Spring cleaning in Park Slope
Residents scour neighborhood to pick up trash on annual cleanup day
BY COLIN MIXSON
Kings County clean freaks
busted out their brooms
and hit the streets for Civic
Sweep on Sunday, an annual
Park Slope tradition that saw
locals collect a “huge” pile of
trash and have a good time
doing it, according to one
longtime organizer.
“There’s a lot of good work
that’s done at the civic sweep,
but it is also a good time,”
said Candice Woodward, who
heads up the Park Slope Civic
Council’s Sustainability Committee.
“It’s a pretty day, nice
weather, nice people and good
spirits.”
The Park Slope Civic
Council has hosted its annual
street- and graffi ti-cleaning
blowout every year since the
group’s former president, the
Honorable Bernard Graham,
kicked off the event back in
2001, and it’s since drawn hundreds
of community-minded
locals to scour the neighborhood
clean of litter.
There was plenty for the
local trash collectors to do
COURIER L 4 IFE, APRIL 19–25, 2019 PS
during their four hours on
the streets on Sunday. Volunteers
returned to the garbage
drop-off point at Washington
Park with a truly unfortunate
amount of trash, Woodward
said.
“It’s really disheartening
to think that much litter can
be picked up from Park Slope
streets,” she said.
This year, Ninth Street
reigned as the neighborhood’s
fi lthiest thoroughfare,
and neighborhood trash collectors
were spotted carting
back a huge haul of refuse.
“Apparently Ninth Street
was just awful in terms of litter,”
said Woodward.
The event is often well attended
by a small army of eager
beavers from local Girl
or Boy scout troops, but this
year it was soccer players
with Sports Club GJOA Youth
Soccer who scored a starring
roll in Civic Sweep, according
to Woodward.
“They were full of energy,”
she said. “They did a good
job.”
HELPING HANDS: Gjoa soccer stars were a huge help during the Park Slope Civic Council’s spring cleaning
event. Photo by Caroline Ourso