Adopt-a-Block Fall Cleanup a Success

Bayside Neighborhood Association’s Annual Fall Cleanup was a terrific success; much less trash was collected than in previous years. This may seem like a contradiction, but actually it shows the effectiveness of BNA’s Adopt-a-Block program. Folks in this program have been cleaning up their areas twice a month--and it shows. We had no heavy items for pickup, no encampments, no particular trouble spots. The City, too, has been more responsive than in the past and has a strong commitment to the Adopt-a-Block program. I want to thank Mike Bobinsky, Director of Public Works, and Mark Spillar, also at Public Works. They made sure that we had the tools and supplies we needed, put two public works employees on the job on Saturday to go around and pick up all the bagged trash, and gave us a load of mulch, too! The mulch team, Ron Spinella and Rob Sylvain,mulched 62 trees on Oxford, Stone, Wilmot, and Chestnut Streets as well as on Cumberland Ave.

We had 24 volunteers who cleaned up an area stretching from Franklin Arterial to Mechanic St., from Lancaster to Cumberland Ave. We tried to concentrate on residential areas and also heavily traveled areas. Councilor Jill Duson and her campaign aide Sandy Wright cleaned up along Elm and Preble Sts. State Representative Herb Adams concentrated on Chestnut St. The USM Nurses cleaned up the playground. Rebecca Smith from Community Policing worked around Portland, Preble, and Oxford Sts. Please thank these folks if you see them around town, as well as the rest of our volunteers: Susan McCloskey, David Culip, Tom Trott, Deb Locke, Emily Koehn and Casey O’Callahan, Ed Simmons from Rickey’s Tavern, Alex Landry, Adam Hill, Avery Yale Kamilla, Margaret Widner, Scott Demmons, Shannon Stoll, Sandy Austin, Jenna Fadden, Mindy Mondoux, Linsey Peyson, Sarah Dionne, and Sara Cobb. I want to thank the USM Nurses for a fabulous barbecue, too, in particular, Mindy Mondoux and Linda Lambertson, who went above and beyond the call of duty to put on a feast for the whole neighborhood. Thank you to all who came and helped keep beautiful Bayside shining

-Victoria Szatskowski