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| City to get a spring spruce-up |
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| Written by Maddy Houk / Patterson Irrigator | |
| Wednesday, 26 March 2008 | |
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The city of Patterson’s Beautification Committee this week is taking its slogan to the streets, heeding the call to “create community through people, parks and programs.” A Beautification Day is planned from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday. Able-bodied folks of all ages are welcome to pitch in and clean up the El Circulo and E Street area. “I’m hoping for a successful event,” cleanup co-chair Vivian Ratliff said. “The beauty of the beautification committee is to bring the city, the residents and the students together — that’s what makes a community. We all work together as a team. In doing that, we make our city beautiful.” The official mission of the 41-year-old city beautification committee is to foster beauty, safety, goodwill, character and contentment in and about Patterson. Volunteers for the group’s cleanup day will meet at First Baptist Church, 124 S. Del Puerto Ave. Organizers ask that folks take gloves, shovels, rakes and plenty of energy. Volunteers younger than 18 must have a signed parent permission slip to participate. Some jobs include removing weeds from planter boxes and tree wells and along city easements. Volunteers will also prune shrubs, pick up trash, scrub graffiti, clear empty lots and hoe weeds. A noon barbecue is planned after everyone is finished. “The city of Patterson has stepped up work on large trees, sidewalks and a general cleanup of some city-owned areas,” said Augusta Farley, another event leader. “We are asking the adjacent businesses to help by sprucing up their exterior areas so that we continue to be inviting to visitors to our beautiful downtown Patterson.” Other recent beautification projects have included helping the city’s public works and code enforcement departments identify work areas that need immediate attention, Farley said. “Perhaps our citizens have noticed recent pruning of overgrown trees, painting of fire hydrants, etc.,” Farley said. The beautification committee continues to help in the city’s effort to build a comprehensive bike/walking/exercise path throughout the city, Farley added. Also, the committee will seek money to upgrade some local roundabouts with cobblestones and plants. Committee members are also researching the idea of giving awards to business and individuals who exemplify the group’s mission. “We think these projects are good examples of what Patterson is all about,” Farley said. Several businesses and individuals already have donated to the beautification day. Gifts of money, tools and food for the barbecue are still being accepted. A pretty history The beautification committee first took root in 1967. A year later, the Junior Citizens for Beautification was formed. Although not formally connected with the Beautification Committee, local teens scheduled a successful cleanup week from April 20 to 27, 1968, in which more than 200 teens volunteered. Residents could hire the youths to haul away trash, disc lots or paint, paying them $4.50 to $7 per group by the hour. Teens continued the work with cleanup days and occasional weekends, where they picked up trash and weeded alleys. Along those same lines, the City Council allowed locals to use the city dump for free up until December 1970. By early 1971, the committee had planted more than 400 trees throughout the town. In the mid-1980s, the committee bought 40 acres of land on Hartley Street for Felipe Garza Park and planted several trees there at South Fifth Street and Del Puerto Avenue, in what was first designated as a parking lot. The beautification efforts continue 41 years after they began, bringing with them a sense of pride among committee members. “This is our community. We need to take pride in the city,” Ratliff said. “Our object is to make Patterson the most beautiful city in the county — that’s our goal.” To reach Maddy Houk at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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