Momentum in Germantown: 30 projects planned for annual Philly Spring Cleanup

In its seventh year, it’s time for the City of Philadelphia and the Streets Department to drop mega-trash stats to show and prove just how much we can all clean up during the Philly Spring Cleanup on Saturday, April 5. Just how big are the numbers? 1,014,540 pounds of trash collected, 4,030 tires removed and 23,341 pounds of recycling was collected during the 2013 clean up.

In Germantown there will be a huge presence felt all over the neighborhood with 30 official projects registered! Can you feel it? It’s momentum. Keep up the sweep up!

The W Rockland Street Project has two projects planned for the big day – Emaleigh will be working with W Rockland Street Neighbors on a block cleanup and Aine will be leading a cleanup with the Southwest Germantown Business District at Freedom Square (5101 Germantown Avenue).

Sign up to volunteer for a Germantown (or any other neighborhood!) project by clicking here!

Momentum \mō-ˈmen-təm, mə-\ 
the strength or force that something has when it is moving.
the strength or force that allows something to continue or to grow stronger or faster as time passes.

Volunteer for one of many project sites in Germantown

Sign up in advance … or just show up to lend a hand!

1. Lingelbach Elementary School
6340 Wayne Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19144

2. Hood Clean Up
4901 Germantown Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19144

3. SoLo/GCA-WAM Philly Spring Clean Up 2014
Municipal parking lot
4919-25 Wayne Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19144

4. Friends of Happy Hollow Playground and Community Garden
4800 Wayne Ave (upper level Pulaski Ave and W. Logan St.)
Philadelphia, PA 19144

5. Friends of Loudon
4650 Germantown Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19144

6. Neighborhood and Park Cleanup (DIA Clean Up)
Wayne & Johnson Sts.
Philadelphia, PA 19144

7. Germantown Town Hall Cleanup
Germantown City Hall
Germantown and Haines St
Philadelphia PA, PA 19119

8. 6100 Block Germantown Avenue
Cleanup Historic 1770 Germantown Mennonite Meetinghouse
6121 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19144

9. Rockand Street Neighbors
15 W Rockland Street
Philadelphia, PA 19144

10. CHEW and BELFIELD NEIGHBORS CLUB, INC
6200 W. Chew Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19138

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Project Coordinators Meeting at City Hall

On March 23, Project Coordinators for the 4th Annual Philly Spring Cleanup met at City Hall to hear Mayor Nutter and Deputy Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams discuss this year’s cleanup. While the city pushed the Recycling Rewards program heavily, we think that recycling education is far more important! Politics thrive on statistics and one stat we fancy is that an amazing 4.5 million pounds of trash was collected last year during the 2010 cleanup.

On the flip-side, the Mayor’s Reception Room at City Hall is BEAUTIFUL!

Inside City Hall

Mayor Nutter speaking about the Philly Spring Cleanup

The 4th Annual Philly Spring Cleanup is Saturday, April 2 & W Rockland Street is participating!

It’s that time of year again. The 4th Annual Philly Spring Cleanup is just around the corner! The city-wide cleanup will be heldon Saturday, April 2 beginning at 9 a.m. This is the 3rd year W Rockland Street is participating. Our first year was an huge success. Tons of neighbors came out to give the block a Spring cleaning and a group of students from Drexel University helped us to clean the vacant lots on the block, which were total dumping grounds at the time. Our second year, was even better! More neighbors got involved and student volunteers from St. John’s University, brought to us by organizers at St. Francis of Assisi Parish, came all the way from New York to pitch in.

2011 is here and we have bigger and better plans for transforming our vacant lots into permanent green space. Looking to get involved? Volunteer for our cleanup project! Register online here or email rocklandstreet@gmail.com.

W Rockland Street Cleanup and Lot Transformation Project

We have no funding, nor do we work with any partner organizations. Our group is comprised of a handful of block home-owners working to implement much needed change in our community.

Goals for the 2011 Spring Cleanup:

• Clean up all 3 vacant lots (minor cleaning compared to previous years!)
• Install garden beds in the largest vacant lot of the 3.
• Install fences in order to help curb future illegal dumping issues – all 3 lots.
• Cleanup and beautify our own homes and yards.
• Cleanup the street and sidewalk areas along the entire block.
• Work with our neighbors to cleanup in front of vacant houses (there are several).
• Work with our neighbors to assist the elderly in cleaning up their properties.
• Say no to litter and illegal dumping! Respect our neighbors. Make Rockland Street a beautiful, trash free and safe place to live for all residents!

