Cleaning up Costa Mesa

June Casagrande

COSTA MESA--Everyone has done it: Looked out a car window at trash

lining the street and thought, “Someone should clean that up.” But for

Eleanor Egan and Diane LaDuca, it didn’t stop there.

Beginning with that idea, the two women, with the help of about about

200 others, saw their idea put into action Saturday when Keep Costa Mesa

Beautiful had its inaugural cleanup day in the Westside.

“Who wants to live with garbage?” said Egan as she stood amid swarms

of young people who had been filling garbage bags for several hours with

trash picked up from 19th Street. “The fact that we got a whole lot of

kids involved -- hopefully they’ll carry that message home and it will

make people more conscious of how litter can affect the community.”

The event, coordinated in part by the UC Irvine Community Outreach

Partnership and the Earth Resource Foundation, was the first of what

organizers hope will be many successful cleanup days.

“It feels good to help out,” said Eleni Reed, who along with Fullerton

College classmate Eleni Reed was extracting more garbage from the foliage

on 19th Street east of Pomona Avenue than either had expected to find.

Volunteers from more than a dozen youth groups and schools from

throughout Orange County started at 8:30 a.m. at either of two West 19th

Street parking lots: Smart and Final at Pomona Avenue or the Vista Center

at Placentia Avenue. Their efforts drew applause from passing motorists.

“People were honking and giving thumbs up and one even stopped to get

out to help,” said Melissa Eguchi, one of many volunteers from UC Irvine

student groups.

Stephanie Barger of the Earth Resource Foundation noted that trash

pickup has environmental benefits as well as aesthetic ones. Every piece

of garbage taken off the street is one that doesn’t end up in local

waters.

But the satisfaction of making the neighborhood more beautiful also

goes a long way in enriching the quality of life for the Westside

community.

“I think it has a very positive effect on people,” volunteer organizer

Cliff Jones said. “People seem to take pride in doing it.”

-- June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .