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 .