HL.com Litter Pickup Project - This Sunday, 7/20 - Updates Here

Greetings Everyone-

Thank you to everyone interested in picking up litter this Sunday, July 20. The original thread started here: http://www.hackettstownlife.com/forum/37318

We will be meeting at Second Time Around on Main St. at 2 pm.

I have gotten 100 big trash bags and a bundle of what looks like 10 pair of work gloves from the Department of Public Works. They have also agreed to dispose of any litter we pick up. They didn't have any plastic gloves, but several of our members, including Christine from the Second Time Around, have offered to provide those - ideal for picking up cigarette butts.

All this was made possible by JoAnne Solecki from the town and the Clean Communities program.

http://www.hackettstown.net/Community/clea...communities.htm

It's not official yet, but all the paperwork has been submitted for this program, so that the Hackettstown BID will be paid $10 for every hour each person that shows up works. I'm not sure what they're going to do with the money, whether it will go towards improving the town, or to the Knudsen family, or what, but I suppose that's up to the BID. We could set up a thread voting on ideas for what we should suggest they do with it, but maybe that should be a separate thread.

There should be an announcement for it in this week's Warren Reporter and they will be sending someone out to do interviews, as well.

Here's whwat we need now. Ideas. Please post public property in Hackettstown that need to be cleaned up.

What we have so far is Main St., for sure. I also know that Alumni Field and Sand Bar Park need cleaning up, especially in the parking lot and around the track. What else? I suppose any sidewalk in town is up for grabs, but what has priority? Please tell us. I'll try to organize it into a list, so we can prioritize our assignments.

By no means can I promise we will get every last piece of litter in town, so please don't get mad at us. We are just a bunch of volunteers. We are hoping to do this more often (possibly once a month). Also, I am afraid peple who find out about this are going to be even less likely to pick up around town on their own because now we are here. Honestly, this could be a one time thing.

Anyway, please post here any other ideas or discussion there might be. And, also, if you plan on going, please declare here.

Thank you to everyone for helping out with this project. Probably in a day or two, there will be just as much litter laying around as there was before we got there, but at least what's there now won't be there.

Warm Regards,
EB

EB July 17, 2008 10:54 am | Link

I already said I'd be there, and I will be.

I'd give Main Street, and particularly the parking lots around Main St. as priorities.

GC July 17, 2008 2:21 pm | Link

Unfortunately I'm teaching a class at Pequest, but will be done by 3 can I still help for an hour or two later in the afternoon?

Agust July 17, 2008 2:29 pm | Link

I will be there. I would concentrate on Main St. and the parking lots. Then next time maybe the parks. I also would like to see it limited to 2 hours. I wouldnt want to burn anyone out.

Also I would like the money to go to the M&I Committee. They are in charge of the flowers in the planters, signs, wayfinding, etc.

See you at 2 on Sunday.

Christine July 17, 2008 2:53 pm | Link

Great, everyone. Thanks for the interest.

Christine, what does the M&I Committee stand for?

I had an idea today. Maybe the money could go towards putting up a sign that says something like "Keep Hackettstown Beautiful", suggesting that people not litter. If the M&I Committee is in charge of signs, maybe that's something they could work on. Just an idea.

EB July 17, 2008 6:37 pm | Link

Okay, I just heard. The DPW has orange vests we could use in high traffic areas if we want them. If we do, I'd have to know tonight because tomorrow's Friday. They're open Saturday morning, but I have to work. If need be, we may need someone to volunteer, but I can go in tomorrow for them like I picked up the bags today.

Thanks.

PS, the forecast says there is a "slight chance of thunderstorms" for Sunday. Should we make a rain date just in case?

EB July 17, 2008 6:42 pm | Link

Here's the announcement in the Warren Reporter:

http://www.nj.com/news/warrenrep...xml&coll=15

EB July 17, 2008 7:12 pm | Link

Orange vests? Hackettstown. On a Sunday afternoon? ;-)

Good to know they'd be available, but I have to say I don't think it's necessary.

