Raise the Hammer
A Lower-City Wide Trash and Litter cleanup happening in seven locations across Hamilton this weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday.
By Matt Jelly
Published April 30, 2010
This is just a quick note to let you know about Garbage Crawl, a Lower-City Wide Trash and Litter cleanup happening in seven locations across Hamilton this weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday.
Garbage Crawl Poster
The events will take place at the following times and locations. If you can attend, please pick a time and location that works for you, and join us to help clean up Hamilton's streets, parks and public places.
Please pass the word along far and wide! All of the events are on our Facebook Page.
MCMASTER AREA: 10 AM Main West and Hollywood St. North (Meet in front of the Tim Hortons) Host: Chris Hayes
KING STREET WEST: 10 AM Meet at the corner of King St West and Pearl St. Host: Betty Cooper
GAGE PARK: 10 AM Meet at Gage Park at the Fountain Host: Gail McInnnis
WELLINGTON AVE: 1 PM Meet at the Fountain in the Park at King and Wellington Host: Meredith Broughton
JAMES STREET NORTH: 1 PM Meet at This Ain't Hollywood (345 James St. North) Host: Hammer City Roller Girls
OTTAWA STREET N: 10 AM Meet in front of the Tim Horton's at Ottawa North and Dunsmure Hosts: Robyn and Adam Knickle
BEASLEY PARK 12 PM: Meet at Mary and Wilson St. (Beasley Park) Host: Matt Thompson
Hamilton Secondary Students are eligible to count Garbage Crawl for volunteer hours - organizers will be glad to fill out any forms needed in this regard.
Participants are encouraged to bring along gloves, clear plastic garbage bags for recyclables, brooms/rakes, and anything else you think might help. Some of these supplies will be provided, but more always helps.
Thanks to those who showed up at Wellington - we had a small group, but we still made it up to Barton and back on Wellington and got five bags' worth.
A few properties had biological material on them and/or too much trash to deal with, so those properties have been reported to By-Law enforcement. Neighbours were asking how to get involved and telling us about the vacant properties and absentee landlords nearby. Also talked to some people new to the neighbourhood who just bought property there.
I'm always impressed by the number of properties that have been bought on Wellington in the past few years - I've seen a lot more home ownership, a few flips, and in general there's a big trend of improvement and maintenance from where it was a few years ago. But there's a long way to go still.
By jason (registered) | Posted May 01, 2010 at 16:46:14
this is an incredible event. It's this sort of thing that I think will lead to greater things in the future for our city. Ordinary citizens getting involved and taking back their neighbourhoods is the way to improved quality of life and more community spirit. Kudos to Matt for organizing these bylaw/garbage crawls.
I was unable to attend today, so instead organized a group of young people to join me yesterday to clean Sam Lawrence Park and part of the escarpment face in front of the park.
I hope these garbage crawls can become a regular event. Sadly, there never seems to be any shortage of garbage blowing around the city.
Thanks to everyone who participated. Job well done.
It was a great weekend- all seven teams were able to go ahead, the weather was mostly on our side. About 50 participants showed up in total, and we picked up upwards of 40 bags in total. I agree, Jason- I think it's important for everyone who cares about Hamilton to spend some time physically helping to improve the City in some way- no matter how small. If we want clean, liveable neighbourhoods, it's up to everyone to lend a hand.
This has been a great four months, between By-Law Crawl and Garbage Crawl. I'm exhausted, but also very encouraged.
We'll be organizing some events in the summer and fall along the same lines, so stay tuned.
By Henry and Joe (anonymous) | Posted May 02, 2010 at 17:28:13
Great job to everyone who helped. I didn't get a chance to help this time, but I've been keeping an eye on some mailboxes i have adopted. If you have one near your house that has graffiti, some goof-off (TM) from the hardware store works very well with a little elbow grease. I am not sure if the adopt-a-box program is still in effect, but the city may even provide the solvent if anyone wants to tackle a box near their house. Its actually kind of fun in a Kramer/Seinfeld way... I proudly show off my mailbox babies to friends and family when we go by them!
By Kiely (registered) | Posted May 04, 2010 at 15:07:40
I proudly show off my mailbox babies to friends and family when we go by them! - Henry and Joe
Have the "pre-graffiti" mailboxes been working?
By jason (registered) | Posted May 04, 2010 at 15:52:04
Have the "pre-graffiti" mailboxes been working?
Those things are so ugly it's not even funny. I wonder if it would be possible to have real murals and artwork painted on the boxes instead of that standard 'sleeve' they've been putting on them all?
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