Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Today, with the help of seven great UT students (recruited by Sarah Surak), we performed a litter item analysis of 9 bags of trash collected on Elm Street near the City Transfer Station.  The data will be released soon.  We analyze the trash from cleanups for types of material found.  It provides raw material for our litter prevention education efforts.  It was a real nice day and the trash was mostly dry.  We do not like to survey trash picked up after a rain storm for reasons that are obvious after you start handling it.  Pictured below are volunteers Lindsay Winn, Blakely Thacker, Erin Keim, Brad Vinson, Brad Nanes, Amber Kendrick, and Hallie Richards.

- posted by KKB staff at 7:15 PM  

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Here is a really nice shot of our anti-litter mascot, Auggie.  Auggie is owned by Knox County Solid Waste Director John Evans.  Auggie is the best dog in the whole world.

- posted by KKB staff at 3:30 PM  

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

This is why litter people DO NOT like to leave large containers out for community cleanups.  By Tuesday morning, illegal dumpers had placed more than 50 tires, a car battery and other junk in the container.  We had to remove this material before the container could be removed.  Tom found a wide screen TV shipping carton with a tracking number and linked it to a household about three blocks from the cemetery.  Steps are being taken to prosecute that person for illegal dumping.  The local Bridgestone representative took away the tires that were NOT on rims.  The City of Knoxville later took the tires on rims and cleaned up the other dumped building materials.  Here are some pictures of what got removed from the dumpster:





Below: Do you know this man?  This picture was taken at the Longview Cemetery some time on Saturday, March 19th by a cleanup volunteer.  He actually fled at high speed over some of the limited grassy area in the cemetery.  If you know who this is contact Tom Salter at the KKB office.



Later, Mary Lou Horner interviewed Tom Salter, Seed Lynn and Emily Ditty about current activities at KKB including status of the Great American Cleanup™, the Youth Advisory Board and the Litter Ordinance Enforcement campaign.  Here is a picture of Mary Lou and Emily on the set of Be Pretty Proud.

- posted by KKB staff at 3:30 PM  

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Today was the big cemetery cleanup.  KKB was responsible for Longview and we had about 6 volunteers show up.  More people came to the other locations.  We did more discovering than cleaning up.  We still got 30 bags of trash and 27 tires.  We worked for about 2 hours.  In addition to being an overgrown briar patch, the cemetery is a major dump of building materials, auto parts and assorted other junk.  Waste Connections provided the containers at no charge.  Here are some pictures of what we found:

- posted by KKB staff at 8:15 PM  

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Tom met Don Dare from WATE at the Bearden BiLo proposed cleanup site adjacent to the Third Creek Greenway to familiarize Don with the site and to provide some background.  At 4:00 Tom and Seed met Don Dare and a News Sentinel photographer at the site.  We waited about an hour for volunteers to show, but it was cold (about 40), rainy and windy and nobody showed up.  Here is a pic of Don Dare interviewing Seed Lynn of KKB staff.

- posted by KKB staff at 5:30 PM  

Monday, March 14, 2005

KKB participated in two important meetings today.  At noon, Tom met with the panelists for one of the County/City Neighborhood Conference sessions.  Whitney Stanley is coordinating the panel.  Tom will moderate brief presentations and discussion by Dr. Paul Kelly, Terry Faulkner, Bob Santore and Scott Frith about how citizens can take the lead on community improvement projects with government as a partner.  

Later, Tom met with members of the East Tennessee ReLeaf Program steering committee at the likely site of the growing out station behind the City Services Facility on Lorraine Street.  A decision was made to apply for a State Urban Forestry staffing grant to get the program off the ground and on a solid base.  Tom, David Watson of East Tennessee Community Design Center, David Vandergriff of Knox County Extension and Sam Adams of Cortese Tree Experts will collaborate on the proposal.

- posted by KKB staff at 5:30 PM  

Friday, March 11, 2005

- posted by KKB staff at 6:45 PM  

- posted by KKB staff at 9:30 AM  

Thursday, March 10, 2005

This evening Tom gave a speech to the Old Mechanicsville Neighborhood Interest group or OMNI.  They met at the Moses Center in a Police Academy classroom.  Last year, OMNI won an Orchid Award for a neighborhood park and they've been involved the in the Great American Cleanup™ for several years.  Their agenda include plans for a spring spruce up of the park.  Tom presented general information about litter issues including the impact of better enforcement on neighborhoods.  The City of Knoxville has a container law that requires property owners keep all trash in a secure container.  KKB believes this is the secret weapon of neighborhood blight reduction if vigorously enforced.  Because neighbors are reluctant to call City or County officials on their messy neighbors, KKB has been distributing a do-it-yourself guide to developing neighborhood beautification efforts.  Tom presented it and  encouraged OMNI to get together and adopt a set of standards or expectations for the neighborhood and then distribute it neighbor-to-neighbor.  It can come across as a lot less harsh than a codes officer and it comes from a process the neighbors themselves put together.

- posted by KKB staff at 9:15 PM  

Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Tom and Seed looked at several where we could observe private and commercial vehicles delivering trash to drop off centers.  Later this month we will begin formally collecting data on the percentage of vehicles entering drop-off centers with unsecured loads.  Results of the data collection will be shared with City and County officials.  We also looked at several possible locations for public cleanups to be announced later this month. 

- posted by KKB staff at 1:30 PM  

Friday, March 4, 2005

We picked up a batch of gloves today in preparation for the 2005 Great American Cleanup™.  We have to pay for gloves and when you make donations to KKB that is the sort of thing your dollars support.  We get good discounts.  We pay 66¢ for gloves that retail for up to $5.  It is a good return on your donation.  We also are pleased that GLAD® has returned as a sponsor of the Great American Cleanup™ and we have received a shipment of Force Flex™ bags for our litter cleanup volunteers.  This doesn't cost KKB anything.  Many thanks to GLAD® for this donation.

- posted by KKB staff at 1:30 PM  

Thursday, March 3, 2005

We had the regular meeting of the Keep Knoxville Beautiful board of directors today at the Candy Factory.  This may be our last meeting at that location because the City is in final negotiations with a new owner who may change the use of the space.  We are looking around for a space with meeting space for 25 and decent parking somewhere near downtown.  There was discussion of the progress on the fundraising campaign and the dates for events with the 2005 Great American Cleanup™.  There was a very interesting discussion about the defeat of proposed changes in the County "tarp law" at the last County Commission Meeting.  You had to be there.

Emily Ditty represented KKB at the Earthfest planning meeting today.