Picked clean
June Casagrande
NEWPORT BEACH -- It took 67 paid workers and a battalion of neighbors
half a day, but by noon their mission was accomplished: The post-Fourth
of July mess was pretty much cleaned up.
“It was just disgusting a couple hours ago,” Gretchen Thompson Adams
said about 11 a.m. Friday. The San Diego resident was visiting relatives
in West Newport over the holiday weekend. “But now you can’t even tell
there was anything going on down there.”
The vast majority of cleanup efforts took place in the West Newport
and Balboa Peninsula area, though Corona del Mar State Beach was also in
a serious state of post-party mess. About 45 city staffers and an
additional 22 contracted workers began about 4 a.m. picking up cans, cups
and bottles and other trash from public areas. Street sweepers made up to
four runs on some streets in the worst parts of West Newport just to get
the trash up.
By late morning, about 10 tons of trash had been collected -- just in
time for a long weekend that officials say will bring the trash total to
about 35 or 40 tons by the end of Sunday.
“There was a more positive feeling about the whole holiday celebration
that I think may have made things a little better this year,” said Margie
Dorney, member of the West Newport Beach Assn. and head of its Fourth of
July task force. “It seemed to me that maybe people were a little less
destructive.”
General Services Director Dave Niederhaus said the community
association deserved a lot of credit for the swift cleanup. Residents who
wanted them received plastic bags and gloves to help clean up their own
yards and any public areas. Many volunteers, such as Dorney, were out in
the streets early Friday collecting trash.
But yards that had not been cleaned by the time city crews swept
streets on Friday morning could pose a problem. If residents just hose
down their yards, the trash will probably end up in the street, undoing
some of the city crews’ work. Worse, trash in the street ends up in the
storm drains, posing a serious problem for water quality. Niederhaus took
the opportunity to remind residents that they should take measures to
keep trash out of the storm drains, as the law requires. * June
Casagrande covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She may be
reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at o7
june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .
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