WECEC Sponsors a Prettier City

By Adam El-Baba
Students and Windsorites gathered at Maiden Lane in downtown Windsor April 5 to kick off the Rose City Spring Clean Sweep Month.
Held outside of the Squirrel Cage, the annual cleanup kicked off at 10 a.m. The event was coordinated by the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association and sponsored by the Windsor-Essex County Environmental Committee. Debi Croucher, acting executive director of DWBIA, said she was really excited at the turnout and support shown from the sponsors.
“What’s really exciting is the number of students we have from the college and university,” said Croucher. “They came on board as soon as it was posted and the student services’ from both the college and university really helped us spread the word.”
The Rose City Spring Clean Sweep campaign happens every April and its purpose is to gather the community to remove litter from sidewalks, vacant lots, school grounds, ditches and alleys. Volunteers were given a coffee and donut breakfast courtesy of Tim Hortons and the Squirrel Cage prior to the event and a pizza lunch was given after the cleanup.
The City of Windsor provided gloves, bags, collection services and field maps. Tim Tidridge, waste collection, contract and operations administrator, advised anyone who found sharp objects or needles to mark them on their maps so the city could remove them safely later.
Ward 4 Councilor Alan Halberstadt, also co-chair of WECEC. said this is the first year WECEC is involved with the campaign. The last time this program was launched like this was five years ago before the clean city committee was lost due to city budget cut backs.
“The message is keep your city clean … and more importantly raise awareness,” said Halberstadt. “Take pride in your city and one of the sources of pride is that it be clean.”
Ward 7 of Councilor, Percy Hatfield and Councilor Fulvio Valentinis of Ward 3 also attended the cleanup.
WECEC environment and sustainability coordinator Averil Parent said they wanted to highlight the downtown area as their starting point for the cleanup.
“We encourage other neighbourhoods throughout Windsor to organize their own cleanup events as well,” said Parent. “We definitely want to educated people to not throw litter out of their car or hands in the first place. All the youth now know how to recycle so why do we still have litter in our downtown streets.”