GC July 17, 2008 7:49 pm | Link

M&I stands for Maintnenace and Improvement. If you want a sign and put it up on Main St. you have to go thru the State.

I think we should have a raindate. Also no need for orange vests IMO.

Christine July 17, 2008 8:18 pm | Link

What about July 27th for a raindate? Just a week later. Same time?

EB July 17, 2008 10:02 pm | Link

insidesource,

send me a private message (I would PM you but you don't have a little envelope next to your name)

maybe we can talk about this and you can help us all decide democratically what to do with the money (assuming you will be picking up litter with us, that is).

thanks,
EB

EB July 17, 2008 10:11 pm | Link

Insidesource who do you think you are? I was asked questions. You should stay out5 of business that doesnt pertain to you. You dont like what I post dont read the forum.

Christine July 18, 2008 10:06 pm | Link

Christine: You go, girl!

This is so great! Sorry I can't be there to help since I will be running the Rummage Sale and Bake Sale up at my kids' school.

If there is a rain-out and it is postponed until the 27th, then we can be there, but its not supposed to rain until the evening.

If you have another pick up project date, please let me know! We would love to help out!

SusieQ July 19, 2008 12:10 am | Link

insidesource - who do you think you are!?!

M&I committee stands for christine's pocket? Wow, does she have alot to say about everything and everyone! Why must she answer everthing with such "authority"? I don't comment much, However, I do read alot on this forum. It seems she always has comment with an "authoritative approach"! Most times her "facts" are wrong! Just read christine's comments on this page! Its like we have to take orders. Nothing personal, thats just how it seems to me.

insidesource said on July 17, 2008 8:14 pm | Link

happy2bhere July 19, 2008 12:51 am | Link

insidesource - ANSWER please!?! Who do you think you are to JUDGE ANYONE?!?

happy2bhere July 19, 2008 1:04 am | Link

It seems insidesource is very jealous of me. I would ignore him at this point. He probably wont answer you happy.

Christine July 19, 2008 1:37 am | Link

Christine-

This whole exchange is making me uncomfortable.

The BID is indispensable about getting this money, so they should definitely get something. But my intention was to attract as many people to help clean up the town as possible, and some people may not want all the money to go to the BID.

I am quickly starting to regret getting involved in anything to do with taxpayer money at all.

insidesource could definitely have gone about it better, but the larger point is what exactly should we do with the money?

In the past, I have seen decisions like this be made by an online poll. We would get the people who come on Sunday to sign up to a private Yahoo group, be given time to make suggestions, and then given an opportunity to vote on the poll.

as far as who insidesource thinks he or she is, s/he is a taxpayer, and I've heard they judge people who use government funds quite often - whether that's right or wrong, I just don't think anything that anybody says on this message board, how angry anybody gets, or how many names we call each other, is going to stop people from doing that.


It's funny, earlier today, I was pretty distressed about the way this project was going, and I came across this quote from Bill Cosby:

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
Bill Cosby

So, I personally think there are a number of things that could be done with this money. The M&I Committee would definitely make sense, but i don't think one person should decide what to do with the fruits of the labor of everyone else. I hope you can understand why I think this. Personally, I think that insidesource, and anyone else, would have reason to be jealous of you.

If insidesource doesn't sign up to pick up litter, then s/he doesn't get to vote at all on what to do. S/he has no power over us, so why get upset? This would be giving this person too much power.

I really just want to get as much litter picked up as possible, and to get this done more than just once. This topic will be in the Warren Reporter next week. So, I hope this dispute, and subsequent lamentations about what "could have been", will not be part of the story.

Flamebait discussions can get very ugly, and they can also have serious consequences for future business possibilities, especially since the evidence of them will remain on the internet for many years to come.

Hopefully, after the litter project on Sunday, we can all sit down together and enjoy ourselves.

thank you to everyone who is still interested at this point

please come

if changes need to be made, we can always do something different next time

warm regards,
EB

anonymous July 19, 2008 2:10 am | Link

sorry, obviously I'm not anonymous, that was a mistake

I'm EB

EB July 19, 2008 2:12 am | Link

EB,

It is wonderful of you to be organizing this. I will be doing a rummage sale at my kids' school, but on another date we will be there to help out to help keep our community beautiful. After all, that's what it really is all about! Who cares where the money goes, people?? It will be put to good use somewhere, and someone will be blessed by it.

