At the beginning of embarking upon this journey, I never once thought trash and illegal dumping would take up so much space and time. But, here we are. We are a group of artists and growers making a garden, but trash is currently the leading conversation and activity, of our Phase One. Cleaning just the area where our Eco Art Garden is located, is not enough. We also have to address the trash and illegal dumping around us. It’s how it got there in the first place, and it will keep returning if we don’t address it.
So, we’ve already been hosting small cleanups and we almost have all the trash and debris completely removed from where the garden is. The Bush Honeysuckle and Winter Creeper have even began to be visibly decreasing and not growing back. We just received the clear to dig and had the utilities marked so that we can dig up their roots safely.
Now, back to the trash and illegal dumping around the garden. That’s still there, and it keeps coming back, in areas we already cleaned. So, the issue is a little bigger than that.
The only way to address it is to address the bigger picture.
We have to ask questions like, why is this taking place, why this particular location, why this neighborhood or another like it, and why is it not happening in another location? That’s probably a whole different post.
Well, we reached out to Robert Woods II. He’s the Neighborhood Cleanup Assistance Program Liason and Community Engagement Manager. He works in the Public Works Department for the City of Kansas City, Mo. We had a lengthy conversation about our plan and goals regarding the garden. He was very helpful and even offered to meet onsite to discuss solutions further. So, the good news is, that conversation was followed up with an email with information for a tire amnesty program to remove all the tires that were dumped. He also gave me a request form to get large dumpsters brought to the neighborhood. He gave me a list of things to answer to help organize a neighborhood-wide cleanup. I forwarded that to the President of the Neighborhood Association and followed up with a phone conversation and discussed how we could work together as a neighborhood to get things cleaned up. This progress makes things not as frustrating or daunting, to know there are resources for people that want to do something about it. After all, illegal dumping is not a challenge that only we face. This is an issue many neighborhoods face, especially where there are vacant lots, vacant homes, overgrown vegetation, and street lights that don’t work.
Here are a few things on the list he sent:
List all redundant illegal dumping sites in the neighborhood List all areas that need more street lighting or lights that do not work List all areas with damaged street signs and what sign it is List all areas of overgrown vegetation
Posted: May 16, 2023 by admin
The Trash Saga Continues
At the beginning of embarking upon this journey, I never once thought trash and illegal dumping would take up so much space and time. But, here we are. We are a group of artists and growers making a garden, but trash is currently the leading conversation and activity, of our Phase One. Cleaning just the area where our Eco Art Garden is located, is not enough. We also have to address the trash and illegal dumping around us. It’s how it got there in the first place, and it will keep returning if we don’t address it.
So, we’ve already been hosting small cleanups and we almost have all the trash and debris completely removed from where the garden is. The Bush Honeysuckle and Winter Creeper have even began to be visibly decreasing and not growing back. We just received the clear to dig and had the utilities marked so that we can dig up their roots safely.
Now, back to the trash and illegal dumping around the garden. That’s still there, and it keeps coming back, in areas we already cleaned. So, the issue is a little bigger than that.
The only way to address it is to address the bigger picture.
We have to ask questions like, why is this taking place, why this particular location, why this neighborhood or another like it, and why is it not happening in another location? That’s probably a whole different post.
Well, we reached out to Robert Woods II. He’s the Neighborhood Cleanup Assistance Program Liason and Community Engagement Manager. He works in the Public Works Department for the City of Kansas City, Mo. We had a lengthy conversation about our plan and goals regarding the garden. He was very helpful and even offered to meet onsite to discuss solutions further. So, the good news is, that conversation was followed up with an email with information for a tire amnesty program to remove all the tires that were dumped. He also gave me a request form to get large dumpsters brought to the neighborhood. He gave me a list of things to answer to help organize a neighborhood-wide cleanup. I forwarded that to the President of the Neighborhood Association and followed up with a phone conversation and discussed how we could work together as a neighborhood to get things cleaned up. This progress makes things not as frustrating or daunting, to know there are resources for people that want to do something about it. After all, illegal dumping is not a challenge that only we face. This is an issue many neighborhoods face, especially where there are vacant lots, vacant homes, overgrown vegetation, and street lights that don’t work.
Here are a few things on the list he sent:
List all redundant illegal dumping sites in the neighborhood
List all areas that need more street lighting or lights that do not work
List all areas with damaged street signs and what sign it is
List all areas of overgrown vegetation
Category: Uncategorized