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

Community clean-up planned

By  http://www.journal-news.com/staff/ed-richter/" rel="nofollow - 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.