THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 2, 1996 TAG: 9607020004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 34 lines
June 8 was Clean the Bay Day for the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed. I was disappointed at Portsmouth's lack of response with efforts at a site on Paradise Creek, a tributary of the Elizabeth River. I was a zone captain at two clean-up sites in Portsmouth where more than 65 volunteers picked up debris in the Cradock section. Volunteers included neighbors from the community, Coast Guard volunteers, Chesapeake Bay Foundation volunteers and staff, Boy Scout leaders and troop members and some Cradock Middle School students and teachers.
Several thousand pounds of debris, including building materials, shopping, carts, lawn mowers, tires and glass, were pulled from this creek.
I was assured by city of Portsmouth employees that the debris collected would be picked up by city waste-disposal trucks on June 10. Some of the debris was finally picked up on June 19. While the trash sat uncollected, some of the trash and large items of debris ended up back in Paradise Creek.
I salute the hard-working volunteers who made the clean up a success!
Those individuals in city government responsible for picking up the collected trash do not seem to appreciate the efforts of these civic-minded volunteers, nor do they seem to take seriously their responsibility to collect the accumulated trash. Only after intervention by the city's Department of Environmental Services was any action taken.
I hope the Department of Environmental Services' response reflects the city's attitude rather than those who failed to pick up the trash in a timely fashion.
JULIA M. HARDEE
Suffolk, June 24, 1996 by CNB