
City and county officials teamed up with community volunteers Thursday morning on a two-hour trash roundup along Westridge Drive as part of ongoing community clean-up efforts by the office of Supervisor Felipe Hernandez.
Armed with trash pinchers, buckets and bags, about two dozen people, including Watsonville Mayor, Maria Orozco, and retired firefighter Dave Martone fanned out around the sprawling business park to collect trash along the streets, sidewalks and the trails of Struve Slough.
“We average about one of the clean-ups a month and we’ve been doing it for over five years,” said Ramon Gomez, chief of staff for Felipe Hernandez. “We typically do one in the city and the next month in the county who both team up with to pick up the trash bags and the bigger items. We’re out here because we all care about the community and with the Pitch In initiative and we want to make a difference and take ownership of our streets, our neighborhood and our communities.”
Please, please, PLEASE come to Rolling Hills Middle School neighborhood! The sidewalks on Anna and Herman are filled with trash and make the area look dilapidated. School does nothing and students (and likely folks living adjacent to the school) just continue to contribute to the litter. Theres a lack of pride in our home and its sad.
This is excellent, hope we all take a little pride in our community and set a good example for the youth. Look to Santa Cruz for a two part, long-term solution – they have maintenance and cleanup funded by a business improvement tax (small yearly tax) that funds advertisement and cleanup around businesses. They also work with Hope Services to work with disabled people to learn skill and do community cleanup like these folks are doing. I see them both in the downtown area at least twice a week.