East Point Breeze Neighbors News

Are you tired of trash?  Does littering make you loony?  Join like-minded folks for an evening of 'trash talk' at East Passyunk Crossing's offices (1729 S. 11th St, on the Neumann-Goretti High School campus) starting at 6:30pm on Thursday, June 6th, 2013.  Several South Philly civic groups will be represented, but anyone of any age from any part of the city is welcome to share their ideas!

From 6:30 - 7:00 pm, we will be checking in on the status of our first collaborative effort, which took place over last spring/summer, to reach out to take-out businesses regarding trash can compliance.  If you weren't involved in this first effort, you can feel free to skip this part of the meeting.

From 7:00 - 7:45 pm, we will decide whether or not we would like to undertake another collaborative effort and brainstorm what that might be. So start letting those new ideas simmer and bring them with you!

We look forward to seeing folks there!  If you can't make it, please send your ideas in to the Cleaning Committee!

On Saturday, October 20th, NNA will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the installation of the first Big Belly Solar combined trash and recycling unit in the Point Breeze neighborhood.  The Big Belly will be installed on the northeast corner of Reed and Hicks Streets.

NNA has been fundraising for its Big Belly Campaign for the last six months, raising donations from residents and businesses in the neighborhood.  NNA continues to raise funds to install additional units throughout the area.

“Litter and dumping are big issues here, and residents are eager to find solutions.  We’re working with the community and the city to deal with a basic quality of life issue that has far reaching benefits“, said Evan Levitt, Chair of NNA’s Big Belly Subcommittee.

Members of NNA will be at the installation, along with community leaders and residents.  Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, State Representative-elect Jordan Harris, State Representative Harold James and Senator Larry Farnese have all been invited to attend the ribbon cutting.  The ribbon cutting will take place at 1pm.

Prior to the ribbon cutting, NNA will host a clean-up of the immediate surrounding blocks, beginning at 12pm.

If you'd like to attend, please RSVP on the Facebook event page or by contacting the Clean Committee chair.

Newbold Neighbors is aiming to get at least one Big Belly trash can installed in the area in the next year, but in the meantime, we're going to try another avenue — we're going to work with corner stores and takeout restaurants to show them that a cleaner storefront equals more business.

Businesses serving takeout food (prepackaged or prepared on site) are already supposed to be providing trash receptacles, and the city is going to ramp up enforcement in the coming months.  Our goal is to help businesses in our neighborhood avoid fines and help us KEEP UP THE SWEEP UP!

Interested In Helping?

Look over this map of businesses that provide takeout food within NNA's boundaries and read through the Trash Think Tank letter written and signed by multiple area civic groups and elected officials.

If you're interested, please contact our Clean Committee with a list of stores you'd be willing to approach, and we'll send you a more detailed set of instructions including how to handle most of the questions or concerns you'll be asked about and how to handle requests for this information in other languages.

Thanks for helping us get 50 businesses more engaged!