Downtown volunteers take tidiness into their own hands
May 2, 2008 Recommend (1)
By RON PAZOLA rpazola@scn1.com
Sunday may be a day of rest for some, but a group of Glen Ellyn residents decided to use their time off from their jobs to do a good deed.
Village Board member Pete Ladesic and six other residents hit the streets of downtown Glen Ellyn on April 20 to make the area a little cleaner.
From 7 to 10 a.m., the residents armed themselves with brooms, dustpans and scrapers and did battle with debris in an effort that would make Mr. Clean proud. With eagle eyes, they combed Crescent Boulevard and both sides of Main Street in the central business district as they picked up litter, scraped gum off the sidewalks and curbs and swept everything from cigarette butts to candy wrappers.
"Our goal was to create an awareness that we need to keep our town clean in hopes of attracting new business," Ladesic said.
After he and other residents read postings on the village message board on how citizens should take more initiative to keep the downtown clean, they decided to take action and start their own cleanup campaign.
"This was a trial run, and we hope to have another volunteer cleanup on May 18," Ladesic said. "Maybe we can get some of the area Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and other organizations to help us."
Heather Kummerer was one of the residents who helped pick up trash. "When the snow finally melted, we realized how much litter and cigarette butts were on our village streets," she said. "We complain a lot about how the business district looks, but here was a chance for us to put our money where our mouth was and actually do something."
People who live near the business district say their property values depend on a thriving downtown and that it's important to keep the business district attractive.
Yet some residents question why they have to volunteer to pick up litter downtown when they pay local taxes to have the village keep streets clean.
"We're concerned about how the business district looks," said Amy Thompson, who participated in the recent volunteer cleanup. "Downtown isn't as clean as it could be. Some of the residents are putting together a letter that we want to give to the Village Board. The letter would contain our thoughts and ideas regarding the business district. We want to start taking positive efforts in the right direction."
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