Graffiti clean up this weekend around Tacoma

Posted by Stacey Mulick @ 05:00:00 am

Volunteers will be sprucing up Tacoma and painting over graffiti this weekend.

The daylong event - the 2nd Annual Operation Graffiti Cover-up - is sponsored by Safe Streets and its partners. Teams of block group members, business professionals, students and other volunteers will hit the streets Saturday morning to paint over pre-identified graffiti eyesores in Tacoma and unincorporated Pierce County.

Volunteers are asked to check in at 9 a.m. and one of the following sites:

Portland Ave. Community Center - 3513 E. Portland Ave.
Metro Parks Headquarters - 4702 S. 19th St.
Parkland Fire Station - 100 114th St.

Organizers encourage volunteers to bring their own brushes and rollers. Refreshments will be provided.

During last year's event, 257 volunteers painted over graffiti at 243 locations in the county, Safe Streets reported.

Safe Streets is partnering with the Click! Network, Pierce County, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, Puyallup Tribe, City of Tacoma, Tacoma Police Department, and Tacoma Public Schools for the event.

To register contact Safe Streets at (253) 272-6824, or e-mail rkhlom@safest.org.

Volunteers Needed for May 16th Clean Up

We still need volunteers for the area-wide clean up on May 16th.

Community clean ups only work; however, with volunteer power! If you didn't sign-up at Park Avenue Neighborhood's March meeting there is still time. Feel free to email Brad at parkavenueneighborhood@gmail.com or Allyson at City of Tacoma at agriffith@cityoftacoma.org.

Volunteer activities include:

Offloading (this means actually helping people take things from their trucks and putting them in the dumpster) .

Greeting people (this means welcoming people to the clean up, taking their contact info and helping to direct traffic) .

Bring Food (it is hard for the City to provide food and people get hungry so if you all wanted to do a potluck or get local businesses to donate) .

Have a truck (means you are willing to drive around the neighborhood and pick up for people who are elderly, disabled or don’t have a vehicle to haul).

Extreme Neighborhood Makeover: Tacoma Edition comes to Park Avenue Neighborhood

Yes, Park Avenue Neighborhood is getting an extreme makeover. Over the next few weeks you'll see improved lighting on street corners known for crime, alley re-grading, ditch clearing to eliminate standing water and street cleaning. All of this leads up to the big neighborhood clean up scheduled on May 16th, which is part of the South End / Eastside Alliance clean up. This summer look for striping and painting on Yakima and Park Avenues to better mark the speed humps, traffic circle and bike lanes.

Neighborhood Clean-up on May 16th, 2009

South End-Eastside Neighborhood Alliance, of which Park Avenue Neighborhood is a part of, will be hosting a neighborhood cleanup on May 16th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The South End-Eastside Neighborhood Alliance, is the area from Sheridan Avenue to Yakima Avenue between I-5 and 43rd and from Sheridan Street to East ‘F’ Street between 43rd and 64th streets. Homeowners or renters in single-family or duplex homes living in this area are encouraged to toss the junk and beautify their property as part of the collaborative neighborhood cleaning.

Volunteers and staff from the City will be accepting items for disposal at Lincoln High School, Mann Elementary School and Fawcett Elementary School. All that is required to dump items is a proof of residence such as a driver’s license or current utility bill.

Items that can not be dumped include: material from a business; cars, motorcycles, campers or boat parts; truck canopies, trailers, boats or RV vehicles; daily household garbage; liquids, paints and other oil-based products; hazardous waste; riding mowers; and animal carcasses.

Volunteers are needed! If you are interested in volunteering, contact Allyson Griffith at agriffith@cityoftacoma.org or call (253) 591-5119. For more information about the neighborhood or the cleanup, visit www.cityoftacoma.org/cbs.