Mayor Fitzgerald Launches Major Regional Clean-Up Campaign
(Wednesday, May 3/2000)-- Company's coming this summer, and the Halifax Regional Municipality wants to look its best!
Mayor Walter Fitzgerald announced today details of a major, region-wide litter pick-up campaign to be held during the months of May and June.
The Mayor issued a challenge to the business community, service clubs, schools, ratepayer associations, citizen groups and individuals to respond to the call and organize litter clean-up events in communities throughout the region.
Parks and playing fields, lakeshores, downtown and shopping areas, roadsides, school yards and vacant lots in neighbourhoods are among the areas targeted for clean-up.
"Wehave a lot of company coming this summer, and we want to be ready for them. We have a number of major national and international events planned-everything from the Memorial Cup to Tall Ships 2000 to the World Marathon Canoe Championships - and we want to be looking our best," the Mayor said.
"These events combined are expected to bring hundreds of thousands of visitors into the Halifax Region and the last thing that we want them to see is a community littered with trash. The vast majority of our citizens take extreme pride in their property and in their communities in general. We simply want to clean-up the sore spots with this campaign," he said.
Participating groups or individuals are asked to register with the HRM Information Line.
(490-4000 or Toll Free 1-800-835-6428, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)
The municipality will provide information on How to Organize a Clean-up Event, green and blue collection bags, as well as latex gloves, for the pick-up crews. HRM will also schedule for the pick-up of collected materials and transfer to the solid waste facility.
Mayor Fitzgerald said it was anticipated that the various clean-ups could be accomplished within existing municipal budgets. Major participating business units include Parks and Recreation Services, Public Works and Transportation, Solid Waste Resources, Shared Services, Corporate Communications and Tourism.
"If the public gets involved, we can accomplish a lot more for the same amount of money.
But more importantly, we want to focus as much attention as possible on the littering problem within HRM. We hope that the more people think it, the less they will be inclined to litter. In that case, everyone is a winner, " he said.
Mayor Fitzgerald stressed that the "Company's Coming" campaign is not designed to compete with, or overshadow in any way, existing anti-litter and pick-up campaigns organized by various other public and private organizations. It is intended to compliment these efforts, such as the Province's Adopt-A-Highway Program and the Clean Nova Scotia Foundation's "Great Pick-Me Up" program.
Although not directly associated with the "Company's Coming" campaign, HRM is partnering with the Dartmouth Downtown Development Corporation and the Clean Nova Scotia Foundation on a clean-up scheduled for this Friday, May 5th. (See attached notice)
Participants in this event are urged to meet at the Canada Post Building, on Queen Street, Dartmouth. The downtown clean-up will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by a small reception at Alderney Landing Market from 12: 30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Contact is Marion Currie 466-2997.
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Mayor Walter Fitzgerald
(902) 490-4010
John O'Brien
Corporate Communications Officer
(902) 490-6531
