring clean-up is just one day, but van Dussen suggests that all year round West End residents can “make a mental note of where trash bins are located throughout the neighborhood. As you’re out for walks, runs, bicycle rides, etc., pick up litter and deposit it in one of these receptacles. Also, consider the difference we can make if once a week we all step outside our front door and check around our homes.”
He does offer a word of caution. “If you see a needle or lots of trash in one spot, use See-Click-Fix to notify the City. We discourage picking up needles.”
