Coalition to Clean Conti Street
June 9th, 2006 by Wendy LakerThrough the MCNO discussion group, a coalition of concerned and frustrated neighbors has emerged. If you live on a street that butts up to Conti Street between Carrollton Ave. and City Park or if you’ve driven by, you can’t help but notice the large piles of trash that have continued to grow, in addition to overgrown lots, abandoned, flooded cars and large amounts of trash. A few individuals had a meeting on the issue. It was very productive. We have a plan for cleaning and removing trash, holding businesses accountable and making Conti a beautiful place to be.
The first step will be an informal gathering this Sunday evening, June 11th at 6:30 p.m., in order to walk down Conti from City Park Ave. to Carrollton Ave., in order to document, photographically and in written form, the problems with each particular property. Then we will determine who owns/maintains the property and which violations are being committed.
Next week we plan to walk with Shelley Midura down the street, in order to see the problem for herself. We will then contact each offending property in person and in writing and inform them of the consequences of continuing to trash our neighborhood, as well as extend an offer to help. Once we have succeeded in cleaning an area, we will then post “No Dumping/Neighborhood in Recovery” signs to discourage further dumping.
When the area is cleaned up, we will have ZERO tolerance for violators. We can also use what we’ve learned to help other areas with similar problems. Join your neighbors in a social event/planning session at Conti and N. Olympia, at the concrete square, by the perpetual sofa. We’ll try to have some beverages available. Come and bring your neighbors.
Update, June 12: Check out these photos of the Conti Street Walk of Shame posted by Allen Frost:
See More pictures.
June 16th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
I live on Conti between City Park Ave. and Rosedale (last block of the street), and would be happy to work with the coalition to clean up the blocks between Carrollton and City Park.
I would also like to find out if Mid City Neighborhood Organization is interested in finding a solution to trash pick up in City Park. Piles of bagged trash build up, and nothing is being carried away. I do a one woman job of picking up litter around the lagoon and the tennis courts (which has gotten way out of hand), and taking the bags back to my house. That hardly makes a dent.
I would love to work with others interested in solving that problem. I wrote to Shelly Midura asking her for help, and will see where that leads. (That was before I read about her doing the Conti St. stroll).
Valerie Turgeon