Harvard Yard Cleanup

Harvard Yard Cleanup

Community comes together to fight blight

news@theeveningtimes.com

Residents of Harvard Yard rallied together Saturday to clean up trashed out and abandoned lots in their subdivision. The county provided 3 roll off Dumpsters to sites sandwiched between Highway 77 and Interstate 55 north of Sunset.

Volunteers, picked up litter, raked lots, threw away trash and burned big piles of debris all day.

Dumpsters were scattered around the neighborhood.

The county ordered Dumpsters for the Buckingham Common, a South Dunhill vacant lot and one on Harvard Rd. All three were topped off with junk by about noon. Piles of lumber and debris were mounded up and burned throughout the day.

“How long have you had to look at that mess?” one resident asked a neighbor.

Pointing to a 14 inch round tree the neighbor replied.

“15 years,” she said. “This tree was a sapling when the last folks there moved out.” Kudos to the 20 grass roots volunteers who organized caught in the act working hard cleaning their community.

Locals have been cleaning up the neighborhood all spring in an effort that has swept from south part of the area and moved north.

By John Rech