Posted: 1:18 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16, 2015

Community clean-up planned

By Ed Richter

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

    Volunteers from throughout Middletown are being sought for a citywide clean-up as part of an Earth Day celebration on April 18.

    Jeff Michel, executive director of Keep Middletown Beautiful, said major efforts will be to spruce up and refresh the grounds around the Middletown City Building, all city schools, parks and various right of ways.

    “We’re reaching out to residents and organizations, and we’re looking to engage the city and the school system,” he said.

    Michel said KMB has set a goal of 10,000 service hours for 2015, which is “attainable.” He said he expects hundreds of people to pitch in that day. Last year, about 100 people turned out for the Earth Day event.

    “Our goal is for everyone to notice changes as you drive through town,” Michel said.

The event, which also includes an educational forum, will be from 8 a.m. to noon. Volunteers can pre-register before April 18 or check-in at the lobby of the City Building on the day of the event. Michel said people can come for an hour or more as their schedule permits.

    “The City Building looks tired and it’s been several years since the grounds have been overhauled,” Michel said. “It needs to get a general exterior refresh to reflect what we’re moving toward.”

    Michel said he along with Steve Lewis, of Lewis Horticulture, and Chris Mack, of Arbor Care, will do an assessment of the grounds to determine what needs to be done. Among the projects Michel foresees are cleaning up the signage, raking out and re-mulching the mulch beds, painting the benches and cleaning up around the garden, pruning and feeding trees as well as removing 12 known diseased trees.

    He’s hoping school officials will encourage projects at each of the city school buildings to clean up their grounds, and he hopes residents will pitch in to help clean up city parks and right of ways on Earth Day.

    Michel said organizations such as Moving Middletown Forward and Downtown Middletown Inc. have already expressed interest in helping to create awareness as well as participating. In addition, he said work is being done to do more local promotions for the event. MMF is working on beautification projects in the area where the old city parking garage and Swallen’s store once stood downtown.

    In addition, the Earth Day effort will also be reaching out to businesses and others to expand the clean-up along the Main Street and Central Avenue corridors. Michel said those corridors will run between Old South Park to the 12th District Court of Appeals building on Main Street and from University Boulevard to the Great Miami River along Central Avenue.     
    He said he’ll also be reaching out to the Middletown Cemetery Board to work with them to clean-up trash or cut and remove branches at the Middletown Pioneer Cemetery.

    Michel said if people or organizations would prefer to do a clean-up on a different day, they will be accommodated and whatever supplies they might need would be made available.

    “We’re very flexible,” he said.

    Denise Hamet, city economic development director, said “this is a good opportunity for community involvement.”

    She added that the city would be assisting in obtaining some equipment to do some exterior clean up of some downtown buildings.

    For more information on how to participate in Middletown’s Earth Day clean-up, contact Michel at 513-465-2675 or at jeffm@cityofmiddletown.org.

 

Mr. Michel, MMF and Downtown Middletown are to be commended for the Earth Day cleanup each year. The intention is appreciated. The targeted areas, suspect as to focus.

That being said, I do notice that the story offers many downtown cleaning day targets with the city building, the old Swallens and parking garage sites, the S. Main St. area and the river, Middletown Cemetery and District Court downtown sites being mentioned. This is all fine and dandy but there are other areas of the city that need attention also. When were the former 1st and 2nd ward areas of town targeted last time for cleanup? The first line of the story mentions "a citywide clean-up as part of Earth Day"....but no mention of specifics outside of the downtown area were included.

In the next to the last line in the story, Hamet mentions the city would assist in obtaining equipment for exterior downtown building cleanup. Would the city do the same for other parts of the city?

Do we have another example here of downtown preferential treatment using the Earth Day event as the catalyst?

da120757 wrote: Note to Vivian Moon.... Middletown Cemetery will be taken care of as it has been for the last 5 years and without your input to get it ready for Memorial Day. I have a group that comes in and takes care of this before Memorial Day, as well as re-mulching the DOTY Lot and the trees in the front. If you would like to grab a trash bag and come over and help out, that would be just peachy...

Despite your arrogant comment concerning Ms. Moon's input, you have the audacity to suggest she help you right after your first insult coupled with a dose of smart-a-- with the "peachy" comment. I wouldn't blame her if she told you where you could put that trash bag lady. You are in a leadership position. Start acting like it.

Ms. Moon was working on the cemetery grounds and the burial records long before your little committee was formed. Get over yourself. Stop being so dam self-righteous. Your demeanor sounds as if it has a little jealousy attached to it with your on-going feud with her.

da120757 wrote: Hey Vet, I just let her know that the Cemetery would be taken care of as it has been for the last 5 years. I did not see this as an insult just a fact. I have no feud with Vivian and I find it strange that things are getting done in the cemetery and you all are still Bitching and Griping about it. So Buddy get over yourself. And Jealousy? Are you Kidding me. Just remember too, If this "little committee" had not been formed the Vault would have been torn down. And that's all I have to say about that!!!

Hey lady,

It is the MANNER in which you let her know that seems to have an arrogant flavor to it. No one is bitching and griping about the cemetery? Where are the comments pertaining to that topic of late?

The attention to the vault was originally brought to light by Ms. Moon. Ya can't take total credit for saving it. She initiated the interest in it's repair. It had been neglected for years by the city. The grounds of the cemetery were attended to by Ms. Moon and a few volunteers without the city's blessing long before the committee was formed. The fence lines were cleared and the fence repaired, the graves were documented, some of the stones were pieced together and plants and flowers were planted by the entryway, later removed by Gilleland's people. I believe there are photos of the work done by the Moon crew on this site. The committee came about as a result of a meeting between Les Landen and the officials in Columbus based on a complaint filed by a Middletown resident concerning the on-going neglect of the cemetery by the city. Out of that meeting, one of the things the city was told to do was to form a committee to attend to the cemetery. Your committee took over after the initial leg work was already done.....and, is doing a FINE JOB OBTAINING FUNDING FOR CEMETERY IMPROVEMENT AND REPAIRING THE VAULT. I would think you would hold Ms.Moon as an appreciated ally for the work she and her volunteers had done instead of the reception you just gave her.