A two-month-old initiative aimed at making downtown Jacksonville more appealing is looking for more volunteers to help pick up trash.
On WJCT's "First Coast Connect" Thursday, Clean City Saturday founder Matt Killen says putting the best face on the city makes good economic sense.
“All the way down Union and State streets, it’s the first thing you see, and right now it’s covered in trash,” Killen said. “We want to make sure it looks presentable so that if you’re an entrepreneur or you’re just someone who wants to check out the urban core, you’re not afraid to do it because it’s dirty.”
Killen said he originally thought going out one Saturday a month would fix the city’s trash problem.
“But we realized it’s just not getting enough done, so we do it every Saturday,” he explained. “We’ve been able to move about a thousand pounds of trash out of downtown so far.”
But, Killen says, even that’s not enough to get the job done. So he’s asking community leaders and local businesses to get involved.
Anyone who wants to volunteer should meet this Sat., July 8, at 10 a.m. at the Residences at City Place apartments at 311 W. Ashley St. GoKart Shopping will provide trash bags, gloves and water. More information is at the Clean City Saturday Facebook event page.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter @cydwjctnews.
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