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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
The results of Take Pride Winnipeg\u2019s annual litter index are in.<\/p>\n
Tom Ethans, Take Pride\u2019s executive director, said what\u2019s glaringly obvious to anyone out on the streets is while Mother Nature was dropping snow during the months of winter, a lot of people were tossing trash.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome streets are just filthy,\u201d Ethans said on Monday while announcing the results of the index.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is amazing how many people just don\u2019t seem to get it. I\u2019m always shocked when I see people tossing stuff out their car window or tossing it out when they\u2019re walking instead of taking it home. There are many areas of the city that can use some help to rid the streets of months of unwanted litter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethans said the scale of the index starts at one \u2014 no litter \u2014 to 10, indicating \u201ca lot of litter.\u201d He said no area of the city reached 10, but on the other hand, no part is anywhere near one, either.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s \u201cwinner\u201d \u2014 Winnipeg\u2019s north central area \u2014 registered 6.88, which was slightly worse than the West End, last year\u2019s filth champ at 6.8; that neighbourhood appears to be cleaning up its act to some degree, coming in at 6.07 this year.<\/p>\n
The north central area includes everything north of Notre Dame Avenue, between McPhillips and Main streets, and north to the Perimeter Highway.<\/p>\n
The cleanest area of the city is the Fort Garry\/Linden Woods area, at 4.83.<\/p>\n
The city average is 5.92, up from last year\u2019s 5.51.<\/p>\n
Darryl Friesen, owner of the King Cob Market Pub next to the West End Cultural Centre on Ellice Avenue, said this is the worst time of the year for seeing garbage outside his business.<\/p>\n
\u201cCleaning is always needed on a regular basis,\u201d Friesen said. \u201cThe back lanes are much worse, to the point of almost giving up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a never-ending battle, with all the empty lots being used for dumping and scavengers going through all the garbage bins. (You) do some cleanup and the wind will just blow more in the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keith Horn, owner of the Northern Hotel on Main Street \u2014 and chairman of the North End Business Improvement Zone (BIZ) \u2014 said he can\u2019t believe how much garbage is out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see businesses putting out their garbage bags and then they are all torn open,\u201d Horn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see people opening up garbage bags and leaving a large mess all the time. I ask them all the time: what are you hoping to find? It\u2019s called garbage for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Litter on Sherbrook Street on Monday.<\/p>\n Horn said his area of the city will look decidedly better once the BIZ\u2019s Green Team gets out in May to clean up.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that\u2019s not for another 3 1\/2 weeks,\u201d he said. \u201cIt feels like a losing battle a lot of times.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe Kornelson, executive director the West End BIZ, said his area has been working hard the past few months to keep litter down, so he is glad to hear the results are reflected in the index.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are proactively going out there to pick up during the winter when we can,\u201d Kornelson said. \u201cBut I was just out and while there are definitely some streets which look great, there are others where I say, \u2018Oh, we need to send a team here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe try to keep up, but part of it is there are a lot of people and businesses in the area\u2026 35,000 people live here and there are lots of businesses and a lot of people walking on the sidewalk.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\tSunday Passages<\/p>\n Sundays<\/p>\n Kevin Rollason\u2019s Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba.<\/p>\n \t\t\tSign up for Sunday Passages<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Meanwhile, Ethans said he is helping schools get ready for students to volunteer their time to clean up neighbourhoods in the coming weeks. And Ethans said local businesses are also going to be part of the cleanup effort, too.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year, 11,000 students went to pick up litter,\u201d he said. \u201cAlso, employees at the CIBC on Empress (Street) went out and picked up 60 bags of litter.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, I would be embarrassed to bring somebody to the city, but not when it is June, after the cleanups.\u201d<\/p>\n Ethans said areas desperately in need of litter cleanups include Sherbrook and Maryland streets, Abinojii Mikaneh, Bison Drive and Main Street from Euclid to Logan avenues.<\/p>\n kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Kevin Rollason Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until\u00a01988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press\u2019s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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