Don't try to please everybody; just do what you feel is the right thing to do. Its all you can do! You are doing a good deed--that's what really counts! Thank you for trying to keep our community clean!

You will be greatly blessed for it!

SusieQ July 19, 2008 11:10 pm | Link

EB - I don't think I will be able to make it today but I hope everything goes well!

Kate S. July 20, 2008 7:17 am | Link

On the previous thread you quoted the email from JoAnne Solecki who said the money "has to go to a non-profit (ie BID)". You also gave anyone who wanted to object a chance to say so. As well as saying it wasn't really about the money anyway.

I don't care if the money goes directly to insidesource. Letting there even be a question of money misses the point. Christine is the President of the BID, and a business person who wants to help - which is why she's involved and has some answers. I don't believe with so many people running BID that the money can be called a direct line to her pocket.

But so what if it is - I thought this was about picking up trash and making Main St look better. I don't need any money to do that. And if there is money I don't care at all where it goes. Let's just get back to picking up the trash.

GC July 20, 2008 8:19 am | Link

Maybe some of the money could be used to buy a few more garbage cans and/or cigarette butt receptacles. I noticed that there are a few sections of main that don't have garbage cans.

Kate S. July 20, 2008 9:59 am | Link

insidesource - Christine is the BID president in town. She also does countless things for the community and puts in a lot of hours doing charity work - i.e. if you check any of the Knudsen threads, etc. At least Christine is a 'I can do' person. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. You're more than welcome to post ideas, get involved in town, go to meetings, be a BID member, and so on. We're ALL welcome in this town.

I don't want to see internal fighting on the board. Just wanted you to know that she means well and if she comes off with authority, it's because she is a business owner, pres of BID and lives and grew up here and tries to live up to the expectations of being a community member. Come out and meet her and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Nice to meet you, insidesource. Please be a positive force on the board. ;)

INeedMoreCowBell July 20, 2008 10:19 am | Link

UPDATE: ACTUALLY, STAND BY. Christine texted me and she's IN the hospital. Since she's texting from under her sheets...she's doing it in blurbs.

She won't be able to make it. Although, knowing her, if she got discharged, she be doing it in a wheelchair...

I just asked her what's going on, so...I will post when I know. I'm sure everyone wishes her well.

INeedMoreCowBell July 20, 2008 10:32 am | Link

Christine said the other day that she took her husband to the hospital. Is she in there, too? Please, anyone with information, please keep the Forum up to date.

INMCB any news!

FireFly July 20, 2008 10:51 am | Link

I think EB should be commended for spearheading this noble task. As a resident of Main street i just got in the habit of picking up garbage on a daily basis - and there seems to be no end to it. Good luck!
I myself would not except the money from the town. Seems to just bring the bad out of some people. I would feel rewarded just by the satification of knowing I did something worthwhile for my town.
Again, Thank you from one Main Street resident that appreciates what you plan to do!

Regards

John C July 20, 2008 10:55 am | Link

Okay, wow, Christine is in the hospital.

We were supposed to meet at Second Time Around for this, where she owns the business. Apparently she's not coming. I assume we probably shouldn't bother the people at Second Time Around about this, but I'm still interested in picking up litter if anyone else is.

I'll be outside Second Time Around for sure starting around 1:45. Unfortunately, I don't have a cell phone so it will be kind of difficult for me to be reached that way. Can someone meet me there and help me organize this thing? My home phone is 908-979-3493. It's noon now. I hope to be here until about 1:30 at the latest.

Also, I was expecting Christine to provide the latex or rubber gloves to help us pick up the cigarette butts. Does anybody have any of them?

Also, I will be bringing sunscreen, as well as the garbage bags the town gave us. Bring something like a backpack to carry the bags in

I'll bring the paperwork, but the clean communities program where we get money from the town is in question. Really, everything is in question.

