Noe Valley Voice June 2001
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Volunteers Needed to Spiff up District 8

By Laura McHale Holland

What do Supervisor Mark Leno, Mayor Willie Brown, and a pack of goats have in common? They'll all be on Twin Peaks Saturday morning, June 9, for the grand kickoff of the Department of Public Works' June Community Clean Team. The goats will gnaw on weeds while our dignitaries offer support to the volunteers who show up to join the crew.

You might wonder what this has to do with Noe Valley. Well, Twin Peaks and Noe Valley are in San Francisco's District 8, and DPW has dedicated the month of June to cleaning up our district, which also includes the Castro, Glen Park, Diamond Heights, Duboce Triangle, and the westernmost parts of the Mission.

Each month, the Community Clean Team provides a comprehensive cleanup of a district in San Francisco. So far, Districts 7, 9, and 10 have gotten spiffed up. The program began in October as a pilot project in District 6. Volunteers are needed for our district on three Saturdays: June 9, 16, and 23, from 9 a.m. to noon.

"Response has overall been very good," says DPW spokesperson Alex Mamak. "We have the Saturday morning events involving volunteers from the community, and then throughout the month, DPW comes out and does a lot of work in the district as well. Every district is a little different. Sometimes there's more interest in landscaping issues. Sometimes it's problems with trash and illegal dumping that need to be addressed."

Each Saturday morning begins with a 9 a.m. signup and distribution of T-shirts. Then volunteers fan out to nearby work areas. Work proceeds until about 11:30 a.m., when people return to the kickoff site for pizza and soft drinks.

The kickoff sites for June are Twin Peaks (June 9), where the focus will be on ridding the area of overgrown weeds and shrubbery; Dolores Park (June 16), where the goal will be cleaning up the district's parks; and James Lick Middle School (June 23), where the team will launch a general cleanup around the school and along Clipper Street to Portola Avenue. This last date will also include clearing a possible community garden site at Clipper and Portola, working on retaining walls and tree basins along Upper Market Street, and ridding a vacant lot at 24th and Grand View of high weeds.

"We also have a new program called Club DPW which targets school kids. They become a junior part of the Clean Team and get special membership privileges, such as discounts at department stores. We'll be able to offer more benefits as the word gets out and the program gets more established," says Mamak.

In addition to seeking Saturday morning volunteers, DPW hopes you will call them to alert them to any areas in the district in need of a lift, be it picking up trash, weeding, cleaning, or planting.

To volunteer or get further information, please call 554-5447 or log on to www.sfcleancity.com. M