One person's trash is another person's cleanup.
Long Beach launched a month-long project designed to beautify beaches, parks and public spaces through a series of hosted community cleanup events.
The city's mayor, Rex Richardson, held a press conference staged with street sweeping trucks, trash trucks and city vehicles announcing the “Spring Cleaning” initiative.
Residents in the area say the city's trash problem is bad and hard to miss.
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“It is bad, I see trash everywhere,” said Sarah Donahue, a Long Beach resident sunbathing at Alamitos Beach. “The beaches over here, like on the streets, I’ve been walking, there is like a lot of trash.”
Richardson blamed the winter storms for much of the trash problem the city is currently dealing with this year.
“The debris flows down river and down the watersheds, here to Long Beach. We know we have to step up and pitch in, even if the trash didn’t originate in our community,” said Richardson.
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Stepping up will mean volunteering in your neighborhood, and partnering with the conservation corp and the Department of Public Works to host neighborhood cleanups.
“I don’t know where the tax money goes these days,” said Long Beach resident, Matt Brajkovich. “They shouldn’t rely on citizens for doing everything.”
For those Long Beach residents looking to spruce up their neighborhood, they can sign up online on the city's website.
