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Those Philadelphians not busy sleeping in Saturday might have noticed some strange sounds from the outdoors. Amidst the everyday clamor of traffic and the morning chirping coming from birds, one might have been able to discern the swishing of brooms against the sidewalks or the crunching of shovels in beds of dirt. Curious residents may have stuck their heads out of their windows and doors to find a bevy of locals working to beautify the neighborhood.
The early hustle and bustle was all a part of the 2010 Philly Spring Cleanup, “Keep up the Sweep up,” which ran 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eager residents young and old were removing litter from pavements, planting trees, and tending greenery in neighborhoods spanning the city limits.
South Philadelphia in particular hosted a total of 22 cleanup sites, which included efforts as simple as neighbors pitching in to clean up their blocks as well as wider projects coordinated by local civic groups. Some official sites included Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park, 20th Street and Pattison Avenue, Stephen Girard Park, 21st and Shunk streets, and Gold Star Park, Sixth and Wharton streets, among many others.
“We cleaned from Eighth and Wolf all the way down to Broad and Wolf,” Nicola Gordon, resident of 24th and Moore streets, said about her family’s desire to give back to the community.
While the citywide event was orchestrated by Mayor Michael A. Nutter and the Philadelphia Streets Department, groups like the Lower Moyamensing Civic Association concerted efforts on a community basis. LoMo participants worked primarily at South Philadelphia High School, 2101 S. Broad St.
The entire stretch of pavement bordering Southern was arrayed in chalk illustrations meticulously drawn by participants that day. Sidewalk art included sketches of trees as well as environmentally-friendly messages, such as “This way to a cleaner Philly” or “Recycle.”
“About 100 people turned out for the cleanup,” Kim Massare, president of LoMo, said. “We have 30 members from City Year, a Target team, and some people from Beneficial Bank, as well as local neighbors.”
Volunteers spent the morning handing recycling bins out to residents, distributing flyers about the Recyclebank program and clearing the surrounding blocks of debris.
During the afternoon hours, LoMo volunteers switched to tasks like painting fences and planting tulips in the small orchard of the Southern parking lot. The Southern orchard is the only official green space within the bounds of LoMo’s jurisdiction, according to Massare.
Karen Wolfe, of the 2500 block of South Hancock Street, joined her daughter Gwendolyn Koziara, 7, in gardening.
“We really wanted to help make South Philadelphia a little cleaner and a little more beautiful,” she said.
Another volunteer, Rich Cucarese, traveled all the way from Levittown with his two daughters, Gia, 7, and Arianna, 5.
“We’ve been trying to get some stuff started in our area because we have a lot of problems down there with a lot of trash around the roads and nobody wants to take any responsibility,” he said. “We come down to Philly sometimes to go to the zoo, so we heard this was going on and we wanted to come down and help.”
At about the same time and a bit further to the north, the South of South Neighborhood Association was busy with similar projects around the area of 22nd and Christian streets.
“Probably around 50 to 75 volunteers showed up at our two locations,” said Andrew Dalzell, program coordinator of SOSNA.
The first SOSNA team met at Broad Street and Washington Avenue and continued west to 16th Street while the second team started at 22nd and South streets and moved south to Washington Avenue. In addition, volunteers focused on cleaning up an area construction site as well as a shopping market lot.
“People got involved in a smattering of different ways,” Dalzell said. “They joined up through our e-mail list or went to the Philly Spring Cleanup Web site and found our site through there.”
An added incentive for SOSNA participants came through a special partnership with the Sidecar Bar and Grille, 2201 Christian St., which offered bracelets that guaranteed happy hour priced drinks all day long to volunteers who joined in the SOSNA effort.
Perhaps the most mobile cleanup participant was Nutter himself. The mayor commenced the event at 9 a.m. with an outdoor celebration at Saint Joseph’s Preparatory School, located at 18th Street and Girard Avenue. He was joined actor/teacher Tony Danza, along with members of the Streets Department.
Nutter then proceeded through a hectic tour of six of the 200 total project sites within the city. One of the stops along his way included the Southern site.
Around 1 p.m., shortly after LoMo members finished raffling off 2010 Census T-shirts to volunteers and relaxing with a spread of pizzas, the mayor arrived to plant a tree in the Southern orchard.
“Cleaning up is not a one day thing,” the mayor said. “Think of it as you think of brushing your teeth or taking a shower. You don’t do those one time; you don’t clean up one time.”
The mayor thanked everyone who participated in the day’s activities, but urged everyone to continue to do their part in making Philadelphia a greener city.
“Get involved,” he said. “If everyone does their part — I’m not asking you to go save the whales — just do your part, sweep your stuff, take care of your sidewalk. I love whales, wonderful, but not many at Broad and Snyder. So if you just take care of your little part of the planet, everything will be fine.”
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