Obviously, it will be a bit confusing, but the show will go on. I can't say for sure, but I think Christine would want this. Let's not try to bother them too much right now, though.

Remember, this is a first try. What we learn today, we can put into good use the next time we decide to do this.

Thank you so much, if you're interested.

God bless you all, and get well Christine!

I hope it's not too serious.

Erik Anderson
calling me is probably better than pm'ing me right now

EB July 20, 2008 12:04 pm | Link

Okay, I actually called Second Time Around.

Christine wants us to show up there?

Does anybody have any rubber or latex gloves they could bring?

I don't have a cell phone, but the number at the store is 908-684-8000. I'll try to get someone with a cell phone to be a central contact.

does anybody have a pickup truck we can put the full bags in temporarily before we take them to the drop off spot (which isn't far, but I don't want to post it online for fear that random people will start dumping their own garbage there).

I hope this works.

Erik

EB July 20, 2008 12:25 pm | Link

Thanks for all the kind words cbel!!

GC July 20, 2008 5:10 pm | Link

Here's the report.

Only one other person showed up and it was GC. Cbel drove by with some words of encouragement and said she would definitely like to do it, but only when it is less hot.

It was definitely hot, and we were both dragging at the end of the two hours. But, we did take a five minute break to drink some of that free water Christine had for us in the middle of it.

Our first task was to clean up the municipal parking lot between High St. and Liberty street. We filled up a whole bag, mostly because we found some old cardboard boxes that were crushed and matted down because of the elements. We focused a lot on the little things, like candy wrappers, bottle caps and cigarette butts. We had a separate bag for recyclables, because the town wants us to separate them ourselves. After an hour, we covered the whole area in the parking lot, but every time we looked around, there was more little stuff where we had just been.

After our break, we went East mostly on the East Side of Main street, because it was shady. We started out together, but then when we got to some doorways where there were just a ton of cigarette butts, we decided that we had better just come back next time with a broom and a dustpan. Also, the bushes along Grand Ave. right at the corner across from the kiddie toy place are so gross, they just need to be shoveled up. It's litter combined with mounds of accumulated dirt and leaves. Next time, we will get a shovel and a broom from the town.

At one point, I accidentally put the garbage in the recycling bag, so then we discussed it and decided to split up. I went down the street looking for bottles and cans (I got down as far as the crossing by the creek on E. Plane Street before we ran out of time), and GC focused on regular trash, which there was a lot more of, so he didn't get as far (not sure how far her got exactly).

We filled up two large bags (30 gallons, I think) with garbage, and about three quarters of a bag with recyclables. It doesn't seem like a whole lot, but we did focus a lot more on little tiny stuff, like cigarette butts.

Next time, we should probably assign different tasks to different people. Like, one person (or team of persons, depending on the size of the group) does recyclables, one assignment is to sweep up with the broom up and doen the town. Another job could be to get medium sized garbage with hands. These are just my thoughts. It's what seems effective to me. If other people want to do it another way, that's fine, too.

Well, thanks to everyone, including Christine, the people at the Warren Reporter, the members of this board, Chris who makes this message board possible. And the town of hackettstown, jean solecki with the clean communities program, and tom kitchen and bethany at the DPW (and of course the taxpayers).

I look forward to doing it again.

EB

EB July 20, 2008 5:14 pm | Link

EB, you are an angel for doing it this weather! I know I was too big of a wuss with the heat to even sit by the pool, let alone be working in it.
Applause for you and GC. I cannot believe you did it without fainting. Seriously, it's very dangerous weather to be doing outside work in. You should both be patted on your soaking wet backs for doing this. Bravo to you both. Next time maybe those of us that won't faint in the heat will show up and help.
Hats off to you both! Job well done in the worst of circumstances. Christine would be proud, but she'd also think you were nuts. She was worried about the weather and people doing it.
;)

INeedMoreCowBell July 20, 2008 5:19 pm | Link

EB - you are a saint!