Future Goals for W Rockland Street:

• Following our initial cleanup, we hope to continue hosting regular cleanups.
• We would like to have the entire sidewalk and curbs redone on both sides of the street.
• We would like to have trees planted on the block in vacant lots and along the sidewalk. (Is it possible to get trees from the city?)
• We want to make Rockland Street clean and beautiful and keep it that way.

Look out, we’re on TV! CBS-3’s Talk Philly

W Rockland Street’s ongoing community projects continue to be featured in the news. Thanks for the love! Block resident Emaleigh Doley and Deputy Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams, City of Philadelphia Department of Streets, talk about the City’s UnLitter Us program with veteran newscaster Ukee Washington on CBS-3’s Talk Philly.

Ukee Washington, Emaleigh Doley and Deputy Streets
Commissioner Carlton Williams on Talk Philly
Broadcast May 20, 2010

Today, W Rockland Street took the UnLitter Us Pledge

Today, W Rockland Street took the UnLitter Us Pledge and completed the online application to become an official Litter Free Zone! I have been really excited about this program since I read the first press release about the launch. To me, UnLitter Us is a great campaign because it is about long-term solutions to litter. It really starts (and ends) with transforming people’s thought process and how they actually think about and address litter. It’s about changing a person’s mindset.

With W Rockland Street, it is a constant struggle but we have seen a decline in litter overall through our efforts. We are looking forward to seeing how the Litter Free Zone can help us continue to move forward.

Here’s my favorite UnLitter Us TV-spot: The City Has A Heartbeat

Find out more about the program on the Streets Department website!

Success @ Philly Spring Cleanup

Kids at the Philly Spring Cleanup

On Saturday, April 10th, W Rockland Street joined Mayor Michael Nutter and thousands of volunteers in neighborhoods across Philadelphia for the 3rd Annual Philly Spring Cleanup. This year was a big success. We had much more participation from block residents than last year which felt pretty awesome. Kids and adults of all ages including longtime residents and homeowners to new neighbors and renters worked alongside each other throughout the day with many neighbors helping one another out. I have to say that I was honestly very surprised by the turnout. It really was an amazing day.

Block residents cleaned alleyways and vacant lots, beautified homes and gardens, and removed trash from the sidewalks and streets. Neighbors also used the cleanup as an opportunity for home improvement projects. Basements were cleared out, an old deck was torn down and more. The trash piles were HUGE!

A growing trash collection site during the cleanup

We were also once again joined by volunteers who came all the way from New York City to help out! Last year, a big group of fraternity brothers from Drexel University helped us clean the worst vacant lot on our block (remember this, ugh). This year, block residents worked alongside our wonderful student volunteers from St. John’s University, brought to us by organizers at St. Francis of Assisi Parish. The church is also home to W Rockland Street – located at the bottom of W Rockland Street between Logan and Green Streets. When we saw the students in their matching t-shirts come marching through the school yard with one of the priests from the church we were beyond excited. We could not have accomplished our project to such a degree without the volunteers!

Thanks also to the Philadelphia Department of Streets and sanitation crew for the special trash pick-up and to the Philly Spring Cleanup for once again providing much needed supplies. We were able to give residents recycling bins, brooms (best corn brooms ever by the way), trash bags and work gloves. We also had rakes and shovels for the bigger projects.

Next up for W Rockland Street is the first block meeting of 2010 on April 17. Looking forward to it.

View more photos from the cleanup on Flickr.

Let’s Keep Up the Sweep Up!

St. John's University volunteers with kids and block residents

Block Cleanup

At our first block meeting of 2009, the neighbors decided that one of the first orders of business would be to host a block cleanup on April 4, as part of the big Philly Spring Cleanup. W Rockland Street has a big litter problem, in addition to a pretty awful vacant lot at the bottom of the block. Our goal for the cleanup is to get the neighbors involved, cleanup our homes and yards and the sidewalk and street, in addition to tackling a few of our major problem zones.

Goals for W Rockland Street Spring Cleanup

• Think Big: Join together to cleanup the vacant lot at the bottom of the block and the lots at the top of the block!
• Cleanup and beautify your own homes and yards
• Cleanup the street and sidewalk areas near your home
• Work with your neighbors to cleanup in front of vacant houses
• And don’t forget the back of your house, keep the alleys clean and clear of debris for emergency situations
• Say no to litter and illegal dumping! Respect your neighbors. Make Rockland Street a beautiful, trash free and safe place to live for you and your family!