• Community Spirit: Litter Removal

It was brought to the city council's attention that an upstanding citizen ((We'll go with code name: Johnny Grove)) had chosen to pick up litter from Central Ave between Cevera and Baxter (3 bags full). 

Johnny Grove did well with picking up 3 bags full, but I got 6 bags plus assorted junk. Yeah, yeah you were solo and I had a team, but who's fault is that?

I had been thinking of doing the same thing, but closer to the infamous Baxter/Central curve. So at breakfast I mentioned to my compatriots that I was going to go pick up trash and suddenly there were three of us. (The other option on my list was to attend the Steve Manos campaign kickoff at The Outlets... I was seriously going to go, but something suddenly came up — to paraphrase Marcia Brady).

Joseph Morabito, not known for his fashion sense, looked up after hearing, "Hey you."

Thought bubble contest winner: "You're supposed to make me say "cheese" before snapping a picture."

I discovered that a lot of smokers can't be bothered with throwing their empty packs in a real trash can when they've got the great outdoors, just a thin pane of moveable glass away from being a litterbug.

Usually, our new representative on EVMWD, Jared McBride, can't be found in Wildomar, but his signs from 2018 are still haunting us. I just hope putting this sign in the trash isn't considered stealing.

It was a near draw between liquor bottles and fast food cups as items most likely to be found. Though, there were also dirty diapers (thanks young mothers that are trying to raise reprobates) and breath freshener tins in abundant supply too.

People worried about the vibe they might give off (bad breath) on the one hand, and then completely disinterested as to what people think of them as the blithely toss non biodegradable items out the window.

The other two of the trio preferred to remain as anonymous good deed doers/trash picker-upperers (so no photos of them). I will say, that without their help there's no way I would have been able to clean up that whole area. It was a team effort all the way... inspired by code name: Johnny Grove.

He wanted to be anonymous. Being pixelated should do the trick... unless someone recognizes that blue glove on his right hand.

At the October city council meeting, during future agenda items, I brought up the idea, which isn't a new one, of having city wide clean up days, and explore a way for volunteers to help keep our city clean. 

I just wanted it to come back as a discussion item...

Though our meetings were on the short side in November and December, it didn't make it to our agenda either month. Let's hope that it'll come to the agenda in January.

One of the more bothersome things I found while picking up litter was this, apparent, toxic waste (already reported). 

Being far from an expert, I can't tell if these containers have been there six months, or six years.

I wasn't about to touch, or move either of those containers. One thing that was very discernable, that stretch of road had not had any sort of attention paid to it —when it came to litter— in hella long time. 

This is one of our most traveled roadways in town, and it's my goal to keep it decent looking until the area gets developed.

It's time to call the landowner or the fence company and tell them to stop making our city look bad, and fix their junkie fence. 

A question I've asked, but not really gotten a definitive answer to is, though the temporary fence is on private property, do we as a city care if it gets knocked over, looks like crap, and has become dangerous and a hazard? If so, when are we going to do something about it? 

If you look at the fence photo you'll see that the road is in very bad condition. The difference between properly repairing our roads, and telling a landowner to clean up their blight is millions of dollars that don't exist in Wildomar.

We'd all like for our roads to be fixed yesterday, but there are real constraints on those projects: no money

However, though things like litter, graffiti and weeds along our key driving routes are low priority compared to road quality. They're VERY EASY to take care of in contrast... so let's do it, and make our city look as good as possible.

Who's with me?

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If you want to conquer fear, don't sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
– Dale Carnegie

Wildomar Rap suggests "sitting home and thinking about it" is fine if you're plotting a plan of action, and not wallowing in fear. If you "go out and get busy" without planning, you're now qualified as one of those "only fools rush in" types. Everything in moderation. 

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