Kings County clean freaks busted out their brooms and hit the streets for Civic Sweep on Sunday, an annual Park Slope tradition that saw locals collect a “huge” pile of trash and have a good time doing it, according to one longtime organizer.
“There’s a lot of good work that’s done at the civic sweep, but it is also a good time,” said Candice Woodward, who heads up the Park Slope Civic Council’s Sustainability Committee. “It’s a pretty day, nice weather, nice people and good spirits.”
The Park Slope Civic Council has hosted its annual street- and graffiti-cleaning blowout every year since the group’s former president, the Honorable Bernard Graham, kicked off the event back in 2001, and it’s since drawn hundreds of community-minded locals to scour the neighborhood clean of litter.
There was plenty for the local trash collectors to do during their four hours on the streets Sunday. Volunteers returned to the garbage drop-off point at Washington Park with a truly unfortunate amount of trash, Woodward said.
“It’s really disheartening to think that much litter can be picked up from Park Slope streets,” she said.
This year, Ninth Street reigned as the neighborhood’s filthiest thoroughfare, and neighborhood trash collectors were spotted carting back a huge haul of refuse.
“Apparently Ninth Street was just awful in terms of litter,” said Woodward.
The event is often well attended by a small army of eager beavers from local Girl or Boy scout troupes, but this year it was soccer players with Sports Club GJOA Youth Soccer who scored a starring roll in Civic Sweep, according to Woodward.
“They were full of energy,” she said. “They did a good job.”
