Submitted by KM Hills.
Sunday, July 7th was set to be a scorcher with temps in the mid 90’s. I was up early, for a planned open water swim, to avoid the chaos that can ensue at North American Lake Park. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was greeted by badly overflowing trash dumpsters. I was pleasantly surprised when a City of Lakewood truck pulled in behind me. The staffer went right to work cleaning up the huge mess. It was only 7:15 and he was already working to making the park a happier place. I thanked him for taking on the “not so fun task” of cleaning up that mess.
As I left the parking lot, and walked towards the beach along the paved trail, I was shocked by all the litter in the grassy park area. From the top of the hill, I could see down to the beach, which was worse than the grassy area above. The pictures show all the trash left behind, by the beach goers from the day before.
On the beach, before I got down to the sand, there were two people. A woman in a folding chair at the water’s edge and a late teens early twenties something guy, wearing an orange shirt. He was busy picking up litter. I asked if he was with the City and he said he was. Another City staffer, diligently working to make the beach a happier place. I thanked him as well.
An hour later, after my swim, as I walked back up the hill to the parking lot, the same staff were still hard at work picking up the trash in the grassy park area.
First, I would like to thank the City Staff and the hard work they did/do to keep the park as clean as possible. Second, I would like to thank the City as an entity, given it just made a huge financial commitment to renovate the park.
Clearly the City knew this clean-up was going to be needed. My question… Why was all that trash left behind in the first place? Do we, as City residents, have such little pride in our City that we think it is a dump? We can all make our parks a happier place by just picking up after ourselves. This park is a jewel so let’s keep in shining.
Thanks for sharing this reminder that we should pick up our trash when we leave a public area. What is so difficult about bringing a trash bag and carting the garbage back home with us if there’s no more room in the park bins?
Kudos to the city of Lakewood for the timely cleanup!
Thanks to Lakewood for the clean-up (wish our citizens cared more). Would more signage help? Not sure, but maybe clever messaging around the park would help? Maybe near the big mural?
Be part of the solution, not the pollution.
A dream park is a clean park
Together we can do so much. Keep our park clean. It starts with us.
KM HILL,
THANKS for your report, civic zeal, and commendation of City crew. It takes a village. I suppose a friendly reminder left on a windshield would just result in more litter. Maybe we need refuse containers that randomly issue a store coupon or cash reward; civic or scout adoption? “Keep Lakewood Beautiful?”
Yes, many thanks to Park staff! Perhaps a volunteer group can be formed for cleanup after Memorial Day 4th of July and Labor Day. See the letter re the Town of Steilacoom post 4th of July cleanup.
Maybe a council person or two or other community leader or group can spear head this issue. And yes, it is important to have enough dumpsters on site-during those holidays.
And Yes, I volunteered at the Steilacoom town/park cleanup.
Thanks for recognizing the hard work of our maintenance team.
Morning inspections and trash removal from our parks – especially at American Lake and Harry Todd parks – takes up a good portion of our day and does take away from our ability to do all the other important work in and around our parks during the summer months.
Normally about 40 – 50 bags of garbage are collected at each of the lake sites each day.
Over 100 bags were removed from American Lake Park on July 5th. There are three dumpsters at Harry Todd Park and five dumpsters at American Lake Park. The dumpsters are emptied twice a week. Each day we haul any trash that doesn’t fit in the dumpster to the City of Lakewood O&M shop for disposal.
By the time our park visitors get to each location, they are safe, clean and ready to be used.
Mary Dodsworth, Director
Lakewood Parks, Recreation and Community Services
Go Eben Johnson!!! Way to pick up that trash!!!