Cyril Josh Barker
Amsterdam News Staff
In an effort to make Harlem cleaner, a group of neighborhood residents are stepping up and pitching in this weekend.
District nine city council candidate Landon Dais along with Uptown Residents Who Care and the Uptown Democratic Club will hold the first Harlem Block Cleanup on April 4th at 10am. The mass cleanup is part of a larger campaign called the Harlem Cleanup Project, that seeks to improve the look of the area.
The cleanup will start at Eighth Avenue and 114th Street and will work up 114th Street to 118th Street from Morningside Park to Lennox Avenue. Volunteers will pick up trash and clean up neighborhood blocks.
Dais said the idea came from the board of the Uptown Residents Who Care while discussing how local groups could impact the community. With budget cuts by the city and state, the organizations decided to take matters in their own hands.
“Our plan is to use high visibility during the block clean up to encourage other residents to join our cause,” Dais said. “We have to take responsibility for our own community. By keeping our community clean we will be able to fight the flagrant vermin problem in Harlem.”
Several volunteers of all ages are slated to help with the cleanup along with other organizations including churches, fraternities and sororities and historically Black college and university alumni clubs. The cast of BET’s reality series Harlem Heights is also pitching in.
Dais said, “We need a healthier community. It is key our children grow up in a clean and safe community. We need to work together to keep our neighborhood clean.”
The Harlem Cleanup Project plans to do at least one cleanup a month. After April 4th there will be another cleanup on April 11th on 135th Street.
Interested volunteers should contact Tresell Davis at UptownResidentsCare@gmail.com or Jessica Dawson at Info@landondais.com. Volunteers should bring trash bags, gloves and coolers.