New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Team effort aims to beautify New Haven’s Hill South
NEW HAVEN — Brooms and trash bags in hand, residents teamed up with city organizations and local police to clean up the streets of Hill South Wednesday.
Project Longevity collaborated with the Livable City Initiative and Hill South neighborhood residents sweeping the streets and picking up trash in an effort to beautify the neighborhood and foster relationships among various communities.
The group started at the Hill South police substation and made their way down Rossette Street with brooms, trash bags, rakes and trash pickers.
“Our goal today is making a presence and showing collaboration between police, the community, city agencies and businesses,” said Stacy Spell, project manager for Project Longevity of New Haven and retired New Haven police detective. “It’s about cleaning up our neighborhood, not waiting for the city to come and do it or anybody else. We can work together and do it.”
Arthur Natalino Jr., Livable City Initiative Hill South neighborhood specialist, helped organize the cleanup, which they wanted to make “worthwhile for the neighborhood,” he said.
They gathered more than 20 volunteers to pick up trash along the sidewalks, in the streets and even out of the storm drains.
Hill South resident Thomasine Shaw said it’s hard to get rid of the misconceptions people have about the neighborhood, but the volunteers’ efforts will make the streets nicer for people driving through.
“It’s about cleaning up our neighborhood, not waiting for the city to come and do it or anybody else. We can work together and do it.”
Stacy Spell, project manager for Project Longevity of New Haven
“There’s nothing that’s nicer than driving through a street that’s clean, lined with trees,” she said, and hopefully through the work the volunteers did Wednesday, more people will be encouraged to keep their street clean.
“(People) need to see that someone has taken an interest and maybe, just maybe, it will rub off on them,” she said.
As volunteers Daniel Hunt and Alder David Reyes, D-5, made their way cleaning up a side street, Dewitt Street resident Selena Kearson took notice.
“It’s good to live in a nice, clean environment,” she said. “It’s wonderful to see you out here.”
Reyes, who is the alder in the neighborhood, said efforts such as this cleanup help show that the community is a united front that wants a clean place to live, work and play.
“This send a message we don’t want trash,” he said. “We got over 20 people that share the same vision.”
At the end of the cleanup, volunteers were treated to lunch and given meal vouchers to McDonald’s, courtesy of the restaurant manager who helped with the cleanup.