Edmonton street cleaner loves his job

[Hilman]

Edmonton street cleaner loves his job

BY TAYLOR BENDIG, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COM FEBRUARY 8, 2010

EDMONTON — Mark Wilson turns up downtown at 9 a.m. every Monday to Friday, ready for another day on the job.

It’s a typical start to the work day — but not a typical job. For Wilson and four teammates, work means donning blue coveralls, grabbing rolling grey garbage bins, and heading out to clean up the town.

“I enjoy cleaning up the streets, (and) I enjoy the fresh air,” said Wilson. “It gets me out of the house for three hours a day.”

Full Story:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Edmon...763/story.html

[Chmilz]

Saw this on the news last night, great program! We need more like it. This is one of the only ways to separate the folks that really want to change from the bums. If I run into one of them, I'll make sure I go out of my way to thank them and tell them they're doing a good job.

[Barry N]

Better yet, ask them if you can buy them a coffee.

[Sonic Death Monkey]

I'm glad these guys out there, hope this program expands.
The amount of trash they're picking up is unbelievable:

The program also tackles a litter problem that has long bothered downtown businesses. Wilson and his group continually clean streets and parks within a roughly 45-block area, clearing away cigarette butts, broken glass, and other garbage.

Filled with convenience stores, fast-food restaurants and newspaper boxes, downtown is a "high-trash area," said Jim Taylor, executive director of Edmonton's Downtown Business Association.

Clayton Kiddle, one of Wilson's coworkers, finds that easy to believe. On his first day with Downtown Proud!, he easily filled his 45-gallon garbage bin during a three-hour shift.

"You do that once a day, that's getting a lot of garbage," he said.

"You can clean the street one day, and there's the same amount (of trash) the next day," said Wilson.

[kcantor]

Originally Posted by Chmilz

Saw this on the news last night, great program! We need more like it. This is one of the only ways to separate the folks that really want to change from the bums. If I run into one of them, I'll make sure I go out of my way to thank them and tell them they're doing a good job.

you could also pass on a thank you to jim taylor at the dba and ralph young at melcor for spearheading this, charlene butler at butler business solutions for pulling a lot of it together and the private sector sponsors for this program who have committed tens of thousands of dollars (almost 150,000 of which will be needed in the first year alone) in order to have its funding requirements for the first two years of operations met at startup. it is hoped that by the end of that two-year period this will be a self sufficient program.

[Chmilz]

^Well I don't know any of those folks but an huge "thank you" for taking the time and effort to canvas the community for support, for supporting the initiative with hard dollars, and for putting in the time and effort to administer it. This is a golden example of a social program done right.

[MylesC]

I saw some of these people the other day. Bravo! I still think a few bodies with brooms and buckets are much more effective than those mini-vaccuum trucks.

[DanC]

Ding, ding, ding. I think we have a home run here with this program. It tackles multiple issues well beyond litter.

Smart.

[The_Cat]

This is a great program for the workers and downtown. I'm looking forward to seeing the downtown looking cleaner earlier this spring. Well done!

[Edmontonfan]

Kudos to all involved!

[ChrisD]

Originally Posted by DanC

Ding, ding, ding. I think we have a home run here with this program. It tackles multiple issues well beyond litter.

Smart.

Absolutely.

[howie]

Originally Posted by The_Cat

This is a great program for the workers and downtown. I'm looking forward to seeing the downtown looking cleaner earlier this spring. Well done!

And let everybody give this a head start by not dropping their litter on the street in the first place. All that junk comes from somewhere.