Kate S. July 20, 2008 5:35 pm | Link

EB and GC: I'm glad I found you today; it was nice meeting you. I will sign myself up for the Fall crew if there is one. I try to spare everyone from my company in July and August. The worst of me comes out in the heat.

EB, if you'd like to do this again try contacting the local scout programs. They would typically get patches or awards for community service. And since most scouting programs have some sort of community cleanup anyway, perhaps you could organize multiple organizations to participate at the same time under the guise of a Hackettstown Clean Community Initiative. Now that would really say something about our town!

Cbel - don't give it a second thought, you didn't want to be out there in the heat. We probably shouldn't have been out there, and definitely not the full two hours. But a nice Key Lime Rita's later, and I'm fine. ;-)

Actually after starting down the east side of Main Street, EB had taken care of the Gazebo, so I got to Stella G's. I saw just how immaculate it was out front and had little to do. So I kept going and found when I looked at the parking lot just beyond it needed a bit of help. As I went back in the lot towards Washington I realized the adjacent lot behind the Gazebo, the one that connects with CB's lot was actually as bad or worse than the lot between Liberty and High that we started with.

So we got a dent out of about a quarter of Main St's business district and a really serious dent of 3 parking lots. With only two people, that's not bad given the resources. We'd be dangerous if we had 10 people.

Just think what 10 people and some cans of paint could do. Get involved.

GC July 20, 2008 6:29 pm | Link

EB - I commend you for taking charge of this and am sorry that you didn't have more help. Keep us posted as to future dates for this. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

happy2bhere July 20, 2008 8:56 pm | Link

Actually, I picked up one old flyer in the Gazebo and that was all that needed to be done in that particular area, apparently. I don't remember. There were lots of places that I just walked through because at that my point my job was just bottles and cans.

justintime, there are infinite possibilities of how to get involved. It's easy to get overwhelmed with too much, too soon. If we didn't set the two hour schedule, I might have been out there too long, and gotten sick myself. But, I definitely want to do a lot more, as time goes by.


My father was a big deal in scouting when I was growing up (in fact, my old scout troop in Long Valley dedicated a plaque in his memory at one of the new athletic parks in Long Valley (Palmer Park)). Their motto is "Be Prepared", so that is definitely where my suggestions to bring sunscreen above and what not came from.

you can check out their website, with a lot of stories about the history of the troop (I was one of the charter members in 1986, when I was about 10 or 11 years old). There was one Scoutmaster for the first year, Mr. Bruder. But, my father served for about four years, and then stayed involved in some way or other until he got too sick from Super Nuclear Palsy (similar to Parkinson's) and then he died in 2003.

Here's the link:

http://www.troop236bsa.org/

For some reason, they called him Bill Anderson on the about us page. I just wrote to the webmaster to correct that tonight, but, as you can see from the attached picture, his name was Bruce. The B before his name stands for Blaine, my grandfather's name, which is also what the B in EB stands for.

Anyway, sorry, it can be a little emotional topic for me.

I'll be in touch later.

EB July 20, 2008 9:43 pm | Link

Hugs, EB, Hugs.

happy2bhere July 20, 2008 9:46 pm | Link

This was an excellent idea and a great plan of action. However, I have to agree that the weather was too difficult for this time around.

I hope that another trash pick-up plan will be in place for the fall when it is a bit cooler. Will do my best to schedule time to work the next one.

Thank you for organizing this. We can all pitch in and work together.

Coralie July 21, 2008 7:53 am | Link

I would love to help out with the next one, too. How about planning it for early in the morning when the sun isn't so hot yet? I will have the kids help out, too. Its a great way to show your kids some community pride and spirit!

Thanks so much for helping keep our community clean!

SusieQ July 22, 2008 12:30 am | Link

that's a good idea about early in the morning, a great one, actually

however, as we discussed, I thought the afternoon would be better for a Sunday because of people going to church in the morning.

and I normally work Saturday mornings, but that might be changing soon, so in September, I will definitely bring this up about planning it for the morning.

thanks again

EB July 22, 2008 5:13 pm | Link