Can East Village think green year-round?

President Message by John Scheer 

Spring is time to think Clean and Green. Every year the city sponsors an event to inspire residents to clean up our local areas and encourage the greening of the season. The city provides tools and bags in support of the cleaning activities.
The Clean and Green date was April 25 this year. But everyone can continue to pick up trash, rake leaves and debris or remove personal signs from lamp poles and mailboxes.

EVA has approached Matt Bailey, the 1st Ward contact for the Clean and Green, in support of a more specific greening initiative for this year. The request is for coordination and support with the Department of Forestry to plant some trees along Augusta Boulevard.

Staying consistent with the Clean and Green philosophy, this planting would be a significant improvement, and the first step of what is a much larger plan published several years ago to redesign of the Augusta streetscape.
This whole project is considered too big for undertaking at this time, but planting some trees along this street is a good start. EVA board members have gathered a list of addresses along Augusta Boulevard as well as several other streets within EVA as part of this greening request.

Please consider what else you can do yourself to contribute to this annual event. Think about composting the leaves and last years plant material that has over wintered. Don’t forget to use the blue bins for all of the paper, glass and plastic that complies with the recycling guidelines.

And start the summer season off right by planting seeds and other bedding plants from any one of our neighborhood gardening stores. This can be a great support for our local businesses too.