Community News

Earth Day Clean-up 2024 at Bartlett Park

 

by: Jerry Person
Published: April 22, 2024

 

 

HUNTINGTON BEACH...Throughout Surf City volunteers on Saturday, April 20, 2024 were giving up their early mornings to celebrate Earth Day 2024 by picking up other peoples trash to make our city just a little more beautiful.

 

L-R: Jared Timaza and Ricky Kloppe

 

For the past few years Jared Timaza and Ricky Kloppe have helped in that worthy cause. These two city employees have helped check-in volunteers for the past few years from the neighborhood thay would help keep the parksite behind the Newland Shopping Center clean.

Residents donned their old clothes and headed over to Bartlett Park ready to get their gloved-hands dirty picking up trash discarded by people. Volunteers registered for the city sponsored Earth Day clean-up at the pop-up tent in the Newland House-Bartlett Park parking area before starting their park cleaning.

 

Most of this type of trash people picked up are small non-biodegradable substances such as plastic wrappers, food items, knives, forks spoons, and small packaged items.

This year was much harder to clean because of the several storms caused the mustard plants to boom, covering up small trash below.

 

But volunteers were still able to cleared some of the top of the mesa of trash and also the in the area some call "hidden valley" where the unhoused reside while other volunteers cleaned the bottom area of the park fence along Coldwater Lane.

This year the city supplied buckets, gloves and pick-up sticks.

By the end of the morning clean-up, those volunteers felt a sense of pride for what they have accomplished.